So I have an incidental seedling. It has sprung up in a patch of Stella de'Oro. It is definitely not a Stella and well I doubt that Stella was its' mother. It doesn't match up with anything in my well-kept database of daylilies that I own and I haven't bought Stella's in well over 10 years. It also has bigger/wider fans than Stella.

So I am calling it my incidental seedling and I am in love with it!!!! I suspect that Earlybird Cardinal could be one of the parents, as I have EBC in this same garden and the characteristics with the little white midribs and the beautifully curled petals mimic EBC as well as the height and size.

Once it is done blooming, I will detangle it from the Stella patch and move it to my seedling bed.

Stats:
3.5 inches
30 inch scape
slightly fragrant

The bees did a great job with that one!

Why not Stella was its pod parent and Earlybird Cardinal was its pollen parent?

Pug933 said:The bees did a great job with that one!

God is just amazing aint he. Surprises us with uncommon in common places. The bees know secrets we dont. What a beautiful cultivar.

admmad said:Why not Stella was its pod parent and Earlybird Cardinal was its pollen parent?

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This one is bigger than both EBC and Stella in both bloom and scape height. Neither of them carry a scent and I'm not sure how you get purple and green from yellow and red.

Either way, if in 3 years, it has continued to grow and bloom and meet all of the registration criteria, I will have to register it as parentage unknown. But it is fun to guess.

Reminds me of 'Night Beacon'.

Here is a possibility:

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sooby said:Reminds me of 'Night Beacon'.

• Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Night Beacon')
• Uploaded by Curlycollards

Oh that is pretty. Too bad we don't know the parentage of Night Beacon.

@mom2cjemma I am always interested in delving deeper into the ancestry and inheritance of a plant.

Earlybird Cardinal is not a registered name, rather it is the trade name for the registered daylily 'Endless Heart'.

'Endless Heart' (Apps-Blew, 2004) height 21 in.(53 cm), bloom 4 in.(10 cm), season E, Rebloom, Evergreen, Diploid, 14 buds, 3 branches, Rosy red self above chartreuse throat. (Apricot Sparkles × Red Hot Returns)

'Stella de Oro' (Jablonski, 1975) height 11 in.(28 cm), bloom 2.75 in.(7 cm), season EM, Rebloom, Dormant, Diploid, Fragrant, Gold self with very small green throat

What might happen if we crossed 'Stella de Oro' with 'Endless Heart'?

We would expect that their seedlings would average scape heights of (21 + 11)/2 = 16 inches. What that basically means is that about half of their seedlings would have scapes less than 16 inches and half would have scapes more than 16 inches. Some of their seedlings would have scapes taller than 21 inches and some would have scapes shorter than 11 inches.

The same sort of analysis would apply to the range of flower sizes that the seedlings from such a cross could have. Half will have flowers less than 3 3/8" and half will have flowers larger. A few will have flowers larger than 4 inches and a few will have flowers smaller than 2 3/4 inches.

We know from work on the pigments in daylily flowers that although a flower may look reddish it usually has both the reddish-purple pigment, cyanidin and the bluish purple pigment delphinidin, So 'Endless Heart' almost certainly can produce reddish and purplish seedlings, especially when paired with an appropriate partner.

In fact if we look at the parentage of 'Endless Heart' we see,
'Red Hot Returns' (Apps, 2000) height 28 in.(71 cm), bloom 5 in.(13 cm), season EM, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Diploid, 20 buds, 2 branches, Red self above yellow to green throat. (Royal Occasion × Pete's Joy)

'Royal Occasion' (Apps, 1990) height 26 in.(66 cm), bloom 4.37 in.(11 cm), season M, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Diploid, Black violet with black eyezone and bright green throat. ((Baby Darling × Bridget) × Super Purple)

'Pete's Joy' (Hansen, 1990) height 22 in.(56 cm), bloom 5.5 in.(14 cm), season EM, Rebloom, Evergreen, Diploid, Cream pink with darker pink center around green throat. ((Our Diane × (Enchanting Blessing × sdlg)) × (Enchanting Blessing × Tuscawilla Princess))

'Endless Heart' has deep purple ancestors so may carry the hidden ability to produce purple seedlings.

Scent perhaps is the more difficult characteristic. Are there very scented diploid daylilies growing nearby?

Interesting that there is a Ra Hansen daylily in that ancestry, since I said it reminded me of another of hers, 'Night Beacon'.

admmad said:@mom2cjemma I am always interested in delving deeper into the ancestry and inheritance of a plant. ...............

'Endless Heart' has deep purple ancestors so may carry the hidden ability to produce purple seedlings.

Scent perhaps is the more difficult characteristic. Are there very scented diploid daylilies growing nearby?

Starman's Quest hasn't bloomed yet this year, to check for scent, but it is a Diploid. It's one parent is Trahlyta, which is also a dormant diploid and and carries a fragrance. The green throat and pattern from Starman's Quest is very similar to that of this seedling.

If you take the average height of EBC (Endless Heart) and SQ, (21+40)/2 you get just about 30-31 which is right on target for the current height of this scape.

It is due to bloom again in tomorrow! Can't wait to see it again!

As an extra data point, the average scape height on my Endless Heart clump (21 scapes) is about 32" this wet year, about 50% taller than the registration value.