Viewing comments posted by DogsNDaylilies

I absolutely LOVE this flower's form, but it is really a difficult plant to hybridize with! I've tried hybridizing it as both a pod and pollen parent many times and it produces a lot of squishy seeds and the pollen is nearly impossible. I have managed a few seeds with it from sheer persistence, but viability of the seeds remains to be seen.

The blooms on this one are such a gorgeous, deep red, I found myself wanting to hybridize with it a lot. Pollen is good, although I don't have enough data handy to comment on how good.

She might be a little on the tender side up north. It looks like I lost her over this past winter, but I did pickaxe her from a northern garden, so she might have perished for other reasons.

Edited to add: I wasn't meaning to be funny on that last line..."pickaxe" is supposed to read "pick;" but, for once, auto-correct changed my word to something that was far more appropriate and hilarious. I'm leaving it. :)

This daylily is a very fast multiplier for me here up north. It also takes pollen very well when hybridizing. (I have not used it much, if at all, as a pollen parent, so no data there.) Cute blooms with a somewhat unique coloring. Dark green foliage.

Thorhalla *seems* to be taking pollen from tetraploid parents. I will try to confirm this as time goes on, but I spent the beginning of last season thinking Thorhalla was tet and pollinated with tet pollen, only to realize my mistake, but still end up with seeds. (So far, I got seeds from Thorhalla that had pollen parents Duck's Dark Side and from Aerial Applique.) I'll only know for sure if/when the seedlings grow out and I can see if the seedlings resemble their supposed pollen parents.

If anyone else has Thorhalla and wants to run some tet crossing experiments, please let me know how it turns out for you!

Margo Reed Indeed is a lovely plant, and she seemed to be all the rage several years ago, but I find that her scapes can be flimsy and her blooms can have a yellow-green tint to them, so she isn't my favorite daylily. I do like her well enough, though, and consider her a keeper.

I've hybridized with MRI a bit just to see what I get out of her, but can't comment on the offspring yet since I don't think I've planted any of the seeds yet. Appears to be average to better than average pod fertility and average to better than average pollen fertility.

I LOVE how huge the blooms are on this flower. I'm not a huge fan of pink daylilies, but I imagine I will always have this one in my garden. There is something about having those giant blooms come up and meet you at your level and being able to just hold them in your hands.

Another member (FrillyLilly) commented on something that I've also noticed: The blooms are so big that they are fragile. It's a shame, but when it gets moderately (or more) windy, the petals rip right off the plant, leaving it looking really silly at times. It's a trade-off, I suppose, to having such a big, beautiful bloom.

An early season bloomer every year. It reblooms for me here, but I can't say that I get particularly excited about this plant. I'm not a big fan of pastels, but I do use it for hybridizing because I like its reblooming characteristic, and it is very hardy and multiplies decently well. It sets pods readily, but I don't use its pollen often, so I can't comment much on its pollen fertility. A keeper in my garden, but it isn't one of my favorites.

This daylily has such a great deep, dark red color that is absolutely gorgeous, and the velvety look/texture is wonderful, too. It makes a really pretty plant. The foliage looks really attractive when it multiplies into a clump. On the less than positive side, it does seem to be highly susceptible to aphids. I had them crawling all over it one year, but it hasn't affected the plant's performance in the least.

This bloom doesn't have the greatest color, in my opinion, but it has a nice-sized bloom and it multiplies well in my garden. It doesn't produce a lot of blooms, though, nor does it seem to have great branching, so I feel like its hybridizing potential is limited. If I ever had to get rid of some of my daylilies, this would probably be among the first several I would let go. Maybe I will think better of it this year after putting it in a different place in my garden.

The first year I had this, it didn't bloom much, but I don't blame the plant too much, being that it was new. I had heard that this plant has weak scapes and, sadly, that is very true. The scapes on COTN are lousy, and may need supporting. For daylilies (or any plant, really), I consider this a huge fault.

Although this is an evergreen, it is pretty hardy up north and mine has survived a great deal. After the first year, I was really worried I had lost it. The crown seemed squishy and it looked pretty bad, but it bounced back readily and it's doing great now, even after a move and after spending a long, harsh winter in pots.

For hybridizing, it will set pods, but hasn't been crazy about doing so. I imagine it might have something to do with its ploidy. It's listed as a triploid and I wonder if that makes it more finicky. I found that it set a pod every time I pollinated it with Absolute Ripper, but didn't like anything else that first year. Its pollen is good, but can be finicky as well.

Beautiful daylily! One of the most fragrant in my yard, it has a lot of things going for it, in my opinion. I've had it for several years and this past winter it had to overwinter above ground in a pot and it is currently suffering from spring sickness, so I don't know if that's related to genetics or just a poor luck of the draw. Regardless, I highly recommend this daylily, it has nice, strong scapes, beautiful fragrance, a beautiful bloom, and it adds a beautiful color late in the daylily season.

Tusc. Tigress was a powerhouse in my garden last year. It put out bright orange bloom after bright orange bloom for a really long time. It multiplies well, hybridizes well (both as pod and pollen parent), and it blooms well, meaning that the blooms nearly always open fully to the triangular bloom shape that it has without hangup. It has very strong scapes, too.

This plant is a really pretty plant and has a very blue coloring. The picture is true to color, not photo-shopped to enhance the blue tones like some photos are. I received this plant last year as a very generous bonus plant in the spring and it has been through a lot. It was put in a pot, never planted in the ground, and multiplied nicely last year during the season. I seem to recall it even rebloomed, but given the unusual circumstances and that it came from a slightly warmer climate, I cannot say with certainty that it is a northern rebloomer.

The blooms all seemed to be perfect, too, no hanging up, canoeing, or other less-desireable blooming characteristics, even though it was a first-year plant that was supposed to still be 'settling in'. I hybridized with it last year and it was an average (maybe a little better than average) pollen parent for me. I look forward to seeing how it does as a pod parent once I get it in the ground.

I can say that it overwintered very nicely our snowy, very cold (zone 5b/6a) winter in a pot and is none the worse for wear this spring, having multiplied well. The leaves look very healthy and the plant has filled out very nicely for starting as just a couple of fans last year. So far, I can definitely recommend this plant.

My local botanical garden had this displayed with a label that gave the common name as "Ribbon Fern". (To confirm, the official name was listed as "polypodium phyllitidis".)

This poppy is really interesting! I was concerned, at first, when I saw a yellow bloom appear; I thought I might have the wrong cultivar or that the name might be misleading. As it turned out, the blooms start out a creamy yellow and lighten over time. I posted a picture of a new bloom next to an old bloom so that you can see the difference.

These poppies also have an interesting bloom habit. I have grown American poppy (Flanders) before and I don't remember those closing at night, but White Linen will close at night and reopen for the sun in the morning, and the way it folds back up so tightly is really neat, it doesn't just squish together like a dandelion does... It wraps around and folds up nice and neat.

In my garden, Creative Art is much taller than the registered height, standing at or above the average height for my other daylilies. I measure the two mature scapes at 29" and 21". (The second scape hasn't started blooming yet and may be still growing.) There are three more scapes popping up still at this late date-definitely a late bloomer! I will try to remember to measure them, but if you are hybridizing for daylilies that are at-foliage height, this one falls TALL of that. :D. The scapes are nice and sturdy, though, and there are a good number of buds on it, so it is a good, late-blooming near-white for the yard.

Yellow Hornet has spent over a year in my garden, so I was able to see it fairly well established in my garden this season. It clumps up quickly and nicely. The scapes are very tall and are pretty dark to start, with one side of the scapes remaining green. By the time the blooms had finished, the scapes had turned entirely green and the seed pods were mostly dark, as though the pigment had transferred from the scapes to the pods.

As for blooms, they are pretty and almost always well-formed, but they don't always open up entirely by themselves. Many times it took a gentle finger tap or running my finger through the petals for it to open. (Mind you, this was because I see/open the blooms when I begin my hybridizing routine in the early morning through mid-morning, so it's possible the blooms would have opened on their own given until noon or later some days.)

After about 20 blooms, I feel I can say that this plant always seems to have an awkward petal that is larger or smaller than the other two. Not to any great extent, but just enough to affect the symmetry of the bloom so that it looks "off."

In my garden, this daylily always has broken color on it. If it weren't SO PRETTY, I would seriously consider tossing it.... But it is impressive, blotchiness and all.

Edited to add: Sadly, 'Madly' hasn't multiplied well in my garden. I'm hoping that it will do better in a new location.