Bud Builders
Monday, September 15, 2008
Sunday, September 14, 2008
One Time Rebloomers
Continuous Rebloomers
Saturday, September 13, 2008
MH0434E
36 EE 4, NearWhite Self, Dor Dip
Ice Trumpets * MH0207K = Ice Trumpets * (Boston Symphony * Early And Often) * (Millie Schlumf * Early And Often)
Unlike several of its sibs which are very near white with green throats, this one is clearly closer to a pale melon blend. But it is a true EE, blooming a few days before Stella De Oro with a good bagel shape, 4 branches and 16 buds. It has another fault, that it doesn't open well after cool nights. But it's still an improvement for breeding EE near-whites, and it should be carrying genes for whiter flowers with greener throats.
MH0437B
38 EE Re 3, Yellow Self, Dor Dip Noc
yezoensis * MH0207K = yezoensis * (Boston Symphony * Early And Often) * (Millie Schlumf * Early And Often)
Looks like a plain yellow with a small flower to me! But it has some superior qualities. It comes from my MH0207K (pictured at my old web site), which is one of my whitest, greenest throated, and best formed seedlings in the rebloom lines.
EAO next to MH0207K 20 E 3.5, NearWhite Self, Dor Dip Noc Ext
Combined with the greenish cast of yezoensis, I have a true EE mid-June bloomer that should carry white with green throats. It blooms a week before Stella De Oro on tall scapes with 5 branches, more than 20 buds, and some instant rebloom. The foliage is very good, and very erect, though I am afraid it has proven to go dormant in the late summer. Most yezoensis seedlings have tended to have falling scapes for me, but this one definitely doesn't! I've got a load of seed from it with early whites, to try to push the season for whites into the EE range while keeping that height and branching.
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!
MH0263I
30 E Re 4.5, Melon Self, Evr Dip
Millie Schlumf * Early And Often
This cross, MH0015, was so good that I remade it again as MH0263. Many of the kids were evergreen, and they came in pink, melon, and a break to near white (MH0015.5, pictured at my old web site.) MH0263I, pictured here, is the best of the melon kids. It has a NICE 21 buds, it's sunfast, the flowers are large and open well, it's a true early that blooms the last week of June, and it can have instant rebloom. It's evergreen, which might be a bad feature, but in my garden it's up and the foliage looks good long before most other evergreens. I'm not sure what's going on there, but I'm not going to complain: the foliage looks exceptional. I'm using this for developing large flowered continuous rebloomers, crossing the stronger rebloomers onto it. An Early And Often with large flowers would be a plus, wouldn't it! It doesn't increase particularly quickly, and the fans in the clump are too widely spaced: I like a clump tight enough that weeds won't grow in it well.
MH0320C
26 EM Re 5, NearWhite Self, Dor Dip
MH0032R * MH0067D = (Swiss Mint * Early And Often) * (Sunshine On Clouds * Early And Often)
This year, MH0320C was one of my outstanding breeders. The flowers are huge and upfacing, and a good near white (though not my destination near white.) It only has about 7 buds per scape: just like Stella De Oro. It has some rebloom for me: when I get it into other gardens, we'll see what it really does. But this offers size, modern form, ruffling, petal width, and rebloom all in one! The petals on the flower pictured were 2.5 inches wide on a 5 inch flower. I don't obsess over bagel forms, but I will admit they look good! Next year I'll use it even more. It blooms the second week of July: not as early as I want, but part of my plans for large continuous rebloomers that are not yellow. It's an early morning opener, and always is open perfectly when I step outside to pollinate at 5 AM.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Welcome Globe readers and others!
Today the Boston Globe newspaper had a very good article about me and my hybridizing. It's at:
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/house/articles/2008/08/31/a_budding_obsession_with_daylilies/?page=full
I generally don't sell daylilies except to daylily hybridizers and members of the NEDS and PDS daylily clubs. If you're interested in viewing or buying daylilies, let me point you to a list of local sources that I keep:
Favorite Links to Information, Nurseries, and Growers.
If you'd like to meet me or get into daylilies, the best thing to do would be to attend one of the New England Daylily Society (NEDS) meetings. The next meeting is October 4. I also highly recommend the Patriot Daylily Society (PDS), but I don't attend those meetings as frequently. Their next meeting is also October 4, but normally the meetings don't conflict.
Monday, August 11, 2008
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.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Vanilla Gorilla (Huben 08)
Vanilla Gorilla (Huben 08) 44 M 8, Cream Self, Dor Dip Ufo
(Jerry's Whirligig * Magic Of Oz)
Seedling number: MH0168
This daylily is named for Snowflake, the albino gorilla, who recently died.
This UFO measures about 8 inches, and has been drawing a great deal of attention at Carl Harmon's garden the past four years. 5 to 6 way branching, 20 to 24 buds. Pod and pollen fertile. This was a fun cross, partly to test the pod fertility of the enormous Jerry's Whirligig, and partly to see what happens in the way of large offspring.
Like Jerry's Whirligig, Vanilla Gorilla has wide petals in a cascade form: it reminds me of knuckle walking with the massive arms of a gorilla. Now, you could say some daylilies knuckle walk because the scapes fall, but Vanilla Gorilla's scapes stay upright.
I'm so focussed on my reblooming goals, that I essentially ignored this one, and it was rescued by Carl. Let this be a lesson to new hybridizers: trust other people to evaluate your plants and tell you what else is good.
Introductory price is $75 for a single fan. Available only through Harmon Hill Farm.
2008 Prices, Availability and Ordering
Welcome! This year again I have only one new introduction. I've also got a limited supply of some earlier introductions. Most of these are strong northern rebloomers which will rebloom under conditions where even STELLA DE ORO hesitates to rebloom: partial shade, sandy soils, and low heat.
I'm starting to move my sales to Harmon Hill Farm, run by Carl and Marlene Harmon. This year, they will be selling several of my introductions, and I will be selling others. In the future, they'll be selling more and more of mine: I don't have the room for production in my tiny yard.
Order early: I've sold out every year.
Available from:
Harmon Hill Farm
Carl and Marlene Harmon
49 Ledge Rd.
Hudson, NH 03051
Phone:(603)880-6228
E-mail: harmonhill25@comcast.net
Vanilla Gorilla, $75 single fan
Early And Often, $25 double fan
Flowers Of Sulphur, $10 double fan
Available from:
Mike Huben, 27 Winter St., Arlington, MA 02474
(781) 643-1534
<mhuben@world.std.com>
$5 shipping and handling per order.
Ice Trumpets, $50 double fan
Kanai Sensei, $40 double fan
Early And Often, $25 double fan
Delicate Lace, $25 double fan
Seek other sources for:
Twist Again, held for increase
Snowy Stella, held for increase
Sunshine On Clouds, held for increase
Frequent Flyer, contact Stephen Kendall
Jerry's Whirligig, contact Jerry Deschenes
About Mike Huben
I’m a modest man (indeed, I’m proud of my humility), so I’m not sure I like this idea of writing about the glory that is me. It used to be that we’d have one member write about another to prevent omphaloskeptic (navel-gazing), self-indulgent bragging that nobody else would be interested in. But in my case, how could that be a problem? After all, for me, there is no I in ego.
I’ve always been fascinated by flowers. My mother has a picture of me (at age 2) staring intently at a patch of petunias. I bought my first rosebush at age 6. At age 10, I saved my allowance for 18 weeks to buy carnivorous plants. At age 16, I made a large garden in my backyard of annuals and dahlias. When I went to college, I worked in the botany department’s garden and greenhouse.
Oh, there have been distractions along the way. I’ve had some other great, lifelong loves.
I’m an entomologist. My father showed me how to catch and pin butterflies at age 6. I developed a stooping posture in my youth from my ever downturned gaze, searching for insects where ever I walked. At Cornell, this passion exploded and I spent my spare time collecting and working in the insect collection. After college, I took two sabbatical years to collect insects in the US and Ecuador. I’ve specialized in an unusual wasp family (no, not the Bush family, ugh) and published 3 papers and two new genera. I’m also something of an expert on mites.
Geekdom came easily to me: first recreational mathematics in high school, and then a 30 year career in computer programming. But after 6 layoffs, changing jobs every year or two, and at least three complete changes in technology, I grew weary of the hitech scramble. My wife led the way: she’d taken the 50% pay cut to change to teaching. So I completed my BS (it only took me 30 years!), enrolled in a masters program, got certified to teach Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics, and now I’m a high-school math teacher at Boston Latin Academy.
As a proud geek, I always disdained physical activity, especially team sports. But somehow I always bicycled, jogged, trampolined, hiked, etc. I started Aikido, a Japanese martial art, 23 years ago. It’s a little like nurturant pro-wrestling: we defend ourselves by throwing people or pinning them in harmless ways. No bellowing, no blood, and even small women can do it. I’m a third degree black belt now, and I teach at 3 dojos. I also have a third degree black belt in Iaido, Japanese quickdraw sword. It’s not nurturant: it’s kill them first, by surprise if possible.
The real reason I started aikido was to meet women. And it worked: I met my wife Peggy at the Aikido dojo, and we fell for each other. We’ve been together 20 years now, and I have a 17 year old daughter, Carol, and a 14 year old son, Robert. The three of them occasionally help out in the garden and both kids have made a few crosses, but they’re not into plants or insects much. All of them like Aikido and math. Not my fault!
But I suppose you wanted to read something about daylilies.
About 20 years ago, I visited the Massachusetts Horticultural Society library and saw some copies of The Daylily Journal. There was a big, gaudy picture of a Salter hybrid on the cover, and my jaw hit the floor. Then I looked inside, saw the prices, and my jaw hit the floor again. I ignored daylilies until about 5 years later, when I came to my first NEDS meeting. Gaudy pictures! I bought a dozen or so at the $3 sale, and enjoyed their bloom. But they weren’t fancy enough, and their bloom period was so short!
The second year, I bought a bunch that were labeled as rebloomers: a longer season at last! But they didn’t rebloom. Even Stella De Oro didn’t rebloom for me for three years. And worse, most of the daylilies increased very slowly for me: Stella De Oro was the rare exception. Thus, I found my calling: to improve northern daylily behavior.
Somewhere around my third year, I bought the daylily of my dreams from Steve Greene: Monica Marie, by Lee Gates. A round, ruffled, pristine white of exceptional beauty. I wanted that, but with the vigor, profuse bloom, and rebloom of Stella De Oro. So in 1995, I made my first cross of Stella De Oro with Monica Marie..jpg)
Now, I had a pretty good idea of how to go about breeding plants: I had been a plant breeding major at Cornell. But I sought advice from the local diploid breeders, especially Bob Sobek and Phil Reilly. I also sought advice from the local garden judges on what makes a good daylily; from Mary Collier Fisher, Darlyn Wilkinson, Curt Turner, and numerous others. I sought advice from the scientifically oriented members: Jim Brennan and George Doorakian. And further afield from Darrel Apps and Stephen Kendall, who had very similar goals. Their help has been invaluable: for finding breeding material, for planning my breeding program, for describing what’s hard and what’s easy, for what’s been done in the past, for what’s needed to be done, and choosing the breeding goals wisely.
I knew that it would take two or four generations to get a white northern rebloomer because I’d have to outcross, and some of the characteristics were recessive or required rare combinations of genes. Hardly anything I bred rebloomed, until I got Early And Often. Its increase and rebloom were so spectacular that I introduced it in only 4 years from seed, in 2001. 
I’ve continued since then using Early And Often as the base of my breeding program:
After 12 years, 4 generations, and 10,000 seedlings, I now have nearwhite northern rebloomers that rebloom terrifically. They’re not nearly as perfectly formed as Monica Marie, nor do they have all the extraordinary plant characteristics of Stella De Oro. But nobody out there has anything that looks and behaves like my newest introduction, Snowy Stella.
Snowy Stella is just the beginning. I have more nearwhites to introduce, and will continue to improve them.
Along the way to Snowy Stella, I acquired several other breeding goals. The mixed perennial gardens we northerners delight in require daylilies of many statures and flower sizes. I’ve chosen to work in the tall-and-small category, in whites and velvety sunfast reds. I’d like vigorous plants with scapes from 36 inches to 60 inches, a fountain effect. The flower forms could range from mini spiders to trumpets to flat open “butterflies” to strongly recurved and hanging “martagons”. This goal will keep me busy for yet another decade.
