SEARCHING FOR SIGNIFICANCE

SEARCHING FOR SIGNIFICANCE

Hi to all of my friends and acquaintances who find themselves reading this out of curiosity or enjoyment or somewhere in-between! 
I welcome you to this page and hope it may have some significance in your life.

 Life without significance (or meaning) is a difficult road to travel.

Throughout this blog I will be showing some SIGNIFICANT first and even third year seedlings that I am hoping will "make the cut" as "keepers"-or as one other daylily hybridizer terms it so well, "selects". Much better term I think! Thanks Lanny Morry!

VANITY OF VANITIES 2013 intro (formerly "Northern Darla")

Here are a few of my selects-from last season and even back to 2009. We start with one of my RUFFLED STRAWBERRY PARFAIT seedlings that I have enjoyed since '07 and now that  'she' is a SIGNIFICANT parent I can show you some of her progeny from last season. We dubbed her "Northern Darla" because she had some similarities to DARLA ANITA and this 'Darla' is very hardy and still gave me the glitzy edge that I like so well. She has changed as she matured so I will include a few examples of that.

2007 crowded among her peers

2009 still crowded, ready for transplant to her new home

2010 taken with a better camera but not as intense of a pink as picture shows

Above is 'Northern Darla's'  lovely pink progeny out of (CRITICAL MASS X BEAR CLAWS((A VIVID INTENSE RED)...really surprised by the pink

 The rest are out of 'Northern Darla' x WHITE BASE, giving  quite a range of colors from an extremely ruffled blue-pink to a bright cherry red with some "claws" and a darker halo/eye. And the last one is a pretty hot pink with a lighter cream watermark, sporting an ivory cream  ruffly edge.

 

 I will find it interesting to watch, wait and see if any of these will make SIGNIFICANT changes in the next two years and, by good fortune and a lot of hard, but meaningful work, enter into the Daylily World of commerce.

As you can see, SEARCHING FOR SIGNIFICANCE is real when it comes to daylilies. While I have only shown color and form, the selection process entails a whole lot more. One of the most important factors is that they must have VIGOR along with a good (if not great) budcount and good wide branching so that the blooms don't lay on each other. 

The title for this blog came about as a thought that came to me while I was in my AM Bible study in my special corner with lots of books surrounding the area.The other morning I was reading from one of the Apostle Paul's Epistles and he mentioned a certain city where Paul had spent time. 

 I just love to visualize where he is talking about so I have at my disposal, just an arm length's away, a Bible Land Atlas and a 'not-so-new' world Atlas. So I tried to locate that city on the map.It always amazes me when I think of where all the people of the world have spread to; looking for a better place, another place to land. 

When I looked at the map of Asia, which includes everything from Israel to the Philippines, Russia,Mongolia, China and many many more countries, too numerous to mention here, I "zoomed in" closer to check out the topography and found it incomprehensible to understand why ANYONE would ever settle some of those places! What would make them navigate to those "impossible to reach" places. Yes, it's rugged beauty-BUT RUGGED!!! For instance, to think that anyone would ever desire to create a village in an area like Nepal, a  mountain range of 5,000-16,00 ft is beyond my imagination!

What's their motivation?

Is it a search for SIGNIFICANCE? It certainly could be.

It seems that what we observe of HUMAN NATURE verifies that thought. 

If only we all knew....

If only we could see...

REALLY SEE

that,

The only giver of TRUE SIGNIFICANCE comes from our CREATOR !

WE  TOIL AND STRUGGLE,

TRYING TO MAKE SENSE,

TRYING TO MAKE A MARK IN THIS WORLD...

WHEN ACTUALLY...

THE 'MARK' HAS ALREADY BEEN SET....

SET AT BIRTH....

NO...

SET AT CONCEPTION...BY GOD HIMSELF!

PSALMS 139:13 and on states it so very well....

"For You did form my inward parts; 

You did

knit me together in my Mother's womb .....

Wonderful are Your works

That my inner self knows right well.

(now this is where it gets really good, beautiful and awesome)

MY FRAME WAS NOT HIDDEN FROM YOU

WHEN I WAS BEING FORMED IN SECRET

AND

INTRICATELY

AND

CURIOUSLY WROUGHT (AS IF EMBROIDERED WITH VARIOUS COLORS)

IN THE DEPTHS OF THE EARTH.

(A REGION OF DARKNESS AND MYSTERY)"

verse 11 goes on to say:

"YOUR EYES SAW MY UNFORMED SUBSTANCE, 

AND IN YOUR BOOK

ALL THE DAYS (OF MY LIFE) 

WERE WRITTEN

BEFORE THEY EVER TOOK SHAPE.

WHEN AS YET THERE WERE NONE.

I don't think I ever fully understood the meaning of these words until I got into hybridizing daylilies. 

Within EVERY SEED THAT IS CREATED there is a mystery. 

Oh, I can go ahead and have a plan (a 'program' in daylily lingo),

BUT

because of the multitude of genetic possibilities that come into play, 

I really don't have as much to say about the results as I would like. 

HOWEVER, 

I DO HAVE

MUCH HOPE!!

We are just like those seeds,

BUT

WITH

HUMAN NATURE

INSTEAD OF 

PLANT NATURES.

Human Nature has PERSONALITIES

Human Nature has PECULIARITIES that cannot be explained.

Human Nature has OUTWARD APPEARANCES (much like the daylilies) 

and 

INWARD,

HEARTFELT FEELINGS...

that may or may not come to the surface-

UNLIKE THE DAYLILIES

WHICH

WITHIN THREE YEARS TIME,

will show what their "inward natures" are:

VIGOROUS versus WEAK & FRAIL (I call the vigorous ones "bullies")

showing whether they are prone to stress, 

or can "easily" weather the storm.

If they don't "make the cut" because of either an UGLY BLOOM (color or shape) 

or because of lack of vigor, they are (regretfully) discarded.

BUT THEY DON'T FEEL A THING!!

Not so with people...

PEOPLE, NO MATTER HOW UGLY,

 OR

 HOW BEAUTIFUL....

KNOW

WHEN THEY ARE DISCARDED

OR

IGNORED

OR 

REJECTED

OR 

IDOLIZED,

ACCEPTED,

 OR

TOLERATED.

PEOPLE KNOW....

WHAT WE DON'T KNOW...

IS THAT, 

WHEN WE HAVE BEEN REJECTED

GOD, 

OUR FATHER

HAS NEVER REJECTED US

HE SAYS

"I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU OR FORSAKE YOU"

HE IS THE CREATOR OF EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US 

A

DEPENDABLE CREATOR OF OUR SIGNIFICANCE!

He had a PLAN for us at CONCEPTION-

A DESIGN,

AN INTRICATE PATTERN,

WHICH INCLUDED 

EVERYTHING 

FROM

OUR FEATURES

OUR STYLE

OUR ATTRIBUTES

OUR STRENGTHS

OUR WEAKNESSES...

EVERYTHING WE EVER NEEDED 

TO BECOME MORE LIKE HIM-

MORE SIGNIFICANT IN HIS EYES 

THAN IN ANY OTHERS'

EVER!

"ALL" WE NEED TO DO IS

QUIT SEARCHING FOR SIGNIFICANCE

IT'S ALREADY THERE!!!!

IF ONLY WE COULD REALLY GRASP THAT TRUTH,

AND QUIT QUESTIONING GOD'S CREATION OF US

AND

 DRAW NEAR TO HIM, 

GO ON WITH HIM IN OUR LIFE'S JOURNEY;

WHAT THAT ACTUALLY MEANS IS TO 

USE WHAT HE GAVE US TO WORK WITH, 

AND

 WITH HIS HELP 

OUR STRENGTHS BECOME GREATER

 AND 

OUR WEAKNESSES

 BECOME LESS AND LESS!!

The last week or so, I have been out in the Daylily field, counting the scapes(the stems that hold the flowers), looking at the marker which names the cross that I used to create the plant, noting the parents, marking marking them down in my notebook, and with that information, my mind and imagination gets 'carried away' at the numerous awesome possibilities. 

Ever wondering if that scape holds the possibility for a future award winner...maybe even the Stout medal-highest in the Daylily world. 

ACTUALLY...

I guess I have to confess I don't ever go 'that' far in searching for SIGNIFICANCE for my daylilies....

BUT..

JUST MAYBE AN INTRODUCTION WORTHY PLANT! 

That would be SIGNIFICANCE enough!!

Isn't it interesting that after an introduction is achieved, it isn't enough??!! I (we) always want 

MORE.....

THAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOD AND MAN...

MAN CAN NEVER ACHIEVE

NEVER MAKE, 

CREATE, 

OR BE

ANYTHING THAT IS SIGNIFICANT  ENOUGH. 

BUT THAT IS 

BECAUSE

GOD IS THE ONLY 

TRUE

SIGNIFICANT

BEING 

IN THE WHOLE WORLD...

AND ALWAYS WAS....

AND ALWAYS IS....

AND ALWAYS WILL BE. 

WHEN WE FULLY AND/OR  FINALLY REALIZE THAT TRUTH, AND 

QUIT CHAFING AT GOD...

ASKING HIM...

WHY DID YOU MAKE ME THIS WAY?

WHY ARE "THEY" RICH AND I'M NOT?

WHY DID THIS HAPPEN TO ME AND NOT SOMEONE ELSE?

WHEN ARE YOU EVER GOING TO........?

and further more declaring :

"IF I WERE GOD, I WOULDN'T ......"

THAT SORT OF CHAFING IS BASICALLY JUDGING GOD, WHICH ONLY TAKES YOU

 FURTHER AWAY FROM GOD INSTEAD OF DRAWING CLOSER TO HIM.

We are given a verse that gives answers to our questions: Isaiah 55:8

"MY WAYS ARE NOT YOUR WAYS "

The Amplified Bible states it this way: 

"FOR MY THOUGHTS ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS,

NEITHER ARE MY WAYS YOUR WAYS, SAYS THE LORD" 

then verse 9 expands on it saying

"FOR AS HIGH AS THE HEAVENS ARE HIGHER THAN THE EARTH, 

SO ARE MY WAYS HIGHER THAN YOUR WAYS, 

MY THOUGHTS THAN YOUR THOUGHTS."

Those verses really put everything in perspective;

IN ORDER TO SEE 

OUR TRUE SIGNIFICANCE

WE NEED

TO RECOGNIZE,

TO ACKNOWLEDGE,

AND

TO RESPECT

THE TRULY SIGNIFICANT ONE

WHO 

CREATED US.

HE, WHO LOVES HIS CREATION,

WHO HAS A PLAN FOR US

GOOD PLANS

WHETHER THEY SEEM SO AT THE TIME OR NOT!

Which reminds me of what many hybridizers have said: "don't judge a daylily by its first of second year bloom; it NEEDS TIME to mature, maybe up to 3 or 4 years until it is in a full clump size to show what its all about.

Oh Lord may we 'MATURE TO CLUMP SIZE' and be pleasing in your sight!! 

Unfortunately. for 'we humans' it takes more than 3-4 years to become 'CLUMP SIZED'

IT MAY TAKE A LIFETIME!!!

Because so many of you are my Daylily friends, I will finish up with some more of my 

SIGNIFICANT daylily seedlings from 2011(too early to see any new ones...maybe in another week 

or two if we can get some rain!!!

These are from my own breeding with my own seedlings....

every one of these seedlings have SIGNIFICANCE for me, even though it is doubtful they would 

ever achieve the highest award in 'Daylilydom'..but just to be able to see one or a few of them to be

 SIGNIFICANT enough to 'make the mark' for Introduction would be wonderful! 

TIME WILL TELL!!

2014 ADDENDUM:

The first daylily I mentioned above,  'Northern Darla' was registered and named Vanity of Vanities, 

introduced in 2013 and has been a joy to hybridize with since she is an excellent parent, passing on

 many of her good traits to her offspring, not being too vain to keep it to herself! 

If you care to see more about her and others that I have introduced, please go over to:

www.gardenglory.net 

PATTERN FOR LIVING

PATTERN FOR LIVING 

  When I was thinking about my next blog I wasn't sure what I
would write about. There has been a wonderful plethora of new
blogs out there in this wonderful Daylily World and I have
enjoyed them immensely! I found myself second guessing my
reason for a blog and if I was really supposed to be doing this. I
think, truthfully, it was just my normal insecurities of comparing
myself to everyone else. I am very sure I am not alone!

When I look at all the wonderful new daylily patterns emerging,
 I also wonder if I will ever "succeed" in that arena.  

Another disappointing reaction ...

 I shouldn't care...

I need only to please myself...

It's 'only' a daylily -for heaven's sake!


Why is it that so many times my gut-level, knee-jerking
REACTIONS tend to dictate how I govern my life? I guess it's only
 human nature, at least mine, that's for sure!

I am both a people pleaser and a people lover so with that
 combination, it's quite difficult to please and love ALL the people
ALL the time! I should remember to tell myself that when it comes
to my "RED PATTERN" hybridizing program and just focus on it
 and remember to forget that, after all it's not really in my control,
but God's.

I am amazed at how many times I think I will  breed for a certain
 result and so many times, last summer, when the new babies
 showed their colors, the results were far greater than I could have
 ever imagined! All, I did was try to have a 

                                                  PLAN

                                      IMPLEMENT THE PLAN

                             COLLECT THE RESULTING SEEDS

                                      PLANT THE SEEDS

                                    AT THE PROPER TIME

                                     IN THE PROPER WAY

                                                AND.............

                                               WAIT!

                                Oh, if only it was THAT "easy"!

I still need to water and weed and mulch and stay at the task for at
least one year-but MOST times three years. Oh, and it's not just
 one seed we are talking about....it's between 3,500 and 10,000
depending on the year!

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could be assured that we could plan
out our own lives that "easy" and be assured that a beautiful
PATTERN FOR LIVING would be the results??!! 

Actually, there is-and it's found in the book of Proverbs. 

                               It's pretty clear-cut,
                 discussing the good and evil ways of man  
                 and shows how The Creator looks upon it 
             and the consequences and rewards(BLESSINGS)
                                        that result when we follow
                                        God's Pattern For Living.

                             He's pretty clear about 
                    weeding out the sins in our lives,
                 planting seeds of belief that God's ways are 
                                 better than my ways
                                             and 
       watering them with tears of joy and tears of sorrow, 
                                             and
            mulching them  with faith to persevere through 
                          the difficult storms of life
                                                           and while 
                     waiting for the blessings to come,
                                     to persevere.  

I would love to share with you some of my seedlings that I hope to
 cross to attain a 'red on red' pattern. 
One of my mentors(although I am afraid he would deny that term)
told me a few years ago  that I could try to get a pattern by 
crossing a watermark to an eyed cultivar. Well I was thrilled with
that information, since I had numerous watermarks to work with
and my son had lots of eyed things.

(HEARTS OF FIRE X MORT MORSS)

Then, along came a seedling out of one of
my many auction wins
and we called it 'Red-Red' as it had two very strong reds that just drew me to it. 
To the right is a pic of Red-Red (HEARTS OF FIRE X MORT MORSS) from last summer.

Below is a pic of the clump in all its glory.

Now here is the seedling that I hope to cross with Red-Red. It is out of 

MYSTIC WARRIOR X UKN 

and it is one of my own breeding-either 

JIM  SPENCER or ANGEL'S BRAID are the possible parents on the other side.

I have a full sib to this one above that isn't as fancy and I will cross this one with Red-Red also....

if your'e still with me, I will also use Red-Red with my seedling (JOAN DERIFIELD X a RUFFLED STRAWBERRY PARFAIT kid, garden-named 'Truth' . this seedling has velvet red hues with a pink eye and I am thinking Red-Red and this one will do quite well together...we'll see!

I actually have a lot more, but think it would be wise to just share one more with you. Another seedling , this

time out of IMPERIAL WIZARD X UKN(possibly JAMAICAN MIDNIGHT or CHINESE SCRIBE)

and it has a lot of the same colors of the above seedling, but an even larger watermark.

Just one more thing, I was privileged to attend the Hybridizer's Spring Fling at Karol Emmerich's

(Springwood Gardens) a while ago and we had such a great time. She has such a wonderful program...I

 don't know how she does it! I was privileged to bring home a bloom of Stamile's WALTER KENNEDY

 and if the pollen 'stayed alive' I plan on using WALTER KENNEDY on these same seedlings.

This past summer I was fortunate to see for the first time some seedlings that have the red -on -red pattern

 and I plan on line breeding with them also. 

To all of you 'Dayliliy Lovers' and to you my friends that are 'Daylily Appreciaters' I want to thank you for

your time....I would love hearing ideas from you hybridizers that know the 'Art of Hybridizing' better than I.

So now you know my plans for red-on red patterns.

 May we all know, AND may we all learn to apply

 God's Pattern For Living; 

 for He knows it so much better than we,

His mere "seedlings"!

   

           
   

HASTY BUT GOOD DECISIONS PART II

Hello daylily fans and others that read this blog.

 I am continuing to feature the Lily Auction seedlings that bloomed last summer, after just one year in the

ground. That's important, because in our zone, it is "more normal" to see them bloom in 3 years! I will be

 using the best of these in my different hybridizing programs. I will use their pollen this year and will 'lightly'

 set pods on them also since this will be their second year of bloom and should show me more of what they

 are all about. It's by the third year that any obvious flaws should scream at me. IE; if the scape stays too

 short and the blooms don't rise above the leaves or if it isn't fertile either way (I always like it when they are

 fertile both ways, but if I had to choose between pod and pollen, it would be pod, (capable of carrying

 seed). Another obvious flaw would be lack of vigor. If it doesn't increase in the amount of scapes it gives, it

 tells me that I either have it in very poor soil (which is why I transplanted a lot of them last August and Sept.)

 or they just don't like the stress of the cold winters. They are all treated the same way-same amount of rain

 and sun, mulch and weeding...etc.etc. The only difference has been, in the past, a rocky, sandy soil up at the

 top of a shallow slope along a tree line. the rest of the land I use for planting has fertile clay loam. So, with

 probably a lot more words and reasons that could be stated, I will proceed to put some pictures up of last

 year's seedlings from the 2009 Auction, that got refrigerated(stratified) all winter and got planted 2010.

this one is DENTAL ACADEMY (FORESTLAKE RAGAMUFFIN X HOLY GUACAMOLE)

 and the next one below is (RUFFLED STRAWBERRY PARFAIT X  FOREST LAKE RAGAMUFFIN ) 

X SUBTLE KNIFE).

 Both have very nice toothy edges, which I expect will be even more toothier on their second year of bloom...we'll see!!

this next one below is a 6" bloom with ivory teeth out of (COSMIC SENSATION X GOD SAVE THE QUEEN) and it is a vivid red purple in color.

and below we have a full sib to the one above, but  royal purple in color with very white sharp teeth, with a yellow gold throat...very striking! It's "coat' has a rich velvet sheen.

below is a closeup of it so you can see the sharp teeth a whole lot better

If you looked at the previous post you saw some of the GOD SAVE THE QUEEN progeny, what difference that another parent can make-just like in "real life".

(ASIAN EMISSARY X GYPSY OF GASCONE)

For a change of color, and change of genetics let me show you a seedling our of (ASIAN EMISSARY X 

GYPSY OF GASCONE) above. I might add that anyone who has been bidding on the Lily Auction might 

be familiar with the alias 'gran' who developed and created the Gaskins introductions and GYPSY OF

 GASCONE is one of their breeding.

Below is one of my favorites, which is out of only 5 seeds bought on the auction and there are more to

 bloom, but this is the only (and maybe the best!) seedling to bloom last summer.This is what I saw for the

 very first time of this cross. It is out of (PREMIER SURPRISE X JERRY NETTLES # 403) X

 (ALIQUIPPA) for those of you who are interested.

above is a closeup of her(garden-named Miss Priss) on another day

The one above and the ones below all have one common parent,

 Patrick Stamilie's  beautiful red TALLEDEGA. 

I am amazed at all the variety of colors it offers! The other parents are either LARRY'S OBSESSION, 

 EAGLE'S GIFT, JENNIFER TRIMMER, or MANDALAY BAY MUSIC.

Maybe you can guess who you would match up as the other parent??

Thanks for taking a look at these "Auction Babies" and I hope you will be able to discern as to when it is

 important for you to be hasty, and when it is necessary to exhibit self-control in all of your life's decisions. I

 know for myself, if I were to be hasty in the Lilly Auction venue AGAIN-NOW AT THIS TIME , I would

 be creating a lot of trouble for myself-I am already overwhelmed by the work, the joy, the possibilities, the

 time, the focus, and the highs and the lows. I don't need anymore distractions of more Auction seeds....then

 I would be ignoring the seedlings that my own fervor and enthusiasm created, not giving them the time and

 attention, thinking about what cultivar would be the best one to breed it too, or maybe even, 

being waaaay toooo tired to even go and breed it-the easiest part of this "career".. 

What have I learned from this HASTY ADVENTURE? (hey that would be a great name for a daylily

 introduction wouldn't it!!!)

I have learned that it is way too easy to lose control and reap the benefits AND consequences of life if I

don't set for myself perameters-better known as limits...

after all, I am supposed to be old and wise at my

 age...unfortunately..I am still learning- 

aren't we all!!