Hello!

You may unsubscribe from Daylily E-News at any time by clicking on SafeUnsubscribe, which you will find in each issue. 

Elizabeth Trotter 

E-News Editor 

The "Edge, No Eye" Double

 

It is easy to find the "edge, no eye" concept on the single form daylily, but have you ever seen that look on a double daylily? Tim Herrington has been breeding for the "edge, no eye" double for years and released his first double of this type in 2013 with 'Mom And Me'. 

 

'Mom and Me'

This 100% hose-in-hose yellow with pink edge represents the "edge, no eye" concept on a double. To get this result, he used the yellow 'Double Donnie' (Carpenter-J., 2000) as the pod parent and his own

 'Strawberry Cream Cupcake' (2001) as the pollen parent. If you look closely at the pollen parent, you can see that it has two colors: pink and the throat color. He considers the pink area as a great example of a wide edge. So, his goal was to shrink that edge. This is kind of like "reverse hybridizing" for edges.

'Strawberry Cream Cupcake'                                         photo by Julie Covington

 

Accentuated Stamens in Doubles

Normally, the stamen in a double daylily takes on the color of the surrounding segments. Creating a double with the stamen being accentuated with a darker or contrasting color has been a goal for Tim for years. He has two with this trait now, 'Raspberry Ripple Cupcake' (2007) and 'If I Only Had a Brain' (2012), which both have stamens that are darker than the overall color of the daylily.

'Raspberry Ripple Cupcake'

'If I Only Had a Brain'

Glowing with Green

Tim's first daylily with an intense green throat and green veining extending out to the edges of the petals and sepals was 'Calypso Green' (1998), which was used to establish his green breeding program. To enhance the color green in daylilies, Tim learned that you must breed the greenest-throated daylilies you can find to other green-throated seedlings or cultivars - which is not rocket science.  In addition to chlorophyll, daylily blooms also contain other pigments, and we just can't see them because they are masked by the darker green pigment until the bloom opens and the chlorophyll starts to disappear. This means you are breeding for an increase in chlorophyll, or less loss of chlorophyll, with the goal of increasing the throat size and intensifying the green color each generation.  By doing this, Tim has successfully achieved getting the color green onto the sepals now, which adds to the overall beauty of the bloom.

With the addition of 'Along Came Amanda' (2012), 'Green Derby' (2007), 'Green Rainbow' (2005),  'Halloween Green' (2011), 'Munchkin Cabbage' (2010), and 'One Eye Willie' (2006) to his green program, he now has some of the largest green throats that flow into the widest eyes of small flowers that have ever been hybridized. Tim especially feels 'Green Rainbow' is a great breeder for small flowers with green throats. 

'Along Came Amanda'

'Green Rainbow'

Tim has registered the following daylilies with blooms over 4 ½" that also have very large extended green throats:  'Green Gondola' (2013), 'Fried Green Tomatoes' (2012),  'Oz's Tin Man' (2011),  'Pea Green with Envy' (2011),  'Awed by Claude' (2013), 'You Gotta Have Faith' (2013), 'Louisiana Lightning' (2013), and 'Rhapsody In Green' (2012).

'Green Gondola'

'Fried Green Tomatoes'

'Pea Green with Envy'

'Awed by Claude'

'You Gotta Have Faith'

'Louisiana Lightning'

'Rhapsody in Green'

Tim's goal is to get a solid green daylily one day. He believes anyone could be the first breeder of a true, solid green daylily. No one at this point has a clear advantage over anyone else, so it is truly a level playing field. Green is still one of the least utilized colors one could breed for - yet one of the most desirable. He also believes that if hybridizers had been working on the color green over the years as much as they have been working on the color blue, we would have more green in our daylilies. Tim feels that if you breed from the inside out (throat to petals and sepals) instead of the outside in, you will get more green in your daylilies. 

All photos courtesy the author unless otherwise noted.

Hemerocallis 'Rumi Poem' (Hensley-D., 2011). Click photo for larger image.

The American Hemerocallis Society is all about daylilies and people.

AHS is organized into 15 Regions including USA, Canada, and International designations. Each offers a variety of regional and local club daylily activities.

When people join AHS, they also become a member of the AHS Region in which they live. AHS Regions do not charge additional dues. Most AHS regions publish their own newsletter and mail it to all regional members at no extra charge. Members often participate in events outside their own region.

To learn about daylily activities and events near you, visit the webpage:
AHS Regional Activities   

Learn about daylilies. 

Receive a regional newsletter 2-3 times per year.

Enjoy a members-only social networking site with forums, blogs, calendars, and more. 

AHS members belong to one of 15 U.S./Canadian regions. Those outside the U.S. and Canada may join as International members. Over 180 local clubs form the backbone of every region, and you may find that one of them is near you. If not, meet with local gardeners and form a daylily club of your own!

It's easy to become a member. Just use this link: Join AHS

 

Hemerocallis 'Wildman George' (Elliott-S., 2010). Click photo for larger image.

 
Hemerocallis 'Mardi Gras Indian' (Selman, 2014). Click photo for larger image.  

 
 Hemerocallis 'Sound of Color' (Owen-P., 2014).

 Click photo for larger image.