Starman (name approved by AHS)---Howard 2022—Wolverine X Undefinable—28"/6.5"—M, Sev, Tet. Two way branching and 14 buds. Fertile both ways. Light yellow with a toothy edge and variable patterned color breaks of purple stripes, spots, and streaks.

Take a look:

https://www.daylily.com/cgi-bi...

Crazy to pay that much for one cultivar. I would have all of my yard planted for that much, and my neighbors too.
That's really madness

Well, kudos to Rich. He surely knew it would get attention, but this much attention might be a pleasant surprise. The most ardent bidders are breeders who obviously want these genetics in their programs and are willing to pay the big bucks to get it. Plus Rich had put it out that this is the only fan he's letting go for now. It will be interesting to follow this to its conclusion.

Agreed.
With my luck it would die before I got a chance to cross it.

He has three fans of it on auction for about $7k combined.
I just shake my head. I can only dream...

I agree that Rich deserves the credit and compensation for creating this plant and making it available to others, who will no doubt, make money from his creation.

If you propogate and sell plants, or you sell seeds, you will make that money back in a season or three, and then have a number of kids on your own to sell, at which time you can even sell or trade the three or five fans that the original plant has become, and get a lot more money back, if you want. If you're a seller for a popular type of plant, $2000 - $3000 will almost certainly pay for itself. I don't know where the break even number would be... $4000? $5000? But rare plants sell for around $1000 several times a year on the LA. $3000 would probably be a low risk price if you are a seller.

If you are just a gardener like me, definitely makes little sense. To family, neighbors, and freinds that would see it in my garden, they'd be just as impressed with an older version that costs only $50-$150. But I definitely get why the people who are bidding on them are doing it. They are definitely Ca-chingable for the right sellers.

@Lyshack , Tim I agree with you on making money back on seeds alone within the first few years.

It's gorgeous. More power to him.

I doubt anyone ever got rich hybridizing daylilies, though.

The tape measure in the picture is placed in a misleading way, making the 6" flower look like 7" to anyone not paying close attention. I'm sure the big-bucks bidders are paying attention, though!

And seeds are $30+ each:

https://www.daylily.com/cgi-bi...

The cross is Wolferine x Starman.

I was just at Rich's yesterday and he showed me Starman blooming. It looks like a bigger version of Undefinable, at least the bloom I saw did. He can't believe the brouhaha it caused either. But he's glad people like it. I told him I'd wait a few years!

Wow, those 5 (FIVE!) seeds of WOLVERINE X STARMAN sold for $327.77!

And Mike Holmes (Mike 1256) has posted 3 of his 2024 intro REDEFINABLE, plus 3 of his 2022 intro whose name has not been revealed yet - I think REDEFINABLE is absolutely incredible!

And our own Steve (Ahead) is starting to post fabulous seeds too!

This is all so fun to watch...

Waiting on Ed to post seeds. All of Steve's are way out of budget (until I lose my damn mind and bid anyways)

Tulip mania

Charley

Charlemagne said: Tulip mania

Charley

That thought crossed my mind too! Although in that case the broken colors were caused by a virus.

Rich Howard's exact quote on the subject was " People are crazy!" Can't argue with that!

"Sunny with a chance of Wine," Howard 2022, is selling for $900!

I wonder where these "broken colors" will go in future years.

It amazes me because when I first started in daylilies, hybridizers would sometimes see these what we call "broken colors" in their seedling beds. They were considered an aberration , ugly, undesirable, etc. and yanked out and put in the compost pile. Who knew people would pay big bucks for them years later?

For years, I was stuck on the fact that a very well known hybridizer (who was one of a small group hybridizing for smalls and minis back in the day ) bred for height , and it was her top requirement before the plants made it to the next level. She wanted them "in proportion" to the blooms. Seedlings considered too tall were quickly yanked out and tossed BEFORE they even bloomed. Once, a mutual friend was visiting when this hybridizer was selecting, and he brought car full of her rejected seedlings home. I just couldn't get past the fact that someone would reject a seedling before it bloomed! This was a grower who had a large program and could afford to be this selective. Still, this sort of blew my mind.

You just never know! You go, Rich! he put a picture of this on FB recently.

The only problem with the broken color ones ( I love them, personally) is that they sometimes throw fans that have reverted back to single color blooms. I was supposed to pick up Wacky Wednesday from Rich two weeks ago but all of his plants were reverted fans. Luckily for me, he's honest and won't sell me a broken color plant until he's made sure that it's the genuine article.

If all his fans reverted that indicates an unstable plant. It's good he won't sell them but no guarantee that you buy one unreverted that it won't all revert at some point. Maybe useful for hybridizers but can make for unhappy customers down the road.