Pam and Leslie - Thank you for all the great suggestions and encouragement! I am pretty much on-board with most all your ideas. I have PlantStep and have been using it for 2 years for my daylily hybridizing. I am not brand new to hybridizing. But I am new to figuring out how to get from here to where I want to be with seedlings.
I don't have a large piece of land, so I am limited on how many I can grow in my residential yard. I will be removing some to plant where I work (as my way of culling those I am not going to keep). I do use Plant Step program for my record-keeping of my seedlings. Started using that program 2 years ago.
I currently am using colored paper clips for the pods. But I am finding that in the heat of Florida, they tend to fade, so I am constantly replacing them with new ones. I like the idea of using blinds to make pod labels. What do you use to "write" the name or code on each label? I have tried using pencil, markers, etc. and have found that fabric paint markers are the only thing that holds up in my climate. I can't find really fine point paint though to use for such tiny labels. I do have some of those pods bags. I might have to locate them and use them. I don't have 1000 of pods though and do check them every day to see which ones are ripening. I've already collected my first 10 seeds from this year's parents. I've done the same thing over the past several years which is why I have managed to grow over 300 daylilies in my little yard.
Thanks for the tip on Tim Herrington's plants. I will do some googling about his daylilies! I honestly am gardening on a VERY tight budget. So that is one of 2 reasons I grow seedlings (most all from seeds) rather than purchase named daylilies. What some gardeners spend on 1 daylily cultivar is my gardening budget for the entire year! But I also like growing seedlings because I love the thrill of seeing a first ever bloom! Just looking at some of the ones I've had bloom this year is absolutely the best reason I grow from seeds.
And I do occasionally purchase seeds on the LA. I look for genetics in those crosses that I like so that I have them to use in my hybridizing efforts. I've gotten some good crosses on the LA! And I've also been extremely fortunate to get some seeds given to me which have also grown into some mighty fine seedlings! Thanks to Sandi, Mike, and Cindy here on ATP!!!
There are NO daylily nurseries locally that I am aware of. None. In fact, most plant nurseries don't even sell daylilies here. So checking around and talking to hybridizers locally is not even an option. .... I also work full time so jumping in my old car and visiting daylily nurseries in other areas of Florida is not something I can do easily. I am very grateful for the internet because that is how I learn so much. It would be wonderful to visit and actually have a face to face conversation with a hybridizer but don't know if that will ever happen given my circumstances. But it sure would be awesome if I could!
Thanks so much Leslie for such a great post of ideas!!!!
My questions really pertain to HOW do I get from what I have currently growing in my garden to what I want. Do you concentrate on scapes first? Or flowers? Or foliage? Where is the best place to start first if you want to create rust-resistant, scapes and flowers that wow you? BTW - I am also a chemical-free gardener. I garden for butterflies and hummingbirds, so I don't use any pesticides or fungicides.
I am on Brian Reeders email list. I received a recent email from him about daylily foliage. When I read his emails, I can related to just about everything he writes. And his email was very timely about foliage. I am dealing with all the rust, leaf streak (possibly), bugs, etc. I have a border of daylilies in my front yard. The flowers are beautiful, but the foliage is a big concern for me. It just doesn't look so great. I want my plants to look good whether they are blooming or not.
I have 4 beds that I grow my daylilies in. Three are in the backyard and then there is the long border in the front yard. Here is a photo of my front border of daylilies. I wished the foliage looked much better!:
