The biggest break that I have experienced over my years of hybridizing is the change in SIZE. The AHS has the following classifications:

Miniature: bloom diameter less than 3"
Small: over 3" but less than 4 1/2"
Large: greater than 4 1/2
And more recently was added:
Extra Large: Over 7"

Back in 2000, everyone was wanting a piece of HAL RICE which was registered as having a 13" bloom which was unheard of back then! But looking at a photo of HAL RICE, it is now more "ordinary" as the evolution of daylilies has led to larger and larger daylilies. It's difficult for me to think of a 5" flower as being "large" anymore! And an "extra large" description brings images of over 10 to 12" to my mind...as 7" flowers are looking pretty puny compared with what is being registered now. Perhaps it is time for the AHS to add another category like JUMBO for the many flowers that are measuring over 10".

In addition to increased size, a more recent breakthrough is the evolution of a scape that is capable of displaying behemoth blooms and also the creation of recurrent scapes that can display huge blooms without touching one another or appearing crowded. Garden presence has come a LONG way in building better plant habits and is still evolving. I love instant rebloom scapes that are a different height than the original because it makes for a better display. As flowers became larger, plant habit has to follow. Developing a scape that will display 4 or 5 ten-inch blooms open at the same time on one scape without having the scape fall over or crack off when the wind blows is not an easy task!

Amazing breakthroughs, indeed! It's such an exciting time to hybridize, with incredible material easily available, and free access to DL information. What a cool community! And upon the shoulders of giants, we stand (or teeter, depending on the challenge de jour.) I've been posting pics, and here are a few memorable ones from 2020:

Irish Mixup, with a letter-sized sheet of paper as size reference. Thank you, Judy Davisson, for bringing this plant into the world- to bloom like this in a pot in it's first season! Color is quite a bit bluer than it looks here.


And Diviner's Handbook by Curt Hanson, with its branching and monstrously sturdy scape. That scape set and held 16 pods! And in a pot, too. (Sorry, plants. Will put you in the ground soon.)



I think they set some seeds together, and here's hoping the rebloom will be expressed.

I totally agree! I once dug out all of the plants in my garden under 6.5" and have replaced them with those big ones. When I
see those in the 5" range, they just appear to be miniature now. The down side is also as noted, because most of those growers
who deal in larger flowers are in the south, and those plants don't always flourish here. Some are lucky to survive at all, so the
better plant habits are what I am going for.

One of the interests I have is to make new what was once old. I really love the very wide blunt sepals and a flower that is not
as heavily ruffled. Our new normal seems to include some droughty summers, and those heavy ruffles tend to hang up when
it is so dry. Another plus with fewer ruffles is having fewer issues with spotted flowers from Thrip damage. For me there seems
to be a dividing point of where garden perennials meet hothouse show flowers. Sometimes the two don't coincide, and I have
had to curb my enthusiasm for those ruffles.

Back several years there were only a selected few notable growers, but these days there are a significant number of backyard
hybridizers with an awesome imagination for diversity.

Who's working on some fantastic patterns and knows some of that history? Fred has some very impressive ones out, love to hear about how he feels about the progress being made along those lines. I just find it so interesting to hear about the history and progress of the hybridizers and the plants!

Im guessing what the customer seems to being buying is how the direction goes. I dont mean it as dry as that sentence makes it sound, but im guessing demand has alot to do with it.

I completely agree with the bigger ones. They are what drew me into daylilies about 7 years ago now. Not just the bigger blooms, but the bigger scapes and how much real estate some of these bigger plants take up. Judy, you obviously advanced this a lot, adding colors and watermarks and other forms that drew people like me into the daylily world. But I have a growing Goldner collection that I feel may have come from similar goals.

Good call Larry, but I'm not really knowledgeable enough on its origins to do a write up on it. I wasn't sure if it was new, or just new to me. It does seem like more and more daylilies are being innovated that are designed to be enjoyed even more when you are close up.

Beautiful write up, Char!

I agree with you, Pam, but I also think we're here in the Daylily world at a great time. There are so many talented hybridizers out there concentrating on their things, and there are enough of us "buyers" out here that there's room for demand to be high in many styles at the same time. Minis, stripes, patterns, sculpted, dips, tets... seems like we live in good times to be a fan of daylilies.

I do think that sales would be highly dependent on what is popular now. But I don't know how much affect popularity has to do with developing a quirk, or hint of something new and dramatic or if it is more the vision of the hybridizer to see what that could possibly be developed into, although all to often it may lead to nowhere. I am afraid I would have seen cristate appendages appear on a seedling and tried to bread that "fault" out of it.

Ron Reimer has some fantastic patterns in the works, and his are dips, but I think he told me he is 81 or 82...
As announced about Bob Faulkner, he also had some nice ones in the smaller range.

A lot of the patterned daylilies today came out of Jack Carpenter's Texas Kaleidoscope as well as its x Super Fancy Face and the reverse crosses and subsequent Tet conversions. Jack has been retired from the business for a few years now.

One of the things I love most about daylilies is the many variations of the flower. For years I just had Stella d'Oro and thought that was it. A member of the Iris forum sent me Beautiful Edgings and I started adding more and more. This year I went a bit crazy on the Auction, and also bought directly from hybridizers, focusing on larger blooms, some doubles, some patterns and lately, the sculpted. Also others' seeds.
I think I have enough in my DL paintbox now to try my hand at crossing some. What fun!

Jan,

Lots of fun, lots of work, lots of anticipation, lots of waiting! I have had little success at hybridizing, but still have high hopes. Learning I think is 2/3 of the fun along the way. Hope you enjoy yourself!

This is such a great, historically informative thread. I've bookmarked it. Thanks all!