I went to bed last night with thoughts of what Lyle said about your first seedling being the prettiest. I was sure my first seedling would open today, so it was hard getting to sleep last night! I was dreaming of the beautiful bloom I was going to see in the morning, and had visions of Lyle's seedlings dancing through my head. It was after 2:00 am before I fell asleep!

This morning, just after 6:00 am, I awoke with such excitement that I couldn't believe it! No, it wasn't the thought of the seedling that woke me. It was the dog across the street who had jumped the fence and came over to play. He was standing on my porch, just outside my bedroom window, barking his head off! Then one of our dogs got into a yelling match with him. I joined in and yelled something that I can't repeat here. Suddenly, I was wide awake!

Then it hit me. My seedling must have bloomed!! I grabbed my camera, ran out to the backyard in my PJ's, and here it is!



As you can see, it didn't open!! I was just sure last night that it would FINALLY make an appearance today!

Oh well, maybe I can squeeze in a good nap this afternoon and be a little more rested for the exciting show tomorrow morning!

That's funny Natalie!!

Margaret, I really had no idea how agonizing this was going to be! I thought the 2 year wait for a bloom was going to be hard, but that's nothing compared to the 2 day wait I'm going through now! I can't stand it! I've been joking that I was going to pitch a tent in the backyard so that I didn't miss the bloom, and I'm seriously considering it!

Natalie, my first seedling opened a tiny.tiny.tiny. bit every day for over a week.Then it had THRIPS damage! Ditto for my second seedling. They were both 1 year old Tooth X Unk from Seedsower.

But this is my third seedling, FFO today, a Little Jasper Spider x Cascading Blue. Garden name Patty's Gift in honor of my sister's birthday today. 37" tall This one was worth the wait - although if I can see some non thripped blooms on the first two, they might be pretty nice too.

But I know exactly what you mean about the excitement. Hope noone in the outside world thinks we are nuts (but I am afraid they do - my mailman saw me taking photos and measuring things this morning, he had a weird look on his face ~Jan

Oh Jan I know my mailman thinks I'm nuts But he says I keep him in business so it's all good

You know, I could swear your bud has its mouth open and is saying -- "Feeeeed Meeeee, Seymour!" Can't wait to see the bloom!

Hahahaha Betty! ~Jan

Jan, your 3rd seedling is BEAUTIFUL!!! I really love the name, too! I may pass out if I get one that pretty! Someone please send the mailman to look for me if you don't hear from me for a few days!

Betty, that was hilarious! I actually tested the soil today, thinking that the little baby was trying to ask for something! The soil was fine, but I gave it a sip of fertilizer just in case! Now I'm just worried that it's going to drop dead from the 100 degree heat today. That would be just my luck!

Jan your seedling is gorgeous!!!

Good thing I'm not waiting for blooms to open as they would have drowned by now!! We have had 2 more thunder storms this afternoon with a lot of rain and wild winds.

Natalie I hope that bloom is open tomorrow before you have a heart attack from all of the anxiety!!

Awesome seedling Jan!!!

Thanks! ~Jan

Natalie, I am waiting to see that seedling of yours!!

Me too.

It was awesome! I went out into the backyard early yesterday morning to see my baby. The weather was perfect. The birds were chirping and the dogs weren't barking. Even Cranky, the resident squirrel, was sitting nicely in the tree without screaming at me. It was like everything was right with the world.

And then I woke up. It was all a dream!

I flew out of bed just before 6 am, expecting to see the most beautiful daylily ever! I ran to the back door, camera in hand! I saw my husband out in the middle of the yard, walking toward the house. He said, "Well, it's open." Nothing more, nothing less. This wasn't sounding good at all! I told him to not say another word, because I wanted it enjoy the moment in silence. I should have turned around right then and went back to bed!

I inched closer and closer to the seedling bed, finally spotting a small blotch of color. I took another 30 steps, and then I saw it. It was not at all what I was expecting. Something was wrong! It wasn't big and pink with big beautiful yellow ruffles! It was, um, I can't describe it. Wait, I know what it was. It was UGLY!!!



The most amazing part is that it doesn't look nearly as bad in this picture as it did in person. It was horrible!! Truly horrible! The color was a muddy red and on top of it, it was deformed! I wanted to laugh, but couldn't bring myself to do so, so I went back to bed!

At least I've got more seedlings to look forward to! They can't possibly be any uglier than this one, can they?

Natalie you are so funny, you should write articles.

Great description of your first daylily seedling experience, sorry it wasn't the beauty you had anticipated.

Thanks Margaret! That was such a nice compliment!

I actually felt relieved, after I got over the shock and horror of it all! It can only get better from here, I hope! I don't see how it can possibly get any worse!

Your welcome Natalie.

Lets hope not, but you never know!!!

@ Natalie. When I used to post over on Gardenweb, there was a lady there who had a seedling that was so ugly, she named it Doody Britches. She kept it around for a couple of years just for laughs.

I think it is Tom Maddox who says that ordinary flowers give you ugly seedlings almost all of the time. And beautiful flowers give you ugly seedlings most of the time. You look for that small percentage, thats why hybridizers grow thousands of seedlings. It's just too much work for me.

Dot

Dot, Doody Britches is a hilarious name! Wish I had thought of it myself! For now, my seedling is being called Big Time Ugly, since the pollen parent was Big Time Happy. I'm so tempted to stick it in the compost bin, but decided to keep it around for a while. It still has some blooms left to open, and maybe I'll be surprised and it will grow on me. I'm sure that isn't going to happen, but it's worth a try!

At least I've got other seedlings to look forward to! There were only 3 seeds in the pod that this one came from, but it doesn't look like the other two are going to bloom this year. I know for sure I'll keep this one until the other two bloom, just to compare them.

I can't even imagine how some people can grow thousands of seedlings a year! I'm overwhelmed with about 100 of them!

Always Afternoon is lovely and I know you want all your daylilies to bloom already.