I was doing yard work today and pulling weeds from numerous garden beds. When I got to the newest daylily bed created this past Fall, I was shocked to see 2 seedlings have produced buds already! This is the earliest buds I've ever gotten!

They are "unbloomed" seedlings I won from "Rich" on the LA this past Fall. Both plants (each a single fan) have buds. The cross is "Laura Mast" x "Dragonfly Dawn". I bought one and Rich sends a freebie fan of the same cross, so I got 2 plants for the price of 1.

(Pod parent) Laura Mast:
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Laura Mast')

(Pollen parent) Dragonfly Dawn:
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Dragonfly Dawn')

Laura Mast is an early to mid-season bloomer.
Dragonfly Dawn is an early bloomer.

So there you have it! Earliest blooms-to-be I've ever had! I will post photos when they bloom.

Anyone else getting buds yet?

Plant #1:


Plant #2:

Hoping to see the same in about two months.
Hope you get some great patterns out that cross!

Thanks, Ashton/Terry! I am hoping for a nice pattern from each plant. (Which is why I purchased that seedling cross.) Always fun to see the brand new flowers from these seedlings! I love the anticipation and surprise of a cross! You just never know what you are going to get in the flowers!

It's so nice to see those beautiful buds looking so great, Becky! I don't have any spring scapes yet and our weather has gotten cooler again, but I'm starting to look for the little emerging scapes now.

I actually caught this bloom on February 9th here. It is one of Subhana Ansari's seedlings that I have growing in a pot, and this was the only bloom out of five that was even somewhat picture worthy due to our winter weather. But it was so nice to see daylily blooms in the winter! This seedling is a cross of PRECIOUS CANDY X BLUEGRASS MUSIC, and the throat was slightly greener than my picture shows -- I probably took it too late in the day. Subhana knows I like small flowers and shares some of her plants with me, and this one is just about 4" or a little smaller.

Oops -- it would have been nice if I'd included the picture, eh?


The weather was too cool for the sepals to fully open, unfortunately.


And here is Subhana's picture to show how it will hopefully look in better weather. Beautiful!

Betty - What a sweet little bloom! I have often thought of trying to get one or two to bloom in Winter. We have mild winters here, so I don't know what the trick is to actually get blooms past Fall. I could grow them inside in a south facing window, but how do you trick it to bloom, that is what I don't know. What did you do to get your cutie to actually bloom?

Great news, Becky! That is exciting to hear. I probably have another 8 weeks before I see buds. There is still snow here and below freezing temps. But spring is almost here

Vickie, I will have to wait more than 12 weeks for that first bloom.

I purchased Dragonfly Dawn from Michelle last spring. I sure hope it makes it through this rough winter we are having.

I'm hoping to be able to see my daylilies by the end of the week... It will be a while before blooms. I hope you get some nice seedlings though - I think DRAGONFLY DAWN will prove to be a widely used parent. Phenomenally good genes in that one.

Hemlady said:I purchased Dragonfly Dawn from Michelle last spring. I sure hope it makes it through this rough winter we are having.

I was worried about mine last spring but it came back and bloomed just fine. Seems to be decently hardy.

Very good to know. Thanks!!!!

profesora said:Vickie, I will have to wait more than 12 weeks for that first bloom.

Yes, I may see buds in 8 weeks, but blooms might be 10 weeks, which sounds like forever right now

I am sorry so many of you have a while longer to wait to see plants and especially blooms. I must admit that I typically don't see buds until April. Seeing two bud stems forming the beginning of March was quite a shock. I couldn't believe it! I should see blooms in another week (I hope). No telling what each plant will produce. They are two different plants from the same cross. I will be interested to see if they look similar or very different. One never knows with seedlings.

Dragonfly Dawn is NOT one I own. But I have several crosses (seedlings) from that one that I am growing. I love the genes in that cultivar. It is probably my favorite daylily. (Funny that I don't even own it. )

I am probably an oddball here, but I love seedlings. I just love the surprise of having something totally unique and new. And I am fascinated by daylily genetics. Daylilies are my obsession. I used to be a Japanese Morning Glory fan, but those vines get infected with a form of rust fungus ... which actually ruins and kills the vines. So I switched to daylilies (even with rust on them, too!). At least the rust on my daylilies has not killed any of them and it does not seem to affect the blooms.

Becky, I didn't do anything to make that plant put up a scape -- it just happened and I noticed it I think in December. I had a knee replacement in November so I wasn't doing anything in the garden for almost three months, but the plant was on a table near my patio. I figured I would probably never see blooms on it because December and January were quite cold for Bakersfield, but then in February it warmed up and the buds started opening. I still have one bud that hasn't opened yet, but who knows -- it might fall off or something because our weather is bouncing around right now.

I really love seeing seedlings also and can't wait to see yours -- and I sure hope you get something wonderful from that cross!

You are not an oddball Becky. I love seedlings too!!!!

Becky any pics of the Japanese Morning Glory to share?

Betty - Mine seem to bloom per their usual bloom time listed on AHS or following their genetics (parents). I know that a few others here have gotten winter blooms, too. I just don't know how that happens. I thought maybe you did something to push those plants to bloom. Maybe it was an early bloomer, too, and thought Spring had arrived with the warmer temps.

Cindy - Yet to bloom seedlings sure make Spring/Summer fun!

Mike - My old Japanese MG photos are somewhere on a backup drive. I have no idea where. Some of the seeds I got from Japan and some I got from Onalee's:

http://www.onalee.com/catalog....

They were fun to grow and hybridize until the rust fungus attack. After that, I could not grow them outside in the yard without them dying promptly from getting infected. The rust travels via wind and my yard now has those MG rust spores. We don't get the killing freeze that you do each year to prevent rust. (Same issues as daylily rust.)

Becky thanks for that link.

Daylily seedling ZZZ73 very first bloom. This one certainly surprised me! I went back to the different grandparent genetics on this one and did not see a double bloom anywhere. So why did this first bloom produce such a surprise?

I am not that crazy about doubles, but this one (to my eyes) actually has a nice edging and eye form as a double. Hopefully, the inner petals will open up more as the day goes on. This was taken very early this morning. Now maybe the following blooms will be singles. We shall see! This is one of two seedlings from the Laura Mast x Dragonfly Dawn cross (won on LA from Rich).

The other (taller) sibling to this plant will be blooming sometime this coming week.

Face-on view:



Close-up side view:



Side view from a distance:



First stats:
First bloom March 14, 2015, height 14", bloom 5". Bud count 3-5 (I say that because often a bud or two will fall off before blooming). In this case, there are 3 buds that will bloom on this seedling at this time.

Well, I examined the first bloom more closely and I don't think the inner petals are going to open up more outward. I also noted that the 2 other buds are "fat" buds as well, so it looks like they may very well be doubles, too. The rest of the buds dropped off, so there is now only 3 buds/blooms.

I am disappointed about those inner petals on this first bloom. It would have looked quite nice if they had open outward instead of inward. Perhaps the following blooms on this plant will do better.

See what the possibilities are! It's like a big mystery with seedlings that sometimes yields unusual results. This is why I love growing seeds/seedlings so much. I find it all quite fascinating!

I am not looking to create a new hybrid for sale, this is just for my own personal enjoyment. Though I do want to name a few of my hybrids (the worthy ones) after loved ones to give as gifts to family/friends. I mainly enjoy growing seeds for the mystery and surprise of it all. It's such fun!