HASTY, BUT GOOD DECISIONS

     As most of you know by now, I am really "into" daylilies.

GLORY GARDEN'S  basket bounty of the day

When I first got into daylilies I got so excited I

 would buy any "new" daylily I saw offered in Wal-mart or any of the 'big box stores'. Because of my fervor

 and because I was the President of the newly formed Four Seasons Garden club in Cambridge, Minnesota.

 we planned an unplanned, spur of the moment trip (newspaper article) to a daylily farm (in Rogers, Mn.,

 about an hour away. It was there that
                                                            I found a new love.

                                                                                                                           
I saw the umpteen varieties and colors of the daylilies;

 all sizes and forms...so many choices ...

                                               I was hooked!

 The owner of the place (Norm Baker, now out in

 Washington state) suggested we

 trek up to the Monticello area another 25 min away

               and we all grabbed hold

                       of the great suggestion.

                                               Well that did it!

 The owner, Gary Shaben proceeded to show us how to hybridize

                                                   
 and  I was a "gonner".

I  immediately went home a bred everyone of my daylilies..                        

GLORY CLOUD my 2013 spring introduction , a grandchild  of Gary Shaben' DEBBIE'S VOWS

....not knowing it

        was too late        

                in the day
                                              didn't  matter...        

   I just HAD

          to do it!

Gary is still very active in the daylily world and has some beautiful intros (some that I now use in my hybridizing program!).

THEN

       once I found the

                 Lily Auction

                           I got

                                 "hooked" even deeper!

                                           Oh the choices!

                                                   I thought they were BIG at Gary's....!

Gary said to make sure I had a focus, so I made one and proceeded to purchase plants that would hopefully

 lead me to my goal. I wanted to create a red daylily with a white eye (it hadn't been done at that time) and I

 love those colors togrther. There had been pinks and purples with chalky white watermarks, but not reds.

 I proceeded to purchase  many of Munson's watermarked daylilies and

 all the vivid deep red cu I cultivars could find and hoped to keep the watermark and put  red on all the

 watermarked purples and pinks of Munson-a very renown and respected hybridizer out of Florida.

           I didn't worry about hardiness

                  or how well they would do in my zone 3 Minnesota garden.

                     I didn't have anyone to

                                  ask about it either...

                                      so I became self taught by books,

                       the Internet,

              American Hemerocallis Society membership

     and trial and error.

It was my enthusiasm that got me to want even more focuses(programs), I

        couldn't be content on just one..

                there were so many possibilities,

                       I just couldn't resist!

                           In my haste,

                                      my enthusiasm,

                                                  and

                                                          true naivete of all the

                                                              dedication

                                                                       and hard work it would take,

                                                                                      I just forged ahead....

Lily Auction seedlings, mixed in with my own

                                                                                                           forgetting/ignoring that

                                                                             I wasn't getting any younger!

                                                                                          You can't imagine,

                                                                               unless you have "been there",

              all the joy  
                                           
                                                                                                              all the hope

                                                                                                                       that comes

                                                                                                             when you see

                                                                                              those little seedlings sprout for the  first time.

                                                                                                                      And

                                                                                                            if that isn't enough,

                                                                                                                     just try

my seedling (COSMIC SENSATION X SEIZE THE NIGHT

                 to imagine                                                  

                      what it would be like

              to see

        the first seedling                                                    

                                                                                     of the VERY FIRST seedling

                                                                                           that you had helped God create!




Creating that seedling was the


       easy and rewarding part....

            the hard work lies ahead!

                 Yes HARD WORK..

one of my first seedlings that I just introduced for fall 2013 RAINBOW GLORY

      the hardest being deciding if

   it was worthy enough to keep

and maybe even someday

    introduce it!

There were a few really ugly plain

    or distorted ones,                                                

but only a few...those

 I COULD CULL-

     AFTER

         I waited another year to see if it

               was only in

                    an immature stage and would change for the good.

                            I DID find that even some of the prettiest changed for

                                   the worse in some cases...so it is never wise to cull hastily.

                              Because

                                   I was pretty serious about this endeavor,

                                             and

                                         because I had "found"

                                 -I think it found me!-                                                  

                             the Lily Auction,

                                     I just NEEDED

                                         to add to my "coffers",

                              I purchased Munson's

RUFFLED LEMON

         PIPING

 (at an unheard of price-for me- $151.00)

         on the auction

              along with a few more,

 out of  RUFFLED LEMON PIPING X my newly registered GLORY CLOUD 

                       lesser price ones over

                           the season.

                 I splurged on

            RUFFLED LEMON PIPING

        because after all it had

  THE watermark                                                                          

       plus a very ruffled edge

              that I couldn't resist!

I am happy to report it does well here in my zone 5 garden down here near Alma Wi. and has given me a

 really beautiful seedling, not one that matches my criteria for the red with white watermark, but still a

 keeper-so far.

          As time went by

                 I decided I would splurge

                          (here we go again!)

                                      and try my "luck" with seeds.

                                                   Those who know me,

                                                               KNOW I am NOT a gambler

                                                                              in any way or form-except...

                                                                                        to be truthful...

                                                                                                     buying Lily Auction seeds

                                                                                                  IS a gamble

                                                                                         and, even though chances are highly unlikely

                                                                                one would get something to register and introduce-

                                                                      after all with over 60,000 registered daylilies

                                                                 out there how could one ever think they would get

                                                           something new and unique.

                                                     Another truth is:

                                                          if these are your babies and

                                                                meet all YOUR criteria,

                                                                         there is not another

                                                                                 one like it anywhere...

                                                                                      .even if they might LOOK like another one.

                                                                                I find myself personalizing them,

                                                                         rationalizing

                                                                  why I want to keep them

                                                            and in most cases,

                                                     they may SEEM like something else out there,


                                                 but

                                           they are hardy

                                      and worthy of being kept

                                  in my breeding program

                         and sometimes even worthy of being introduced.

                              This fall will be my first, very owned and bred offerings for sale.

                                  Two years ago when I was in a daylily seed buying frenzy on the Lily Auction

                                       it was about just genetics alone.

                                             I wanted to get those southern bred genetics

                                                    up here in my northern zone.

                                             Even though some were lost

                                      (because of the cold or voles)

from Auction seed bonus (PEARL HARBOR X BEFORE MY EYES)

                               or not 'up to par',

                       many of them bloomed in one year

                and I wish to share them with

          you here today.                                                                                        

I WAS hasty-
         
      you HAVE to be on the auction-

                     especially if it is something you

auction seed (PLEASANTLY PLUMB X RANDY STEPHENS)

REALLY WANT.


                It's amazing how "addicting" it can be.

        I had to determined that I would see

 the earliest offered seeds "out there" that year

        and started early in August

           and                                                                                                    

               because I was on an emotional roll
 
           and an adventure,

      I didn't finish bidding

  'til well into April

         of that year.

                                                     
             That same season,

        I even bid on unbloomed

seedlings-                                                                                            

unbloomed seedling (TEXAS BLUE EYES X FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH)

  REALLY A GAMBLE-

          ONE SEEDLING?

                      HOW COULD

                           THAT                    

                 EVER BECOME

       A VIABLE INTRO!!??

auction unbloomed seedling (BEWITCHING EYES X PURPLE PEACE) future intro?

                                                     It's amazing how that 'fever'

                                                 can take over....

    was it expensive....

            not really...

                      foolish....

                        probably.....
                                                                                                           
             maybe so.

Kendaylily seedling (JOHNNY CASH X SEA OF POSSIBILITIES)

     

   Three years previous

          I  purchased

                  unbloomed seedlings,

   BUT there were at

           least three of the same cross

                  included in the bid.

        (from Kendaylily on the auction).

                                                   
  I got a MOST BEAUTIFUL

           one from that endeavor and

                        it has a powder blue edge and eye.....

                                     I transplanted it last Sept into MUCH

                                                   better soil and I can hardly wait

                                           to see how it looks this year.

                                  I am hoping to integrate all these

                           
                   "newest and latest" genetics

           into my cold hardy seedlings

 and really look forward to see

    what the combinations can do together.

          Here is a pic of  the unbloomed seedling "Powder Blue"

                 out of Stamile's VIOLET TRANQUILITY X Peat's LINDA SIERRA.

                          This is one out of 5 seedlings purchased.

                                "She" is pollen fertile, didn't want to stress her to make pods with her.

Kendaylily seedling (VIOLET TRANQUILITY X LINDA SIERRA)

Here is another one that bloomed for the first time last year, up in very poor soil out of SUNDAY

 SANDALS X LINDA  SIERRA so you can see what half sisters look like.

  

I was sent 6 seedlings and this is just oneof them for you to see.

this next one shows another SUNDAY SANDALS X LINDA SIERRA, full sib to one above and I garden 

named it Peri Como because of the periwinkle blue tones to the edge. Though it is small, it will have a chance

 to shine in it's new location with MUCH BETTER garden soil The fact that it even bloomed in that poor soil, 

with "only " rain for its moisture says a lot for it. 

  Now here's a group of auction SEEDS(and now three select seedlings) that I purchased 3 years ago 

(2009) and they bloomed the next 

summer after planting(2010). They are immature, but beautiful and promising. They are all out of BLUE 

GRASS MUSIC pollen and a seedling pod parent (LAVENDER HEARTTHROB X GINNY

                                                                                                                                            MITCHELL).

A few more of the kendaylily seedlings that came out of that poor soil area, which tells me by default that 

they will be better this summer

 since I transplanted them this last fall. These are four full sibs out of

 (FREEDOM'S TRIUMPH X GOD SAVE THE QUEEN) 

This last one  has enough of a pattern beginning that I plan on putting it with

 my pattern program. I know...ANOTHER program! 

I have one more Ashwood genetics SEED that I bought over the Lily Auction in 2009, planted 2010,

 bloomed 2011, and it has a really lovely round eye/ watermark, very striking all in the same color tones of

 above seedlings. this is  two views of the same seedling

(GUIDED BY VOICES X ASHWOOD SMOKEY JOE)

Thanks for letting me share my "hasty decisions" and I plan to share more with you in the days ahead of 

some others from the wonderful LILY AUCTION , but in different colorways.

Till then, God bless