We just had our next to last meeting today for the North Alabama Daylily Society. The speaker was Karol Emmerich of Springwood Gardens:
http://springwoodgardens.com/w... She has introduced about 126 daylilies since 2003. She only sells her own intros, although she does grow others for her display garden and, I am sure, for hybridizing.
She gave a great talk and we got to see lots of pretty slides of seedlings:
http://springwoodgardens.com/p...
One of the things that she specializes in is instant rebloom. All her seedlings are grown in a huge greenhouse:
http://springwoodgardens.com/c... that she built to let her compete with the southern growers. It lets her get bloom on 6-8 month seedlings. Not to shabby for daylilies grown in Minnesota! Selected seedlings are moved outside to prove their worthiness. She will not sell a plant that only looks good in a greenhouse. They are evaluated there for several years.
She likes chalky edges and eyes, that look like they glow in the dark. One of the plants that she used extensively for the last few years, especially in her 2012 and 2013 intros, is Heartbeat Of Heaven (2005)
http://springwoodgardens.com/i...
Another one she said was a good parent was Desire Of Nations (2009)
http://springwoodgardens.com/i...
One I will have to get eventually is one of her 2013 intros, All Things To All Men:
http://springwoodgardens.com/i... It has instant rebloom and seems to be a great parent.
It was a great talk. One funny story she told was about the time her husband's HUGE pile of manure got so hot that it caught FIRE!
She had a picture of the pile with a pickup truck next to it for size comparison (the pile was WAY bigger than the truck, taller and wider that about 3-4 of them end to end!).
These are the kind of things your get to see and hear about when you go to a daylily meeting.
We also got to bid on 12 of her introductions that were graciously provided to our club by Willie Marcus (yes he lives close enough to Huntsville to be a member of the club).
Banner of Love (Emmerich, 2009)
Blood, Sweat and Tears (Emmerich, 2005)
Deliverer (Emmerich, 2007)
Fountain of Life (Emmerich, 2008)
Intelligent Design (Emmerich, 2003)
Lake of Fire (Emmerich, 2006)
Man of Sorrows (Emmerich, 2006)
Moses in the Bulrushes (Emmerich, 2006)
New Every Morning (Emmerich, 2007)
Overflowing Heart (Emmerich, 2006)
Seven Seals (Emmerich, 2007)
Via Dolorosa (Emmerich, 2009)
I did not win any.
Perhaps next time.
