2012 Introductions

The new introductions for 2012 are now on-line at springwoodgardens.com/daylilies.html. There are multiple pictures of each one, plus pictures of their offspring.I'm really excited to be back in the swing of things and love this collection. Large, colorful flowers. Lots of teeth. Lots of great genetics for hybridizers. Everything is on-line, but feel free to e-mail me at springwoodgarden@aol.com if you'd like a pdf of the catalogue.

Back to normal:-)

What a difference a year can make. I finally feel like I have my life back:-) Take a look at the September 14, 2010 post (just type in empty in the search box and it will come up) when the greenhouse was completely empty and the one from June 2011, after I had just finished planting my seeds. The greenhouse is now basically full again - I had vowed never to do that again, but just couldn't resist. After all, it costs the same to heat and fertilize no matter how many plants are in there. I'll probably regret it in the spring, when I pull out all of the seedlings for outside testing. Note the size of the seedlings! A number have already sent up baby scapes (in just 3-1/2 months), so hopefully I will get terrific bloom next spring. I normally plant the seeds in early August and am lucky if I see 35-50% bloom. The rest of the plants are the 2012 intros and most of the ones for 2013, including almost all of the gift plants for national. Will soon be posting pics of the new intros, and then over the winter, the best things I saw this past summer.

New seeds planted

Finished planting 5100 seeds on June 13. Hoping by planting this early that I will see a bigger percentage of bloom next spring. But that will depend on sun, genetics, etc.

Christmas in April

Woke up to find the ground covered with snow - again! Sure am glad I told everyone not to expect plants from me until the end of May - many are not even out of the ground yet - those are the smart ones:-)

Although this has been a long, cold, cloudy, snowy, dreary winter, dreaming about the crosses I made has made the winter go faster. 6410 was one of the very special ones I saw last year. It goes back to Desire of Nations, Kingdom Without End, Gnashing of Teeth, Entwined in the Vine, 40807 and 29504. These are all wonderful parents, so I'm hoping 6410 will be as well.

I'm planning to plant more than 100 seeds from it - and wishing I had made more. The longest crosses I'll be planting with are out of 22305, 13107, 47607, 12708, 6109, 9009, 15209, 17809, and 21709. I chose some of them because of their "echo" eyes and others because of related genetics.

Going for size

I first saw this beauty (seedling #14210) exactly one year ago - see blog post of April 15, 2010 which describes it and its parents in more detail (out of 9608 x 47607). Very fancy, very tall and 8"! (keep scrolling below for rest of the post - big space that I can't figure out how to get rid of)

I'm planning to plant about 170 seeds from it, primarily with fancy parents with similar color and flowers in the 6-1/2 to 7" range - in the hopes that I can get more 8" flowers into my program. As usual, I'll be doing a lot of line-breeding. I'll be planting the most seeds from it with these pod parents: 22305, 16809##, 19309#, 34709##, 34909#, 38409#, 43509#, 11810* and 13310*###. Those with a * are out of 47607 and those with a # go back to A285 or 5006, which are the parents of 9608. 13310 goes back to both, and has several doses of those genetics as marked by multiple symbols.

Not sure I can wait a year to see the results

Pictured above are two pics of 13810. It makes my heart race, with it's beautiful ruffles, echoing lavender eye and edge, green throat and a hint of twinkles. It will be my 4th most planted pollen parent, with 250 seeds. It's out of 28709 (below) and 47607.

The longer crosses I'll plant from it are with 1809, 9009, 17809, 21709, 2310, 3910, 10310, 14210, 14510 (14510 is the longest with 20 seeds) - all shown elsewhere on the blog, and mostly related genetics out of 47607. I will also plant a number with Reach for the Sky, as well as 28909 pictured below. I want to see if the white swords from 28709 will combine with the white swords on 28909.

All of this is way too much info for most folks reading this, but I'm hoping the blog will be a useful tool for me over the years as I make visual notes on what I'm thinking.

Second thoughts

Until yesterday, 8110 was going to be my 3rd most planted pollen parent with 250 seeds. (I did an anatomy of 8110 on my blog on April 9, 2010 - it includes lots of parents, including Kingdom Without End, Gnashing of Teeth, Desire of Nations, Heartbeat of Heaven, and sharky 29504.) They were some of the first seeds I sorted - many days ago when I was still thinking about cutting back on the number of seeds I was going to plant this year. I chose only the best and most obvious crosses - the ones that are genetically related, those with twinkle midribs, feathery or echo eyes, and patterns - and all in the clearest colors. As I was thinking about what to write about 8110 and the seeds I had chosen, I thought again about the fact that I've never seen anything like this before. In addition, the color is good and the parents are hardy and making nice kids, so why not try to figure out as soon as I can if there is any chance of the pattern being passed on. So I increased the number of seeds by 50% to 375 - with 90 different pod parents. Will know in a year if swinging for the fences worked:-)

Most of the crosses I wish I had made with 8110 bloomed late in the season after I had stopped hybridizing. But hopefully the 90 different parents will give me an idea of how recessive the pattern is and if 8110 has any juice as a parent. I used it a lot with related genetics - anything with Gnashing of Teeth (like 11808, 22305, 13207) or Desire of Nations (like 6410, 34209) or Kingdom Without End (like 43509) or 29504 (like 1208, 34507). Plus 47607 and lots of its kids (17809, 27609, 11810). And some of the neon lavender eyes out of 17305 breeding (like 13109, 3910, 21610). Most of these seedlings have more than one of the above parents in their background. (The seedling mentioned can be seen elsewhere on the blog or on my website)

Safer cross - part 3

The rest of the longer crosses I made with 33109 involved Desire of Nations offspring (26809, 27809, 15209, 17309) - because of their color, form, scapes, hardy genetics.

I also used it with 9009 (out of 13107) because I love the huge lavender eye. And with 11808 and 22305 (both out of Gnashing of Teeth) - in order to start introducing the possibility of teeth into this line.

Safer bet - part 2

33109 = 36207 x 47607. Although I didn't set out to do it intentionally - I just let the flowers "talk" to me when I hybridize - many of the crosses I chose to make in 2010 with 33109 turned out to be close line breeding. For example, the first 3 pictured below - 38409, 34909, 43509 - are all out of 36207, and the last 3 - 14210, 14510, 17809 - are out of 47607. Before I decide which seeds to plant, I careful review the genetics, and deliberately plant more seeds where there is line breeding. I find that this almost always improves the odds of coming up with the traits I'm looking for.

Safer bet - using a proven seedling

My second most used pollen parent in 2010 was 33109 - pictured below on its fanciest day and a less fancy day. It's out of 47607 and hot pink 36207. A relatively strange result given the cross, but I was pleased to see 47607 giving me strong solid colors in addition to the more typical seedlings with echo eyes.

When I first saw it in 2009, I got really excited and used it on 20 pod parents. Some of the seedlings I got from it are shown below - 13310, 1610, 25510, 11710, 12410, 33610, and 20610.

Because it proved to be such a good performer, I dramatically increased the number of crosses from it, using it on 75 pod parents - this spring I'll be planting over 300 seeds with 33109 as a pollen parent and a bunch with it as a pod parent. This is more typical of the way I hybridize - I'll make enough the first year to get a sampling of a seedling's genetic power, and if it proves itself, really ramp things up the next year. In addition, because I have such faith in 33109's genetics, I will plant almost 100 seeds from one of its offspring - 25510 (the third seedling above).