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Nov 3, 2015 10:46 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Steve Todd
Illinois (Zone 5b)
Daylilies Region: Illinois Plant and/or Seed Trader Enjoys or suffers cold winters
You know, when something happened that made much of this insane devotion make sense. I am a very visual person, so I have had several:

Seeing SHERRI LANE CARR on the cover of a journal.

Standing inside John Rice's greenhouse in 2000.

The very first bloom on FLOSSIE LAIRD, our first introduction.

Have a garden visitor be moved to tears over their introduction choice.

And

Seeing MERMAID'S SPELL bloom for the first time!

Your turn.....
Last edited by Ahead Nov 3, 2015 10:49 PM Icon for preview
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Nov 4, 2015 2:38 AM CST
Name: Mayo
The Netherlands, Europe (Zone 9a)
Bee Lover Organic Gardener Irises Hellebores Region: Europe Dragonflies
Dog Lover Daylilies Container Gardener Cat Lover Butterflies Birds
very basic: discovering that there is more in the world of Daylilies than Stella de Oro...

and that happened only last fall Big Grin


Mayo
a DL flower a day keeps the doctor away
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Nov 4, 2015 3:59 AM CST
Name: Mary Anne Jay
Wentworth, NS, Canada (Zone 4a)
Region: Canadian Million Pollinator Garden Challenge
Although I have been growing some daylilies in my gardens for more than 15 years, I was buying from nurseries. The addiction didn't start until I joined our provincial daylily society. That is when the door opened on the staggering number of pretties available for purchase from growers who sell- in my own province. One of our sellers has over 2800 registered cultivars-- and I don't have to pay for shipping! The shopping is so much fun!
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Nov 4, 2015 5:30 AM CST
Name: Fred Manning
Lillian Alabama

Charter ATP Member Region: Gulf Coast I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Amaryllis Region: United States of America Garden Ideas: Level 2
Ponds Hummingbirder Dog Lover Daylilies Container Gardener Butterflies
Discovering Jack Temple lived so close to me by visiting a public library and seeing his name and location in a book from Australia.
#2 Seeing the greenhouse of Larry Grace and Karol Emmerich when she was hybridizing in Alabama many years ago.
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Nov 4, 2015 5:34 AM CST
Name: Teresa Felty Barrow
South central KY (Zone 6b)
SONGBIRD GARDENS
Birds Hummingbirder Hybridizer Irises Lilies Peonies
Sempervivums Plant and/or Seed Trader Region: United States of America Vegetable Grower Hostas Heucheras
Good morning,

Going on my first Regional meeting this summer.

Touring at Daylily World. It is just breathtaking to see so many dl beds on KY hillsides.
Bee Kind, make the world a better place.
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Nov 4, 2015 6:08 AM CST
Name: Cynthia (Cindy)
Melvindale, Mi (Zone 5b)
Daylilies Hybridizer Irises Butterflies Charter ATP Member Million Pollinator Garden Challenge
Birds Region: Michigan Vegetable Grower Hummingbirder Heucheras Lover of wildlife (Black bear badge)
Going to my first daylily show somewhat stunned me. I didn't realize there were so many colors of daylilies and sizes. That really grew my addiction from 20 plants to over 300 in just a couple of years.
Lighthouse Gardens
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Nov 4, 2015 6:33 AM CST
Name: Arlene
Florida's east coast (Zone 9a)
Birds Bromeliad Garden Photography Daylilies Region: Florida Enjoys or suffers hot summers
Tropicals
I grew my first daylily in Denver prior to 1975--don't know just when. Then moved to FL in 2000 and visited David Kirchhoff's Daylily World in Sanford. What a sight! Didn't know that daylily plants could be that big! Nor that they came in all those colors! I tip my hat to you.
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Nov 4, 2015 7:26 AM CST
Name: Davi (Judy) Davisson
Sherrills Ford, NC (Zone 7a)
Wow, Steve....you threw a hard one out there!!!! There have been so many moments because I'm an old person!!

My defining moment was visiting Wimberleyway shortly after Bill Munson's death and seeing all his important ones in person. What a giant he was on the hybridizing scene. There in front of me bloomed BUENOS AIRES, IDA'S MAGIC, CHINA LAKE, CHINESE TEMPLE FLOWER, MORTICIA, CHINESE CLOISONNE and all his splendid watermarks. It sparked a lifetime obsession with watermarks and appliques. I needed to own them ALL! I knew I needed to work with ANGUILLA, which had not yet been distributed.....which brought me HIGH WATER MARK....and then MERMAID'S SPELL....and then Steve's wonderful VICTORIA JOSEPHINE.

It also gave me the gift of gratitude because hybridizers stand upon the shoulders of all who came before them. And the people who use our introductions pay it all forward. What a wonderful concept!!!
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Nov 4, 2015 7:34 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: Steve Todd
Illinois (Zone 5b)
Daylilies Region: Illinois Plant and/or Seed Trader Enjoys or suffers cold winters
You must need a shoulder massage, Davi!
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Nov 4, 2015 7:50 AM CST
Name: Kathy
Michigan - rural (Zone 5a)
Daylilies Garden Art Region: Michigan Seed Starter Plant and/or Seed Trader Region: United States of America
Actually getting to be in Judy Davisson's garden in 2014 !

What a thrill to hear her sharing information and tips, while standing right in front of the subject being discussed. I went home with renewed enthusiasm.



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Nov 4, 2015 8:03 AM CST
Name: Theresa Maris
Bowling Green,KY (Zone 6b)
Birds Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge) Keeper of Poultry Hybridizer Hummingbirder Herbs
Greenhouse Dog Lover Daylilies Region: Kentucky Plant and/or Seed Trader
My visit to Wright Daylily Garden in Hilham, Tennessee in May of 2012 I had never seen so many beautiful daylilies in one place before. I had always had some daylilies but the arrow pierced my heart that day. I went home with a trunk full of beautiful cultivars and a trip down memory lane as I discovered that I had worked with Bonnie Wright when I lived in Tennessee. She gifted me a double called Roaring River Beauty which was one of her creations. She has an AHS Display Garden there and you couldn't meet a nicer lady. I got it bad and now I am dabbling in hybridizing myself.
Roaring River Beauty
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Nov 4, 2015 8:31 AM CST
Name: Gerry Donahue
Pleasant Lake, IN (Zone 5b)
Hostas Garden Ideas: Master Level
My affection for daylilies has a lot to do with relationships with others who live among daylilies.
Marilyn Maryott has been with me in spirit throughout my breast cancer treatment, my bipolar depression, and my grandson's cerebral palsy challenge.
We had become friends even before we met in Indianapolis a year ago. She and I talk about our families, our grandchildren, and almost never about daylilies.
Marilyn remembers when I shared with her about my deep depression one summer. She remembers that I was pulled away from that destructive feeling of death and desperation when I forced myself to go outside and water the daylilies. The sight and fragrance extracted the poisoning feelings.
It was that summer that I decided to plant many more daylilies.

Thank you, Marilyn.
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Nov 4, 2015 8:32 AM CST
Name: Peter
Allentown PA (Zone 6b)
Bee Lover Vegetable Grower Seed Starter Pollen collector Region: Pennsylvania Hybridizer
Greenhouse Daylilies Cat Lover Enjoys or suffers cold winters
Our Ah-ha moment was when I took my wife outside, told her to pick two daylilies, she did, then I told her to pick two more since she picked a dip and tet (LOL). I grabbed the pollen, crossed the two, and said as part of our 2nd wedding anniversary gift, I would grow those out and register the nicest one.

She was on board with the crazy lily thing since.. sorta... she's getting tried of steve's and jame's seeds showing up.
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Nov 4, 2015 9:30 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: Steve Todd
Illinois (Zone 5b)
Daylilies Region: Illinois Plant and/or Seed Trader Enjoys or suffers cold winters
Thank you for sharing, Gerry. May you continue to have people and special moments placed in your path as you go through life's journeys.

And Peter, I must say hearing that your wife is tiring of the endless seed shipments catches me by surprise, because those same seed shipment give me so much joy?! Of course, I have always been a pod half full kinda guy...hohoho
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Nov 4, 2015 9:45 AM CST
Name: Peter
Allentown PA (Zone 6b)
Bee Lover Vegetable Grower Seed Starter Pollen collector Region: Pennsylvania Hybridizer
Greenhouse Daylilies Cat Lover Enjoys or suffers cold winters
Ahead said:Thank you for sharing, Gerry. May you continue to have people and special moments placed in your path as you go through life's journeys.

And Peter, I must say hearing that your wife is tiring of the endless seed shipments catches me by surprise, because those same seed shipment give me so much joy?! Of course, I have always been a pod half full kinda guy...hohoho


Haha, Its all the planting that she see's in the future.. But as soon as those new blooms come... she will turn right around!
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Nov 4, 2015 9:48 AM CST
Name: Betty
MN zone 4b
Frogs and Toads Birds Hummingbirder Irises Lilies Peonies
Roses Garden Ideas: Level 1 Region: United States of America Hostas Garden Art Echinacea
My moment was when a wonderful lady who had lots of daylilies offered some for sale at a low price on a garden forum on the web. She wanted people to get interested in daylilies. She most certainly hooked me, some of the daylilies she offered are still in my garden. You should have seen me digging to make my garden larger, there is no way I could still add that amount of space now. From there I found a garden here that sold to the public (no longer exists), the lily auction, finally I made the step to purchase from some hybridizers.

When Steve mentioned SHERRY LANE CARR, that daylily wowed me from the first year in my garden it just took off and bloomed beautifully.
If you want to be happy for a lifetime plant a garden!
Faith is the postage stamp on our prayers!
Betty MN Zone4 AHS member

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Nov 4, 2015 10:26 AM CST
Name: James
South Bend, IN (Zone 5b)
Annuals Region: United States of America Plant and/or Seed Trader Seed Starter Region: Indiana Hostas
Dog Lover Daylilies Container Gardener Birds Enjoys or suffers cold winters
This is a tough question. I don't honestly know if there was a single moment for collecting daylilies, but there certainly was a moment when I changed the type I was collecting (or hoarding). The first daylily I ever owned, was a gift from someone. It was SILOAM PEONY. I added a few others and was really happy with how resilient and hardy they were. Then I discovered forums and started searching more and more and was amazed by what I found. I thought it was nuts that people would spend $$$$$ on plants. I used to garden with my grandmother but she never had daylilies, and growing up in southern California we didn't have them in the yard either. It was really something I stumbled into.

Then I saw a picture of BLUE BEETLE and everything changed. I was mesmerized by the picture of it blooming as a double. Completely taken. When I saw a fan on the auction I had to have it because Jamie Gossard was sold out. That was it. It just spiraled from there. I still have BLUE BEETLE. It's a gorgeous plant. Hardy, increases well (I've sold and given away 8 or 10 fans over the years), and blooms reliably. For everything about the picture of the double, it has NEVER doubled for me. But I am smitten anyway. Lovey dubby

I get a kick out of how my interests in daylilies have changed over the years. It makes for an evolving garden and I really enjoy it. I used to keep a list and really don't any longer. I just go with what suits me at the time.
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Nov 4, 2015 10:49 AM CST
Name: Boyd Banks
Creston N.C. (Zone 6b)
Annuals Vegetable Grower Plant and/or Seed Trader Region: North Carolina Irises Hybridizer
Hummingbirder Hostas Hibiscus Foliage Fan Daylilies Dahlias
Seeing how they should be grown at Bob Selman's garden.I had never seen such vibrant beautiful blooms,I didn't recognize some I had grown for years.

Seeing CLAUDINE'S CHARM bloom in my garden the first time.
Seeing TOURNAMENT OF ROSES bloom in my garden for the first time.
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Nov 4, 2015 11:09 AM CST
Name: Betty
Bakersfield, CA
Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Birds The WITWIT Badge Garden Ideas: Level 1 Roses
Irises Daylilies Cat Lover Region: California Region: United States of America
I've had a few "aha" moments that have led me down the daylily garden path... I always thought daylilies were just the narrow-petaled, solid colored blooms I saw in parking lots and in landscaping, and while I thought they were pretty I really wasn't taken with them at all.

Then I saw a daylily with an eye...

And then I saw pictures of daylilies with fancy edges on the internet...

And then I found Floyd Cove Nursery and purchased my first mini daylilies... I'll never forget seeing my first blooms on LITTLE BLOOM RIDER and CRYPTIC CYPHER!

And finally, my latest aha moment was the first time I saw a picture of ROSE F. KENNEDY, which opened up the world of huge green-throated diploids for me -- and then this spring I suddenly made a connection between diploid minis and the RFK types -- and suddenly thought about little mini RFK's!



And who knows what tomorrow brings...
Betty
Last edited by Betja Nov 4, 2015 11:12 AM Icon for preview
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Nov 4, 2015 11:22 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: Steve Todd
Illinois (Zone 5b)
Daylilies Region: Illinois Plant and/or Seed Trader Enjoys or suffers cold winters
SHERRI LANE CARR was my first jump in the deep end of the pool. I have been gulping water ever since.

Yes and yes.....still have CC and TOR, they still get an aha!

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