Daylily Nut -- 2006 Introductions
Of my previous five introductions, three were Early or Extra Early. This year that trend continues. Four of the five flowers below start blooming within a week or two of Hemerocallis 'Stella de Oro'. Yes, I do have a robust breeding program for midseason flowers as well! Trust me. But it may be a few years before there's something to introduce in that area. Call me picky, but I want something that will really be distinctive and that isn't easy when you're working in the crowded field of mid-season daylilies.
Meanwhile, I must confess that I really love the super-early daylilies. I can't wait to get going on my hybridizing each spring, and I can't wait to see my garden fill with color. Also, I think an important means of extending the daylily bloom season in more northern areas is to have bloom begin very early, then work to add continuous rebloom from there. I'd much rather work that way toward getting useful late season bloom (i.e. robust rebloom), although it's harder to achieve than breeding for Lates. I guess Lates just aren't me. My vision for the future of daylilies is one in which cultivars that don't start blooming until late season are made obsolete by profusely reblooming all-summer performers. I'm an early-to-bed and early-to-rise kinda guy and that seems to carry over to my daylily hybridizing as well!
Anyhow, the selections offered below also continue my over-riding theme of getting the yellow/melon base color out of daylilies. And, as you saw in my previous introductions, I once again have two spin-offs which have a lot of yellow anyhow! But they're distinctive enough to be worth your while. H. 'Bleach Blonde' is a reliable everbloomer just two generations from the species! (H. Dumortieri) Moreover, it enters the realm of all-season blooming among the open form ("spidery") daylilies. And it should be useful in hybridizing for extra early blooming and/or miniature spiders. Any of these three goals could be explored with this flower. And all three of these goals are areas which spider/unusual form breeders might want to begin to pursue more vigorously. As said, H. 'Bleach Blonde' also happens to be just 2 generations down from the species H. Dumortieri. That makes it an especially interesting plant genetically -- very vigorous and producing five sets of scapes here, starting at the same time that STELLA starts, taking no breaks, and ending only when frost kills the buds.
My other concession to the dominance of daylily Yellow this year is a true one-of-a-kind plant. H. 'Spring Fling' is genetically albino. It's pale yellow foliage at the heart of each fan can be identified from across the garden in spring, before anything is blooming in the daylily beds. At that time of the year H. 'Spring Fling' is the paramount of distinction. Even if you don't care for the profuse bud-building and reliable northern rebloom, you may want to buy this plant just for the foliage show it puts on while the irises and azaleas are flowering!
I guess this could also be noted as my year for introducing species grandkids, because beyond H. 'Bleach Blonde' I have another -- H. 'Penguin Promenade', an eyed, near white, narrow formed flower. It is also a grandkid of H. Dumortieri. H. 'Penguin Promenade' introduces a bold purple-eyed near white to the daylily color pallet during the Extra Early season when virtually everything else that is blooming is some shade of yellow.
I hope there is something here that will enhance your gardening pleasure.
(Click on the pictures below for full descriptions and more pictures)
H. 'Icehouse Effect'
A true early white
H. 'Floozy'
Very vigorous and promiscuous clear lavender
H. 'Bleach Blonde'
Open-form, all-season bloomer, sun-fades to platimum blonde
H. 'Penguin Promenade'
Extra Early purple-eyed near white
H. 'Spring Flair'
Genetically Albino, vigorous bud builder
Shipping will be by USPS Priority Mail. Shipping cost is $8.00 for the first three plants plus $1 for each additional plant.
The DaylilyNut Farm has never had rust. It is state inspected, and is located about 25 miles west of Baltimore, MD. The garden has been relocated to a cold pocket valley, on the boundary between USDA climate zones 5 and 6 (coldest winter night is about -10F).
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Pete Wetzel
P.O. Box 21
Eldersburg, MD 21784
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