Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Snowy Stella (Huben 07)



Snowy Stella (Huben 07) 24 E Re 3.25, NearWhite Self, Dor Dip
Seedling number: MH0257C

At any northern nursery, Stella De Oro sells like hotcakes because customers are told it reblooms. The question most often heard is “Do you have it in other colors?”

At last, Stella De Oro’s rebloom is available in a near-white.

Snowy Stella is definitely a near-white, and definitely a very strong northern rebloomer. It increases very well, has an excellent stature, 16 buds on erect scapes, blooms are well presented, has a nice clump form, and pretty much all the fans rebloom. Scapes are somewhat staggered too: that prevents gaps in the bloom.

Compared to Stella De Oro, the flowers are similar in size and form. The scapes have twice as many buds, and the continual rebloom is far more certain and abundant. The plants are slightly shorter, and bloom starts a week or two later.

It has a few minor faults: it's not the whitest white (it is tinged with apricot, though it beats most recent tetraploids), the throat bleaches from green to yellow in the sun, the pistil is sometimes curly or small (as in White Lemonade), and it's only an OK pod parent: doesn't produce that many seed.

Many people have tried and failed to produce northern rebloomers in other colors. Snowy Stella (MH0257C) took 10 years, 4 generations, thousands of seedlings, the rebloom genetics of Apps, Millikan, and Sobek, and the near-white genetics of Millikan, Hansen, and Gates. The ancestry is:

Snowy Stella: (Winter Wonderland * Early And Often) * (Sunshine On Clouds * Early And Often)

Sunshine On Clouds: (Happy Returns * Deicer) * (Three Seasons * Monica Marie).
Early And Often: Sunny Honey * (Three Seasons * Tuscawilla Tranquility).

The secret to the breeding of Snowy Stella is the poor conditions for rebloom in the breeding beds. Dry, poor soil; shade and root competition from trees; crowding and low heat in a coastal zone 6. If Snowy Stella will rebloom under those conditions, it will rebloom anywhere. Its grandparent, Early And Often, has demonstrated this principle.

There are only 3 pieces for sale this year. One I'll sell at the Can Am Classic this spring, one at the NEDS spring sale, and one probably at the daylily internet auction. No more will be sold until 2009. A few people are trialing (and increasing) it this year: Sobek (MA), Derrow (WV), Kamensky (MI), and Harmon (NH).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Mike,

We will be pleased and honoured to have Snowy Stella in the auction at our upcoming Can-Am Classic this year. Thanks so much for this very generous offer! I can feel my bidding arm gettin itchy already.

Great website BTW. All the best.

Dave Mussar
President, Ontario Daylily Society

Anonymous said...

Hi Mike,

Thank you very much for donating your 2007 introductions, ICE TRUMPETS and SNOWY STELLA, to the NEDS 2007 Members May Auction. Paul and I are so happy we were the high bidders. We'll take very good care of them!

Paul & Lisa Bourret
Maine
zone 5