Daylily Nut -- Seedling #05-33
Promising possible future registration
EM v. fr. Dor. dip. 28", 4.75", 4 branches, 25 buds. Pastel Brick-reddish Lavender bicolor, light ivory midrib, pencil-edged light watermark and lighter petal edge, yellow inner eye to green throat. {[(JS x PS) x (SVH x JB)] x FSB} x {CS x [O x (GV x PS)]}* Seedling #05-33. Fertile both ways.
*JS = Hemerocallis 'Joan Senior', PS = H. 'Peppermint Stripe', SVH = H. 'Siloam Virgina Henson', JB = H. 'Janice Brown', FSB = H. 'Forsyth Snow Boy', CS = H. 'Charleston Snow', O = H. 'Oceanside', GV = H. 'Grape Velvet'.
Here's a genuine patterned daylily that is completely distinctive. The extreme "photoshop" treatment shown at upper left was inspired by more than just fantasy. The real garden flower on which it is based is inspiration enough. The other three mug shots above all reveal the exciting, uniquely patterned flower that seems worthy or registration without any photo doctoring at all. The color of this daylily is as difficult to describe in words as it is to photograph. That's why I've provided three different "real color" mug shots taken on three different days. The pattern combines five distinct elements, all in one flower -- something no other flower I am aware of can match. It is a bicolor, with lighter sepals. The petals have a bright midrib as well as a distinctive, generously wide light edge and a light watermark eye which itself is edged by a delicate "mascara" penciling.
Beyond the wonderful unique flower is the solid, robust plant on which it sits. As displayed at left, the flowers are held on sturdy, widely branched scapes with heavy bud count. If that were not enough, the scapes are bud builders. So there is a very long bloom season. The foliage is healthy and green, and the plant increases rapidly.
To temper the excitement somewhat, it must be noted that none of the flower pattern features are very intense, nor is the overall color terribly luminous. So there is room to work to enhance this unique, possibly seminal breakthrough. And although the flower is well proportioned, always opens perfecty, and has pretty ruffling, its size and form are ordinary.
The parentage reflects many generations of my hybridizing program. I still grow most of the parents, grandparents, and great grandparents. Pictures of many of them can be found on other pages on this site. The pollen parent seedling is #03-BTO, which is shown and discussed on the big page about hybridizing for prominent white midribs The pod parent is another future with good potential for which I did some "photoshop" doctoring: Seedling #03-07-12. The diversity of its parents may be its strength. This was one of those products of a "fun" cross, somewhat off to the side of my main hybridizing focus, that far exceeded expectations. The purpose of the cross was to enhance the hint of a watermark seen in #03-BTO by crossing it with a seedling with strong watermark eye characteristics. Both parents adhere to my "get the yellow out" focus, and both carry the lighter midrib trait. But where the light edge (similar to daylilies such as Doris Simpson's H. 'Banned in Boston' and Judith Weston's H. 'Borders on Pink') came from is unknown.
The DaylilyNut Farm has never had rust. It is state inspected, and is located about 25 miles west of Baltimore, MD. In 2006 the garden was moved 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
443-812-6424
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