Seedlings Jan 14 2011 after six weeks of cold weather and no ferlitizer. As you can see growth has stopped til the weather changes. These are in the ground.

They look sad Fred, hopefully it warms up there soon and they start growing again and get you back on track.

At least they are still green. We have nothing but a bit of brown poking thru the couple inches of snow we got a few days ago. Yours make me hopeful for spring
Kim

They will start growing soon and most will bloom this year.

Ok Fred, if your going to be over here as much as your over at the other site, I'll just stay here. We need to all stick together somewhere if we're going to be learning from the master!

Marian that's a very pretty bloom!

Oh how I love "green". Only white (snow) and brown (bark) here!!

Thanks Margaret I have the name of it but it's buried with the plant.
Marian

Marian - LOL!! I have about 10 like that -- planted them late and didnt take the tags off...

Will be like Christmas in July!

I certainly do not know everything there is to know about daylilies but will share what has worked for me.

Well considering I know NOTHING other than I stick them in the ground and they grow 99% of the time.You, Lyle, and a couple of others over here are the Masters for what I want to be able to learn. I have grown some daylilies from seeds I got off the LA or from extra seeds someone was kind enough to share with me. I had very good success but most of those should have been culls but I planted them in my back garden anyway. I did have a couple that turned out fairly pretty but nothing that hasn't already been around for awhile. I also had a few bee pods.

It is so easy to say we're going to do something when it's winter and we can't get outside and do any gardening. Then spring rolls around and our minds are over loaded with everything not to mention looking at everything coming up in the gardens. I know I'm not the only one that goes poking around looking to see when certain plants are going to sprout, start growing more, and so forth. My main problems is I am not organized when it comes to gardening. I see something that needs done over here, then I see something that needs done over there, then oh my goodness how did I miss that eye sore and it goes on and on. However a couple of weeks ago I did stay focused and cleaned one entire flowerbed before losing track of what I was doing and drifting off to another flowebed.

This year the other plants may suffer but I'm going to give more time and care to my daylily, iris, and hosta beds!
I'm going to make some crosses with the help of some of you giving me some ideals and so forth. This year it's going to be all about having fun making beautiful babies. LOL

We all get side tracked when we have two many things going on at one time. When I decided to mess with daylilies I wanted to put seed pods on everyone of them and keep every seedling for the first couple of years, not worrying about parentage, or if it was a Tet or dip. In about three years I had 10,000 seedlings blooming and no idea what to do with the next batch.
Decide what you want to do,daylilies, iris or hosta, you can only do one efficiently, the others are there as companion plants.
If you want to hybridize daylilies you need to decide which forms and colors you like the best and work with those only, the rest of the daylilies will be for display only. You should not be working with more than a couple of forms, that way you can stay focused and not be over run with a bunch of worthless seedlings. I work with one type Dip and thats UFs. As far as Tets I work with eye and edge 90% and just mess around 10% of the time.

Due to the warm temps I will fertlize all the daylilies today. Should have decent weather for the next week with only one night this weekend going below 32.

Thanks for all the information Fred. I think I would enjoy working with eyes and edges more than anything else. Mainly from looking at all the photos you have posted lately. I had put in a couple of bids on a seedling being offered on the LA Monets Garden and Happy Happy but I can't compete with people that have deep pockets on the LA. The sale still has like 6 days and I'm sure the price will climb many times between now and the end of the sale. (frown)

I just want to get ONE double fan of a pretty daylily with the big wide edge and ruffles like Fred has been posting to cross with some of my daylilies. Does anyone have a double fan of ANYTHING with a big ruffled edge with lots of color that they would be willing to sale me at a "very reasonable price" so I can make some pretty babies this year? If so would you pelase Cmail me with details? I don't care how old the plant is I just want something pretty to work with. I understand I can make crosses with what I alread have but why on earth would I want to be working backwards instead of striving to move forward and learn as much as possible in a short amount of time.

Fred, Irises have always been my first love. Somehow I managed to let daylilies slip into my gardens when I purchased a good many plants that Lowes marked down 75% about 3 -4 years ago. Before this I never had a daylily in any of my gardens anywhere I lived. Needless to say after the first blooms I started seeing I had to have more and more. As you all know daylilies have come so far in the past few years. I have no ideal how in the world these plants can get any better but as always you hybridizers bring out something new we just have to get.

Now I want to jump in head first and get my feet wet hybridzing daylilies. Everything else can be just that, companion plants. This is going to be so much fun and work. I can't wait to get going....

Marian, have you considered buying seeds? It would be a less expensive way to start out than buying one plant to work with, and you'd be building a foundation of things to work with.

Fred, thanks so much for all the info that you're providing! And also for the thread Lyle & you began on DG. Both of you are simply super, and I'm certainly among the readers who're very grateful for your contributions! : )

I'm very curious about your fertilizing schedule in the winter. What concentration of the Miracle-Gro are you using, specifically in the winter? Also: if the weather prediction were that nights were expected to stay above freezing, but day temperatures would only be in the 50's or very low 60's, would you still fertilize your seedlings? This roughly describes my winter weather, and it rarely is warmer. I'll be starting just a few seedlings, and have been wondering what the best care for them would be. How long is it after they've sprouted that you begin fertilizing them? Do you use a weaker concentration at the very beginning?

Thanks so much! - Elizabete

Hi Juli, and thanks for the suggestions. I did buy some seeds off the LA and I have some seedlings that I should see bloom for the first time this spring. Who knows, I may very well already have something very special to work with. I'm just getting that feeling in my gut that I need to purchase a couple of plants that already have the traits I like in them and go from there. I have daylilies all over the place here. I just don't have any of the real fancy or real expensive daylilies. I guess I'll wait till I find another job. Then once I do, I'll probably just suck it up and purchase two different double fan plants from one of the better daylily sites on the web. Cause nothing else I'm trying to do seems to be working out. Thanks again for your suggestions.

Marian
First, as I said before you don't need the latest and greatest to get great daylilies. I can reccomend a couple very inexpensive eyed and edge plants that will give you some good results. #1 BLACKBERRIES AND CREAM Trimmer 2003 and #2 OPEN MY EYES Grace 2002. Both are very pod and pollen fertile and both are less than $25. I have used both of these and have been very pleased with the results. Another thing, I do not reccomend is buying daylilies from the box stores, get you plants from daylily people so you will know what your getting. There are a lot of good and honest sellers on the auction and on the AHS site. If you go to the link above "CHARLOTTE'S" you will find lots of people to buy daylilies from at a good price.

Elizabete
I use 8oz of 25-5-10 to 15 gallons of water. I do not apply any fertlizer until they are in the ground (about 5 weeks old) then once a week. I do not worry about the weather until we get an extended forcast in the 20s at night for a couple weeks. One or two freezing nights will not slow them down and I will continue to spray them. If your getting highs in the 50s they will still grow and need the fertlizer.

Thanks Fred for the suggestions. I will go look at them and decide where to go from there. The below is a list of a few daylilies I already have that I may play with some this pollen dabbing season. Tell me what you think.
BTW I don't buy daylilies from box stores any longer. The 75 % clearanced daylilies I got from Lowe's 4 or 5 years ago is what triggered this daylily madness. I've bought both plants and seeds off the LA and from individual sellers. I've just never hybridized so to speak. I tried once, but didn't know what I was doing. Therefore I got no seeds to play with that year.

Here is the list of some I already have that I like I was thinking about playing with them this season.

Alexa Kathry
America's Most Wanted
Blissful Blackberry Pie
Darla Anita
Edith Sliger
Fox Hunter
Frank's Star of Bethleham (this is the most expensive daylily I've ever bought and I bought it about 3 years ago or more).
Neon Rainbow Just because Of the contrast in the colors and the eye.
Fashion Police
Spacecoast Cotton Candy
Spacecoast Behavior Pattern
Spacecoast Starburst (?) I think that's it's name
Several other Spacecoast daylilies I have that I have not logged into my journal.
Tropical Shade

Fred, I will probably add the two you suggested, Blackberries and Cream and Open My Eye's. The two you suggested. I no I've seen them before but I need to jog my memory.

You hybridizers tell me what you think of what I'm planning to work with. I need all the input I can get.

These are a few daylilies I'm thinking about getting to work with this summer they are some that I can afford.

Kiingdom of Hearts Dan Hensen has it on his site for $20 and I just love it. I will buy it shortly!
Uppermost Edge
Open My Eyes
Wild Cherry Round Up - I think I already have this one, I'll have to double check and see.
Magic Attraction
Southwestern Memories