MH0873D

38 M 4, Purple Self, Dor Dip

MH0377C * MH0380Z

Yet another really sunfast dark red-purple!  Not as clear a color as MH0875B: the polite term is "smoky" and some people like that color.  I think it comes from underlying yellow (and the throat shows a fair amount of yellow.)  Here it is after an 90 degree day of blistering sun and breeze that burned, melted, faded and bleached many other dark-colored daylilies.

It seems that the most significant effect of all that sun was to remove the stamens.  Secondarily, the bloom is slightly lighter colored.

Another feature of this plant is that the first scape is a perfect 4-branched scape; it has 2 long laterals and a terminal V.  I'm making the obvious cross to MH0875B; other crosses will be onto the clearest-colored sunfast seedlings.  Maybe a backcross onto Red Spire.

MH0848D

38 EM 3.5, NearWhite Self, Dor Dip
MH0219I * Ice Trumpets

At last, I've gotten a great scape on a tall-and-small near-white trumpet.  I love the way the petals are a little above the sepals: the strong recurve gives MH0848D a beautiful sculptural appearance from the side view.  Over a yard tall, with 5 branches and 21 buds.  MH0848D is a sibling to the much whiter MH0461F: I remade the cross long because despite the perfection of form and color, MH0461F never developed a decent scape and hardly increased in 6 years.  But the off-white color is very interesting: it looks to me as if there is a green sheen over the petals and sepals.  If you enlarge the picture, and look at the top petal and sepal where they curve backwards, there is a darker, greenish shade.  I've noticed that in a number of other seedlings this year.  Only one fault: the blooms start to senesce in the early evening.

Look at that scape!

What to cross it with?  Why, its sibs of course.  And everything else that's really white and needs a better scape, such as MH0447A.  And my light lavender bicolor, MH0853L, tall trumpet on trumpet.  And MH0751A, a very curious kid of MH0461F that is a greenish yellow with vigor, a taller scape, and just as good branching and budcount.

MH0751A

MH0837A

24 EM 4, NearWhite Self, Dor Dip

MH0416A * MH0321A

A breakthrough in green-throated whites!  I'm not entirely sure, but it looks as if there is a green sheen over the centers of the petals and especially the sepals.  A lousy plant with few buds and melts a bit on bad days.  This was from a cross I deliberately made for green on white.  The parent MH0416A (below) was cream, but shrieked green at me, so I put my best near-white rebloomer onto it.  I just love the big, looping ruffles: my favorite kind.  And the "gaposis" (sepals visible between the petals) shows more green throat to its advantage.  The petals and sepals are fully reflexed, and it opens perfectly.  No sign of rebloom yet this year, but there's still time.  The pod parent is from rebloom lines, and the pollen parent is one of the continual rebloomers.

MH0416A

MH0875B

36 EM 4, Purple Self, Dor Dip

MH0377C * Purple Sphere

My quest for tall-and-small sunfast reds has turned up an extraordinary sunfast purple with excellent branching and budcount.  Bob Sobek came by, saw it, stopped in his tracks and said "Wow, what is THAT?"  The first scape is fairly tall at 36 inches, with 4 long branches and 16 buds.  We could quibble about the color, whether it has a dark eye or light edge, but the sun makes the color fairly even.

Here I'm comparing MH0875B to the excellent Bela Lugosi at 1PM to show the better sunfastness.  BL has curled at the edges, slicked and melted a little.  MH0875B shows none of that: the color is slightly duller.  In the evening, the revived color glows.

I want a brighter color, smaller flower, taller and better branched scape as my goal.  But this is an impressive stop along the way.  The pod parent, MH0377C, is a smaller, taller, brilliant, velvety red that isn't nearly as sun resistant.  Maybe I'll backcross to it.  The pollen parent, Purple Sphere by Kirby (below) is one of the clearest strong purples I know of and not sunfast.  But it is a horrible performer for me in my poor growing conditions.

MH0853L

42 EM 3.5, Lavender Bicolor, Dor Dip

Sobek 93.36 * MH0447A

My quest for tall-and-small trumpets has succeeded, but this is just the beginning.  MH0853L is sunfast, extravagently diamond dusted, upfacing, clear-colored, and brilliant.  4 branches and 17 buds on this first scape.

There are two sibs that are also worth keeping: they are more purple, slightly shorter, and just as nice.  Any of these are good enough to introduce.  They stand out in a row of sibs that may look nice, but melt badly (as both parents can) or open poorly (as Sobek 93.36 does.)

MH0735X

32 EE 4.25, Melon Polychrome, Dor Dip

(Sir Blackstem * Boston Symphony) * From Darkness Comes Light

This sib to MH0735M was last year's tantalizing wait.  It was the first thing in the bed of 1000 seedlings to throw up a scape, and that scape was the blackest I'd ever seen in my garden.  That was late May.  It then halted development, and waited until July to open its first bloom.  I've never seen a halt in scape development like that before.  When it finally bloomed, I was jubilant because it was not simply yellow.  It starts off with a fair amount of yellow (photo below), but that fades in the sun leaving melon (photo above.)

As in my rebloom program, leaving the yellow behind and getting melon is a good step towards near white.  It's not nearly as clean a melon as its sib, but it is much darker scaped, so I've crossed them together.  Last year I put this pollen on many things, and so I have 150 seedlings of it coming along.

Another great feature is the deep red sepal backs.  Unfortunately, it is not consistent since the color develops with exposure to light.  Some sepals have relatively little red.

I plan to backcross this one to SIR BLACKSTEM (below), its grandparent.  It turns out that SB can throw melon.  I hate the gnarled scapes and haystack foliage of SB, but the scape coloring is the best I've seen.  SB also has slightly better flower form.  MH0735X has excellent foliage and beautiful, graceful, tall scapes.  Quite a number of other dark-scaped seedlings will open in the next two weeks as well, increasing the breeding opportunities.

MH0735M

36 EE 3.75, Melon Self, Dor Dip

(Sir Blackstem * Boston Symphony) * From Darkness Comes Light

I've been waiting for this one to open with bated breath, worried that it might be yellow or cream rather than melon.  The branching and budcount are so good: 4 branches and 33 buds that I count today on the first flower opening.  The darkness of the scapes is slightly exaggerated in this photo, and the scape is not quite as dark as on its sibling MH0735X, but it has long branches, delightful height above the foliage, and red backs of the sepals with black tips.  The green throat accents the bright melon (slightly brighter than pictured) color beautifully.  This pollen will go onto everything this year!  A true extra early: Stella De Oro is about due to open, but hasn't yet.  Excellent progress towards near-white on dark scapes!  Larger, taller, and with more buds than its parent From Darkness Comes Light, and also with excellent foliage.

MH0708C

22 EE Re 3.5, Cream Self, Dor Dip

Busting Out All Over * Vanilla Stella

This extra early rebloomer starts at least a week before Stella De Oro, June 1 this year in my garden, and roughly the same time as its parent Busting Out All Over (Sobek 05).  As you can see in the comparison below, it's a much clearer cream color than the melon polychrome BOAA on the left.

MH0708C has instant rebloom and 14 buds.  Like it's parent Vanilla Stella, it has an exquisitely green throat and nice ruffling.  Fans seem rather large so far, and I'll have to evaluate how this looks in a clump.  But it's by far the earliest rebloomer I've got, and I'll breed with it heavily this year.

MH0382A

30 EE 3.5, NearWhite Self, Dor Dip Noc

(Boston Symphony * yezoensis) * Ice Trumpets

This lovely extra early cream is likely a future introduction.  This year it opened the first of June, long before Stella De Oro.  The scapes have 5 small branches with up to 30 buds: these are a bit crowded, and sometimes two open next to each other.  It should have a LONG blooming season, without rebloom.  The flowers furl well when they close, so that no grooming is necessary unless you're compulsive.  Compared to  the parent Ice Trumpets, the flowers look larger and fuller, the budcount is higher, the color is not as white, the throat is not as green and the scape branching isn't as good.  But it is at least 3 weeks earlier and there's nothing like it in the extra early season.

MH0515B

24 E Re 3, NearWhite Polychrome, Dor Dip
MH0013F * Vanilla Stella

Will the real color please stand up? These two photos are of the same flower, taken 3 hours apart. I don't think the flower color has changed significantly, but the lighting certainly has. The camera is more objective about lighting than our eyes.

MH0515B is my first seedling selection for this year: it very likely will be an introduction. It looks a lot like its parent 'Vanilla Stella', except that the overal color is whiter and thus contrasts more with the green throat and touches of yellow. The scapes are held more strongly erect and have more buds than 'Vanilla Stella'. Rebloom scapes are already on the way! It starts blooming with 'Early And Often' and 'Vanilla Stella', which is usually a week after 'Stella De Oro'.

This plant should be tough: it endured two winters unprotected in a tiny tree-tray cell because I was too busy to plant. 3/4 of its classmates died from that abuse.

The other parent, MH0013F is a planned introduction for next year (2010.) It's a great reboomer! Carl Harmon has a large clump of it ready to divide. But I haven't been able to come up; with a really good name. You can suggest names for MH0013F as responses to this post. If I use the name you suggest, I'll give you a fan of MH0013F as a gift when I introduce it.

MH0433P

24 EE 3.25, Yellow Self, Dor Dip
MH0039H * MH0067D = (Elfin * Early And Often) * Sunshine On Clouds * Early And Often

Long, fluorescent purple bracts! The first half of June, this plant looks as if it has weird trident-like purple flowers, that stand out and scream in the sea of daylily foliage before most even have scapes. It's a true EE, blooming about a week before Stella De Oro. The flower is plain, a pale yellow that dwarfs the bracts (which do dry out) and renders the appearance ordinary. MH0433P should carry melon, and I'm making some seed with others that have long purplish bracts. 4 branches and a good number of buds, but no rebloom. Imagine if those bracted scapes were emerging throughout the year, with white flowers contrasting with the purple bracts!

MH0378V

44 EM 3.5, Red Self, Dor Dip
Siloam Plum Tree * Red Spire

FUTURE INTRODUCTION. This one has it all, except sunfastness. On harsh days, the petals curl and slick, but they don't melt and they do return to perfection as soon as the heat is past. This brilliant fire engine red was a joy this summer, and produced quite a show on its 5 or 6 scapes with 6 way branching and 40 buds. I'd also marked this one in the spring for excellent foliage and increase. It is somewhat rhyzomatious: when I dig it this fall, I'll see just how much. Every bloom was pollinated, and it's carrying quite a load of pods, but none of the tall scapes have fallen or even leaned towards the sun! Rarely it shows some spotting from thrips, but it is quite rain fast.

MH0380Z

46 M 3.5, Purple Self, Dor Dip
Sobek 93.36 * Purple Sphere

This photo, with the sun shining through, is a little flattering: the actual color is a bit flatter with a very even velvety finish.  Branching an budcount are great, but the remarkable thing is how waxy and thrip resistant this one is.  I was watching the pale yellow thrips scurry all over the blooms all summer, but never saw any of the typical thrips damage: blotched petals, pimpled or distorted buds.  The buds are whitish and purple, with a waxy appearance, and the bracts on the scape also seem to resist desiccation and damage.  I'm crossing this one into my Red Spire derived lines and also with a number of others with white buds such as Forsyth White Buds and Central Park West.  The flowers open consistently perfectly.  This one has a rounder, more ruffled form than the Red Spire kids, and should improve them.  The scapes don't fall except when heavily loaded with pods.

MH0377C

44 M 3.5, Red Self, Dor Dip
(City Of Sin * Pardon Me) * Red Spire

This sib to MH0377A is a bright, velvety cherry red. Branching and budcount are extraordinary (at least 30 buds and 5 branches), as is its sunfastness (though not quite as sunfast as its sib.) I pollinated every bloom this year because this one has proven to be the most vigorous and rhyzomatious of the Red Spire kids to date. Red Spire itself increases slowly and doesn't do all that well in my poor conditions, but MH0377C greatly outperforms it. This fall it will be distributed to test gardens for increase.

MH0379B

MH0379B (Huben nr) 50 M 4.5, Purple Self, Dor Dip
(Sobek 93.36 * Red Spire)

If there's one thing I treasure besides brilliant, clear colors, it's sunfastness. And this seedling has both! So far it is displaying excellent foliage and increase. Budcount is fair and branching is excellent. The color is a deep, velvety grape or burgundy that does not slick. It has only one fault: when loaded with pods, the graceful, slender scapes fall. This is a likely introduction.

MH0203E

24 EM Re 4.75, Melon Polychrome, Dor Dip
Frequent Flier * (Millie Schlumf * Early And Often)

FUTURE INTRODUCTION. This three time continuous rebloomer is a symphony in pale pastels: you must click on the picture to study the colors more closely. The ruffling waves gracefully all over the place on these LARGE flowers. The foliage is excellent, and the increase is good too. Best of all, it has 17 buds, which is unusually many for a rebloomer.

MH0203D

26 EM Re 4, Pink w' Faint Band, Dor Dip
Frequent Flier * (Millie Schlumf * Early And Often)

FUTURE INTRODUCTION. There is no other continuous rebloomer in this clear, light pink. It produces three sets of scapes in my garden. Good increase, great foliage, wavy ruffles, and color clarity that's startling in the garden. Only 9 buds, but that's as good as Stella De Oro.

MH0377A

44 M 4, Red Self, Dor Dip
(City Of Sin * Pardon Me) * Red Spire

FUTURE INTRODUCTION. I wish the camera could capture velvety, deep, oxblood reds: this photo does not do justice to the striking color of this flower. The sheen from the velvet dulls the color for the camera, but not for your eye.

This is the first step in my tall-and-small red program, whose goal I describe as a "fountain of blood". This one is a really good step: it is the most sunfast red in my garden. It never slicked this past summer, while all other reds did. The branching is good (low branches!), the height is fine, and the budcount is adequate (20). But when I dug it from the seedling bed, I was surprised that it had slender, 8 inch rhyzomes like fulva! (And so did many of its sibs and half sibs from Red Spire.) Needless to say, my program will now bifurcate into clumpers and spreaders. If I can keep the deep color, sunfastness, and rhyzomes while putting different forms and sizes into its descendents, I'll be a happy man.

MH0321A

28 EM Re 4.5, NearWhite Self, Evr Dip
(Winter Wonderland * Early And Often) * (Sunshine On Clouds * Early And Often)

FUTURE INTRODUCTION. This one has it all except a modern form. It's the whitest, largest, best budded, and most vigorous of my near-white rebloomers. It's put up three sets of scapes. The flowers are just barely in the large category, heavily diamond dusted, green throated, lightly ruffled, and open well in cool weather. It's my second most heavily used parent for two years running. The foliage is excellent, it has 16 buds, and the scapes are erect.