This week we travel to Georgia with the cultivars of the talented trio Tim, Katisue and Heather Herrington.

The families’ interest in daylilies began with a $2.00 purchase in 1978 of the daylily Viewpoint (Lambert 1965). Heather, a teenager at the time, soon developed an interest in growing and hybridizing daylilies. Her first registration was Selma Long Legs in 1988, a 9” tangerine with cinnamon overlay Unusual form, which received an Honorable Mention in 2006. Introductions from her parents were to follow as the hybridizing bug spread through the family. For Tim and Katisue, who both worked in the field of education, becoming involved with daylilies and the AHS, learning, encouraging and sharing their growing passion for daylilies was a natural progression. Katisue first introduced Katie’s Kaleidoscope and a 1998 Junior Citation winner Private Showing in 1998, while Tim’s first introduction was Baby Boomer in 1996. A 3 ½ inch yellow with a purple eye, Baby Boomer won an AHS Honorable Mention in 2000 and at the North Carolina AHS National in 2003 the Florida Sunshine Cup, a National Convention award for the best clump of a small or miniature flower . The family is well known for two very successful name series the “Oz” series and the “Cupcake” series of Double forms from Tim. In 2008, after 38 years of marriage, Tim’s best friend, wife and soul mate Katisue passed away. Tim is now retired and shares his home and garden with daughter Heather and grandson Hans.

A few of the many other AHS Award winning cultivars hybridized by the Herrington’s include Honorable Mention winners Almost All Green ( Herrington-H 1993), White Tuxedo (Herrington-H 1991), Cherry Pie Delight (Herrington-H 1992) and the 2003 Award of Merit and 2005 Harris Olsen Spider Award winner Magic of Oz (Herrington-H 1995) from Heather and the Honorable Mention winners Journey to Oz (Herrington-K 2001), Over Achiever (Herrington-K 2000), Memories of Oz (Herrington-K 2001) and Star over Oz (Herrington-K 2005) from Katisue. Katisues’ Dorothy and Toto (Herrington-K 2003) received the 2009 Ida Munson Award for most outstanding Double flower and an Award of Merit in 2012. AHS Award winners hybridized by Tim Herrington include Everybody Loves Earnest (Herrington-T 2005) which received a Junior Citation in 2005, an Honorable Mention in 2010 and the 2012 Don Fischer Memorial Award for most outstanding miniature flower measuring under 3”, Honey Crunch Cupcake (Herrington-T 1999) received an Honorable Mention in 2003 and is the 2012 Annie T. Giles Award winner for most outstanding small flower measuring 3” to 4 ½” and Twice as Nice (Herrington-T 1999) which received a 2008 Honorable Mention and the 2012 Eugene S. Foster Award for best registered late or very late blooming cultivar.

Magic of Oz



The talents of this families hybridizing doesn’t end with the Awards and Honors system of AHS. They have also seen much success in AHS Exhibitions, the society’s daylily shows organized for public education, proving their passion for daylilies and hybridizing talent extends beyond their cultivars outstanding performance in the garden. Tim has received the AHS Achievement Medal for the entry of three scapes of the same seedling being given an average score of 90 or above from a three judge panel with his seedlings later registered as Little Gold Nugget (Herrington-T 2005), Red Light Green Light (Herrington-T 2005), Green Rainbow (Herrington-T 2005), Everybody Loves Earnest (Herrington-T 2005), Little Boss Man (Herrington-T 2004) and Lollipop Kid (Herrington-t 2002) . In 2005 Katisue Herrington received the Ophelia Taylor Horticultural Award for exhibiting in one exhibit, one scape each of five different registered cultivars and receiving 95 points or above on each scape in the exhibit from 3 different judges. Since 2002 there have been only 13 recipients of this award. Included in her 18 Best-in-Show wins, Katisue had the distinction of exhibiting, in 2005, at three consecutive shows and winning the Best-in-Show AHS Rosette in each of them. She also received the AHS Achievement Medal 5 times. One of these medals was awarded in 2010 for the seedling later registered as Meet Me in Oz (Herrington-K 2010) hybridized before her passing and exhibited by her daughter, Heather.

Please join us in celebrating this wonderful family, their adventures, involvement, cultivars and success with daylilies and the AHS.

Dorothy and Toto



Honey Crunch Cupcake



Green Rainbow



Creek Ruffles



Memories of Oz

Char, thanks for that mini BIO and lovely pics.Sadly I only have one of his that's coming this spring from "Possumhollow." Doris and David I am looking forward to your pics from your "OZ" bed and the one he named after you. "A Day For Doris.

I was fortunate enough to meet Katisue before she became ill, and know that anyone who ever met the two of them would agree what a wonderful couple they were. In the years since Katisue's death, ( since they had always given presentations together) it was really hard for Tim. I've seen Tim's talks a number of times and am looking forward to seeing him talk about "hybridizing for green" this fall at the Region 5 Fall meeting. Tim is just a wonderful person, and does so much for his region and the AHS.If anyone who is an AHS member hasn't read his award winning article that won the best newsletter award for humor last year ( from the Reg. 5 newsletter) please go to the Portal and read it! I took the newsletter to a Dr's office the day it arrived a couple of years ago, and upon reading it, began laughing so hard that tears ran down my face and people asked me what I was reading. If you have ever had any trouble with deer, you MUST read this. ( You will have to log in, as this is a members only section!)

I grow quite a few Herrington daylilies and am excited to have just gotten a couple of his new ones here for this year : FRIED GREEN TOMATOES and ALONG CAME AMANDA. Tim and I did a trade, and I got the best of this deal, or at least I think so!! He has great trouble keeping his 'Green Rainbow' in stock, knew that I'd gotten it from him a few years ago. So he asked me if I could send him some fans of it as a trade!! That worked for me as I'd just sold a couple of fans on the Lily Auction and knew I'd have to lift the clump anyway. So I sent him about 6-7 fans of Green Rainbow and got the two new ones. Woo-hoo!!
Here is Green Rainbow as it grows here - absolutely love it. Although I massacred my big clump, there are still about 10 fans left so I'm hoping for good bloom this year, as this is one of my very favorite daylilies.

The clump is a killer and anyone who's seen it in bloom wants a piece of it. Sadly it had just finished blooming before last year's Region 3 tour.

OK, you get it but I could post pics of this one for a long time!


Here are a few of Tim's "cupcake" series: ( usually doubles, most are also small flowers)
Grape Cupcake:

Strawberry Cream Cupcake:

Honey Crunch Cupcake:


And a few from the "Oz" series:
Return to Oz:

Memories of Oz:

Magic of Oz ( love the green in this):


Midnight in Oz:

Dorothy and Toto - another huge favorite:

Here is Star Over Oz, another one easy to love:

And a new favorite - this won best seedling at the 2009 National in Valdosta, and was later named Mayor of Munchkinland. This is a mini, and great plant habits!



And a few others! Tim's small flowers and minis are exceptionally good.
Here is Little Gold Nugget:

One Eye Willie:

Morning All Day, one of Katisue's from 2001. A lot of the green in their hybridizing program comes from their early use of Rainbow Spangles. This has that in its pedigree.

Heather's Banana Pepper Spider, another good one!



The daylily world is fortunate to have had such wonderful people as the Herringtons involved in hybridizing daylilies!

Oh boy, I definitely want Green Rainbow, that sure is a gorgeous one!!!

More educators!

I have Magic of Oz


Julie, after seeing your photos, I want want want Mayor of Munchkinland.

Magic of Oz must be his most popular because I have it too.

MAGIC OF OZ


MEMORIES OF OZ

If I buy any more daylilies, it will be from him. He breeds for rust resistance, doesnt even let a seedling bloom if it has rust, just throws it right out. I dont know if the wierd weather has anything to do with it, but I wont fight rust like I have this year, its just no fun. It wouldnt be so bad if I could find something that kllied it, but so far, no luck.
He has great looking flower a well! I cant wait till someones Fried Green Tomatoes blooms.

I've only got one White Tuxedo. So many of theirs are on my wish list though

Im glad he kept working with daylilies after his wife passed. I hope he doesnt give out any time soon. Really like the white one!!

Hemlady said:Oh boy, I definitely want Green Rainbow, that sure is a gorgeous one!!!

What she said.

Green Rainbow is stunning!

Lucky me, I just acquired Green Rainbow and Uncle Henry Of Oz, which is a stunning red/orange double.

I bet your excited, they should really look great in your zone.

When Char said she would do the Herringtons, I was glad, as I didn't think I had ever seen any of their daylilies. I read the intro and the name Selma Long Legs rang a bell!!!

Back in 1999, I was visiting Sharon Fitzpatrick's garden near Columbus OH. She is known for her love of spiders and UFs, but grows many forms, colors, sizes and also hosta, and many other perennials. I am not sure how this photo will look, as digital cameras have come a long, long way since 1999. Sharon had SELMA LONG LEGS planted with a lovely phlox and the combination was really outstanding.

At the time I had a photo page online through Apple's web site. Everyone wanted to know what phlox Sharon had used (she didn't have it marked) and there was a flurry to find Selma Long Legs!



I am not going to try to crop this old photo for fear of degrading it further. Seeing this reminds me that I never did get SELMA, although I always kept my eye out for it. I did manage to add quite a few phlox after seeing them mixed in with the daylilies at Sharon's!

that's beautiful!

Love those colors, Juli.

Tim is a great daylily person. His writings are clever, humorous and factual and his speaking is even better, as you can see his passion for DLs and people. He spoke at our local club a couple of years ago and I think we had record attendance. Many were not even club members. Tim gives great bonuses when you buy or swap DLs with him. He's had to buy/swap back to get some of their intros that he was out of, or low on. Heather is active again hybridizing, so we should see more good things coming out of Middle GA. One of my daydreams is to build a brick box for the OZ bed (leaving some room for more in the future) and paint it- guess which color? We'll see him next Friday and I have a book to give him, "The Life and Times of L. Frank Baum, The Real Wizard of Oz." I read it and it's really great.
David

Great gift, David.

An AHS Awards update......

Cultivars from the extremely talented Herrington family received several AHS Awards in 2013.

'Everybody Loves Ernest', hybridized by Tim and registered in 2005 was awarded a 2013 Award of Merit.


Also hybridized by Tim is 'Cotton Candy Cupcake' (2005). This victorian pink double received a 2013 Honorable Mention and was the 1st runner up for the Eugene S. Foster Award which is given annually for a cultivar registered and blooming as a late (L) or very late (VL).


'Plum Cupcake' (Herrington -T, 1998) received the Donn Fischer Memorial Cup for the most outstanding miniature cultivar. Registered miniature daylilies have blooms which measure less than 3" in diameter.


The Lambert/Webster Award is given annually to the most outstanding registered Unusual Form daylily. In 2013 'Christmas in Oz' (Herrington-K, 2004) was awarded the Lambert/Webster Award.


The very popular 'Green Rainbow' (Herrington-T, 2005) was the 1st runner up for the Annie T. Giles Award. This award is given annually to the best small flowered cultivar as determined by votes from the garden judges. A small flowered daylily has blooms which measure more than 3" but less than 4 1/2".


The Early Season Bloom Award is given to recognize daylilies registered as extra early (EE) or early (E). In 2013 this award was given to 'Free Wheelin' ' (Stamile, 2004) with Tim Herrington's 'Baby Boomer' (1996) receiving recognition as the 2nd runner up.


Congratulations to the Herringtons!