I have had very good luck from the LA, too! My few purchases were most all seeds except 2 purchases that were unbloomed seedlings (which included 2 bonus seedlings) from Rich. I got some seeds from Cindy on the LA, too! And several other seed sellers. I got a good deal on all of them and had some beautiful blooms this past season from those that bloomed for the very first time.

Libby - I agree with everything you said about some of Ashton/Terry's seedlings! Those seedlings are truly some winners in my humble opinion.

To add to the LA seeds, everyone knows how much I like Dragonfly Dawn. My LA seeds of DD x DD are some of my most exciting blooms (for me personally). I have many others, too, but those are at the top of my list. Got them from the LA! What can I say .... there is no way I could afford Dragonfly Dawn plant a year ago (or even now) .... so what better way to get some of those genes than through a cross of DD with itself for a fraction of the cost of the registered plant. I got 4 different plants from that cross. (And Jon got a seed of them to germinate and grow, too.) I think I paid $10 for those seeds. (Which was high for me to spend at that time, but what a deal it turned out to be!)

Seeds can be a budget way to get genetics that would be cost prohibitive for some people. We learned from our seed buying experience. I bought cheap seeds from many different LA sellers. We found a couple of sellers who sent all bad seeds. We found one who miss marked the crosses sold to us. We also did business with some great people and made some long distance friends. We learned about germination and seed handling and growing out the seedlings and going to the gardens with new babies. Now we do almost all of our own crosses now and Ashton thinks we should sell seeds. I think our best are seedling crosses and not sure people would be interested in them. We may buy a few seeds to get new genetics like Becky mentioned with DD. And my interest in adding genetics is not the same as when we started.
We did get some nice new daylilies that are only growing in our gardens from our seed purchases. We are interested in registering some and offering them. And we introduced our first two this year. We are excited about the possibilities from the seedlings we planted this spring. We have about 1200 growing in seedling beds and about 4 times that many to plant now. If you ask Ashton, he thinks much better flowers are on the way. We look forward to sharing in the seedling forums next spring.
I have a thousand cups and fridge bags of seeds from this year. Hey, something to do in the winter when waiting on spring gardening.
Terry

One other interest from this season is the mini's that we used. My two daughters don't have the same gardening interest as Ashton so I am trying to get them going on their own hybridizing. How about Mieryan's Mini's? She has a big brother to give lots of advice (he is good at giving his sisters advice). Maybe in two years we will be showing pics of new mini's from this year's seeds.
Terry

Terry - I have quite a few seeds from this year too. Not nowhere near what you have though. I have so many of my OWN promising crosses that it is going to be difficult to choose what to grow out this Fall/Winter. I don't have the land like y'all do to grow them all out this coming year.

I wonder how long they will stay viable in the refrigerator??? Or maybe I just need to toss those that I don't choose to grow out anytime soon in the cleared off area next to my property and let em grow and see what blooms!

I think what I really need to do is focus on what I am wanting to create with a cross. I love patterns and big eyes. There are so many lovely daylilies out there, but I am just drawn to those eyes and patterns. I don't know what it is, but I am not alone as I see so many new intros nowadays that have what I like!

My other goal of course is foliage. I have to create some rust resistant seedlings. That is actually my top priority since the daylilies only bloom for a short time and then the rest of the year here it is just foliage. So it has to look good year round! I've been acquiring rust resistant registered cultivars this year. With those, I will cross with some of my seedlings to add (hopefully) some variety and rust resistance. I have to create my parent plants to use in my hybridizing. (My own signature parent seedlings that make desirable children that I like.) I think I am starting to get the idea.

I look at what other hybridizers are creating and what they are using as parents. I can see their plan and direction which helps me to determine what my plan and direction should be. (I am NOT copying their direction, but trying to determine what I like and what I should use in my hybridizing program.) Some of the registered plants I have now will be used to see what I might be able to create that will also have nice foliage. It's almost like putting a puzzle together. You have to fit the pieces in the right place at the right time to obtain success. What a challenge, yet such fun!

Boy! If I had the land, I'd really be going gung ho! That is the main downside to my hybridizing program ... lack of garden space.
I simply need to cull plants. That's going to be tough for me......

Terry - I love the idea of mini's created by your daughters! A family of hybridizers! What fun!

Terry, would you care to share pics of the ones you registered? I can only wish my girls like gardening. Maybe someday when they get older. My son loves growing veggies and I think when he gets his own home he will also grow more flowers. He has made a few crosses before.

Here they are.

Mine, (Ashton)

Dad's, (Terry's)

https://www.picturetrail.com/s...

Ashton

As I said before on another thread, but I love saying it again ... Congrats on 2 beautiful new intros from Father and Son hybridizers! Keeping it in the family .... what a concept!

Thank Becky,

Here are a couple of crosses that we just planted in a new seedling bed.
These are just two crosses made with our seedlings and an example of why we are excited about some of these new babies.


Seedling #12-450 x Cosmic Kaleidoscope
27 plants of this cross


Seedling #12-205 x Colorful Etchings

Terry

Both of the parents you are using make some great children! I have always liked Cosmic Kaleidoscope. But I don't have it and I don't have any seedlings that are a cross of it!

My plant of choice of course (as everyone knows) is Dragonfly Dawn. That cultivar had me at Hello! I plan to use the children I have of that cross to cross with some 1.0 rust resistant cultivars. I have some pretty faces, but they don't have the rust resistance I am looking for. So I guess you could say my immediate hybridizing direction is definitely rust resistance.

Ashton has Dragonfly Dawn and has used it the past two years in his hybridizing. The first seedlings from it should bloom next year.
Looking forward to see some of these seedlings.

Me, too!

OMG. Seedlings and crosses....I am really overwhelmed by what you all are doing, I wish I had the time, space, organizational skills, patience, etc!!!! Beautiful, all of these new creations, by G_d, with a little help from his helpers!

Here are 3 first year seedlings. We have a few seeds from them. These are not from LA seeds.









Also planted lots of seedlings from some blue eyed dips to see what we get. Most are crossed with Carpenter's kaleidoscopes.
I used LW Calico Blues and have 100 seedlings. Crystal Blue Persuasion, Dragon Dreams, and several Nikki Schmith x Blue Oasis seedlings have produce a couple hundred more seedlings.
Spring, Summer, Fall, and waiting for spring as we go thru the seasons to get to next bloom season for our DL fixes.

Terry

It is very exciting, reading about your experiences with crosses, and outcomes. Now you see, outsiders to "the addiction" would NEVER get it. I have finally found a place in the world, here!!!

Welcome, yes this is a site of hard core gardeners

It is really just doing something that interests you and learning as you go.
Probably most people who are crossing DL's have some set goals or objectives that they are working toward. Not that I don't have my goals for hybridizing, but my focus is not very narrow. I like every form of DL and every flower size. My objectives are more about really good garden plants that have enough buds to put on a show. Then I want extended bloom and re-bloom all with pretty faces. While they won't all be everything we want, there is also the place for extending the bloom season with early, mid, and late blooming cultivars.

I also use older cultivars in hybridizing and I have been collecting some older DL's that I want to use in the future. So for me, it is not about the latest or new DL's that are available, but just plants that I want to try growing and then crossing them for experiment.

Terry

I agree with you Terry. I have been using some older cultivars as well. About 3 years ago I made a lot of crosses with Frans Hal, just out of curiosity I guess and here is one that I really like. Not a real pretty face but lots of branching and bud count.

We also have seedlings that can be used for their plant habits and genetics. These may be really good, even outstanding seedlings in many respects where the bloom is not unique enough to be an introduction. You may be able to imagine possibilities of crosses that could make the next introduction using these step or next step types of plants for hybridizing.



This Dan Tau x Cosmic Kaleidoscope seedling #12-346 is a good example. Since the first year it bloomed, it sends up multiple scapes and produces lots of large flowers that have improved with each bloom season. It is not so unique for an introduction but has so many good qualities that I have crossed it with several different daylilies for eyes and patterns. A little improvement for a patterned eye zone or an unusual color or shape of eye and keep the outstanding bloom habit on super strong scapes and we have something. The first seedlings from these experiments should bloom next spring.

Your Frans Hal seedling may just need crossed with right daylily to make the pretty face to go with the buds and branches.

Terry