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.)

Visit to George Doorakian

The phone rang, and I received the summons.  I had a guest: I commandeered him and his vehicle.  I had a doctors appointment: the heck with it.  We raced to Bedford, because George Doorakian wanted to show us his latest.  They don't really need any comment beyond "ooooh, aaaaahh!"

Can anybody guess Georges favorite color?

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.

Clump Photo Contest! Free Intros as Prizes!

While I've sold a lot of my introductions all over the US, Canada, and Europe, I very seldom see them at their peak as established clumps in gardens.

So here's the deal. I'll send a free introduction of mine for the best clump photos of my cultivars. I'm planning on between 3 and 12 winners. You don't have to be the grower, just the photographer, and the picture is mine to use if you win. I'll post the winners late summer or fall here. Prizes will be shipped in spring: I'll provide a list of choices.

Please don't send in 500 pictures at a time: just a few of your best will do.

Click away! Send pictures to me at mike@huben.us in as high a resolution as they come.

Bearers Of Beauty: Understanding Scapes

For some reason, I forgot to link to a copy of my Spring '09 article until now:

Bearers Of Beauty: Understanding Scapes

2010 Introductions

This year, for the first time, I'm introducing six varieties. Three from my long-running Continuous Rebloomer lines, including my first two pinks. And at long last I'm able to introduce some hybrids from my newer goals, Dark Scapes and Tall and Small.

As a small-scale breeder, I don't introduce a fixed number each year: I introduce only the exceptional. And I have to wait until I have a supply. That would take a long time in my poor garden: I'm indebted to Bob Sobek, Martin Kamensky, Mike Derrow, and Carl & Marlene Harmon for increasing my seedlings.

I've been inspired by H. A. Fischer's hybridizing of tall and small flowers such as Corky and Golden Chimes. These have graceful, swaying scapes with lots of branches and buds and extraordinary plant characteristics. Unfortunately, he stopped about 40 years ago. Bob Sobek has worked in a similar vein with Aerial and Echo The Sun. Now I'm taking the tall and small theme beyond the merely yellow: into creams and melons and towards white and pink. Along the way, I am introducing rebloom into these lines. Aerial already has some darkness in its scapes: I'm increasing the darkness and bringing the flower colors and forms into more modern directions.

Continuous rebloomers have been my main focus, and this year I'm introducing light pinks with good colors. The Apps continuous rebloomers, while excellent plants, have usually lacked the light, clear colors we crave.

And finally, I'm introducing some of these because not only are they exceptional garden plants, but they are excellent breeders passing on rebloom, dark scapes, melon (in addition to yellow) and good branching.

From Darkness Comes Light (Huben 10)

34 E 3.5, Cream Self, Dor Dip Noc
(Aerial * Boston Symphony) * A Small Multitude
Seedling number: MH0231D

A breakthrough! I've long admired the dark scapes on Corky and Golden Chimes, but I wanted to get away from the yellow to cleaner, brighter colors. Here's a distinctive light cream self with wide petals, ruffles, and plenty of green in the throat on inky purple scapes!  The buds add to the beauty with their intriguing dark shading at base and tip.  This one should win an award.

From Darkness Comes Light is incredibly floriferous because it has high scape density.  It rapidly increases to a beautiful, fountain-shaped clump where each of the slender fans has a splendidly branched scape with up to 25 buds and 4 branches (in my poor garden.)  The graceful dark scapes come from Corky ancestry on both sides; neither parent has more than a touch of darkness on the scapes.

Dark scapes seem elusive: from some angles they appear black, while from others they appear green.  Heat, moisture, and light seem to affect how dark the scape is in my garden: I expect that the scapes will be much darker in most other gardens than in mine.  This picture exaggerates the contrast a little, and only the last 8 inches of scape are colored for me, but the scapes are beautifully purple.  Not as deeply purple as Sir Blackstem, but far more graceful and beautiful.  These scapes stay erect unless they are heavily podded.

Another distinctive feature of From Darkness Comes Light is the extraordinary quality of the foliage.  This year I noticed that it showed no signs of senescence or disease at Harmon Hill Farm at the end of August.  Unlike the gnarled, stubby foliage of Sir Blackstem, this foliage is graceful and slender.  The photo above was taken August 31st.

From Darkness Comes Light is terrifically fertile, setting pods either way with ease.  First results have shown some seedlings with excellent branching, much darker scapes and exciting bud colors.  A few have left the yellow behind, and are melons or clear, pale reds.  I've made a LOT of seed from this one!

Ace Up My Sleeve (Huben 10)

22 E Re 4, NearWhite Self, Dor Dip
Sunshine On Clouds * Early And Often
Seedling: MH0067D

I knew from the first rebloom that this northern continuous rebloomer would be an introduction. It was my first near-white continuous rebloomer. Then I knew that I would never introduce it, because it increased extremely slowly in my yard. After three years, I had three fans. I sent one to Mike Derrow, and it increased like crazy under his more southern care, enough that I can now introduce it anyhow.

And this is one that you want if you breed rebloomers. It throws great kids: all of my near-white rebloomers are kids of Ace Up My Sleeve. It can throw size, wide petals, whiteness, green throats, and rapid increase. It only has 9 buds per scape, but routinely throws three sets of scapes for me with the bonus that all the sets of scapes are the same height. And it is very fertile, setting big pods with lots of seed. In its own right, Ace Up My Sleeve is quite pretty. It blooms about 2 weeks after Stella De Oro.

This is not a plant for gardens as miserable as mine, unless you need it for breeding. In gardens with better conditions, it should be quite good. For breeding, it is one of a kind.

Boston Marathon (Huben 10)

24 E Re 3.5, Pink w'Rose Eye, Dor Dip Noc
Frequent Flier * Early And Often
Seedling: MH0013F

Boston Marathon does not know when to quit: it is one of my strongest continuous rebloomers.  The color has variable amounts of pink and apricot (as you can see below), but always has a triangular form and that gorgeous triangular green throat.  There's no other northern rebloomer that looks like it.



First flower open is about a week after Stella De Oro, and it doesn't quit until the season's finish line at frost.  (At Harmon Hill Form: in my garden it is satisfied with three sets of scapes.)  The scapes have the typical low budcount of a rebloomer (10, which is more than Stella), but they just keep coming, without a break.  It's a vigorous plant making a tidy, tight clump that divides easily.

I use Boston Marathon extensively in my breeding: it throws lots of strong rebloomers when crossed with strong rebloomers.  It carries white and color clarity, and the kids can range from melon to pink to white, with and without eyes, wide or narrow petalled.  If you want to breed for light, clear-colored rebloomers, this is the one of mine that I recommend.

Let Me Be Clear (Huben 2010)

26 EM Re 4, Pink w' Faint Band, Dor Dip
Frequent Flier * (Millie Schlumf * Early And Often)
Seedling: MH0203D

Let Me Be Clear is simply the clearest colored continuous rebloomer to date. Most "pink" rebloomers are distinguished by dull, muddy colors that get worse when the sun hits them. Not this icy pink! Compare its color clarity to Lullaby Baby (on the right):


(Southerners, please note that Lullaby Baby is not white in the north, but much more a clear, pale apricot pink.)

Let Me Be Clear increases rapidly to make a dense clump with outstanding foliage. It blooms three sets of scapes per year for me, and well into October at Harmon Hill Farm. Scapes have only 9 buds, but that's not a problem for rebloomers with a never ending procession of scapes. It's not a strong seed setter, but it does throw strongly reblooming kids when crossed with other continuous rebloomers.

A Small Multitude (Huben 10)

44 EM 2.5, Gold Self, Dor Dip Noc
Corky * Early And Often
Seedling: MH0042D

Imagine a host of tiny, spatulate yellow flowers dancing on tall, nicely branched scapes. This is a delicate, airy-looking variety that looks more species-like than most species. If there are other daylilies out there like A Small Multitude, they must be forgotten because I haven't seen them.

This parent of From Darkness Comes Light is an extremely versatile breeder of tall, reblooming and unusual form seedlings, sometimes with dark scapes and more importantly with melon flowers.



For example, MH0761C above has shed the yellow and become melon, and is moving in the right direction for breeding hanging daylily flowers. Even more impressive:


MH0761E above is spatulate, melon, well branched, and rebloomed this first year.  Perhaps I'll have spidery rebloomers in a generation or two.

I've used A Small Multitude quite a bit in my breeding and even though it is yellow I have looked forwards to the delicate beauty of its bloom every year.  There's nothing in my garden like it.

Umpty Kajillion (Huben 10)

42 E 3.5, Melon w'Cream Polychrome, Dor Dip Emo
Aerial * Boston Symphony
Seedling: MH0047Q

This delightful melon-cream flower floats on tall, graceful, well-branched scapes. I usually count 6 branches (including the terminals) and 40+ buds.  One year I carried a few of the spent scapes to a meeting in the winter, and was greeted by gasps: everybody wanted to know what variety produced them. You can see from the picture below how gracefully the wide branches carry the blooms so that they don't interfere.


The only real fault of Umpty Kajillion is that it wasn't what I was breeding for, it's only half way to my goal.  I wanted a white with those scapes, and of course I'm breeding with Umptry Kajillion for that:

I call this picture "When good hybridizers go bad!"  It shows a few scapes of Umpty Kajillion loaded with pods.  This one has amazing pod fertility.  I recommend Umpty Kajillion as a parent for pretty much any color tall and small breeding.  It passes height, branching, and small flowers with green throats and carries (recessively) dark scapes, clear colors and white.  It does have a dominant petal, which would be a fault for me if it didn't open so flat and well.  As you can see from this picture,  Umpty Kajillion comes close to self-cleaning: the previous day's blooms are well-furled and not too conspicuous.  They furl even better the second day.  I think I need to breed for daylilies that conceal the paper tags and strings....

2010 Prices and Ordering

Scroll to the end of this post for the two sources.

	From Darkness Comes Light (Huben 10) 34 E 3.5, Cream Self, Dor Dip Noc Dark Scapes. A breakthrough! Cream blooms on inky purple scapes, 25 buds, 4 branches. Exceptional plant habits!	$100 sf
	Ace Up My Sleeve (Huben 10) 22 E Re 4, NearWhite Self, Dor Dip Northern Continuous Rebloom. Increases slowly, but an exceptional breeder of continuous rebloomers.	$50 sf
	Boston Marathon (Huben 10) 24 E Re 3.5, Pink w'Rose Eye, Dor Dip Noc Northern Continuous Rebloom. A pretty pink rebloomer with a great green throat. Blooms until frost.	$50 sf
	Let Me Be Clear (Huben 10) 26 EM Re 4, Pink w' Faint Band, Dor Dip Northern Continuous Rebloom. The clearest pink rebloomer. Excellent foliage. Blooms until frost.	$50 sf
	A Small Multitude (Huben 10) 44 EM 2.5, Gold Self, Dor Dip Noc Tall And Small. Minute, species-like spatulate flowers on tall, well-branched scapes. Extraordinary breeder.	$50 sf
	Umpty Kajillion (Huben 10) 42 E 3.5, Melon w'Cream Polychrome, Dor Dip Emo Tall And Small. 40 buds, 6 branches. Exceptionally floriferous, terrific scapes.	$50 sf
	Huben 2010 Introductions Collection All six introductions. A savings of $100.	$250

Almost all previous Huben introductions are available, excepting Snowy Stella and Ice Trumpets this year. Those two are available in the collection.

	Vanilla Stella (Huben 09) 18 E Re 3, NearWhite Self, Dor Dip Northern Continuous Rebloom. Starts 10 days after Stella De Oro. Very rapid increase.	$100 df
	Begin With A Bang (Huben 09) 34 EE 4.5, Red Blend, Dor Dip Starts blooming a week before Stella De Oro, and blooms well into mid season. Extraordinary foliage.	$75 df
	Vanilla Gorilla (Huben 08) 44 M 8, Cream Self, Dor Dip Ufo A striking, tall UFO with excellent branching and budcount.	$60 df
	Snowy Stella (Huben 07) 24 E Re 3.25, NearWhite Self, Dor Dip Northern Continuous Rebloom. The whitest northern rebloomer, available at last! Very rapid increase.	collection only
	Ice Trumpets (Huben 07) 30 E 3.5, NearWhite Self, Dor Dip Emo Resembles an Easter Lily: no other daylily like it. Excellent budcount, blooms high above foliage.	collection only
	Sunshine On Clouds (Huben 06) 26 E Re 4.25, Cream w'Pale Midrib, Dor Dip Early Bud Builder. Brilliant pale cream, very long blooming. Breeds strong rebloomers.	$40 df
	Kanai Sensei (Huben 06) 18 E Re 3, Melon Polychrome, Dor Dip Emo Northern Continuous Rebloom. Very rapid increase, could be used as an edger.	$20 df
	Twist Again (Huben 03) 28 E Re 5, YellowGreen Self, Dor Dip Noc Northern Continuous Rebloom. No other northern rebloomer has this color. Green holds in the sun.	$20 df
	Delicate Lace (Huben 03) 18 E Re 4, Cream Self, Dor Dip Fra Ext Northern Continuous Rebloom. A rock garden daylily: small plant, large bloom. Very rapid increase.	$20 df
	Flowers Of Sulphur (Huben 03) 20 E Re 4.25, Yellow Self, Dor Dip Vfr Ext Emo Northern Continuous Rebloom. A total self: even the throat is the same pure yellow.	$10 df
	Early And Often (Huben 01) 26 E Re 4, Peach Polychrome, Dor Dip Ext Fra Noc Northern Continuous Rebloom. Starts 5 days after Stella De Oro. Very rapid increase. HM 2006.	$15 df
	Previous Huben Introductions Collection All eleven previous introductions.	$350 df

I'm thrilled that my introductions are being sold through both Harmon Hill Farm and Partridge Hill Gardens. I highly recommend both gardens for the quality of the plants they ship, good service, and their excellent selections. Both ship internationally. Please contact them to purchase, but feel free to contact me with questions about the introductions.

Harmon Hill Farm
Carl and Marlene Harmon
49 Ledge Rd.
Hudson, NH 03051
Phone:(603) 880-6228
E-mail: harmonhill25@comcast.net

Partridge Hill Gardens
Ellen Laprise
23 Partridge Hill Road
Dudley, MA 01571
Phone: (508) 943-1885
E-mail: gentian1@charter.net

Speaking Schedule

I speak frequently on a number of gardening and daylily subjects, in the US and Canada (so far.) Contact me to make arrangements.

This post will be updated (and the posting date changed) as new lectures are scheduled. I am normally present at all NEDS meetings, and the spring and summer auctions.


Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 at 1 PM; Wakeman Conservation Center, Vineyard Haven, MA.
Martha's Vineyard Garden Club
1 PM: "New England Gardening, Especially Daylilies."

PAST LECTURES:

Saturday, Oct 17, 2009; Goodnow Library, Sudbury, MA.
New England Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society
11 AM: "Setting Up a Hybridization Program and Daylilies for the Rock Garden."
1 PM: "Discussion: New Directions in Plant Selection."

Sunday, Nov 1, 2009; Deep Cut Gardens, 352 Red Hill Rd, Middletown, NJ.
Garden State Daylily Growers Club
1:30 PM: "Reblooming Northern-Hardy Daylilies"

Thursday, Nov 12, 2009; First Parish Congregational Church, One Church Street, Wakefield, MA
Wakefield Garden Club
8 PM: "New England Gardening, Especially Daylilies."

Saturday, Jan 9, 2010; Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive, Boyleston, MA.
New England Daylily Society
10 AM: NEDS Annual Hybridizers Showcase