This was copied and modified from an earlier thread. I would like to say a few words about seedling selection and what I look for in choosing a daylily for possible registration. First thing that draws a person to a daylily is the bloom and I'm no exception, but we must look at the whole plant from the ground up. The second thing is it must rebloom, I make my selections on rebloom. The third thing I look at and the most important to me is the scape. It must have good branching and bud count, at least four branches and 18-20 buds minimum. "The exception to registering a flower with less buds is registering it as a hybridizers flower because of a desirable trait it carries to its babies." The last thing is the foliage, this is what will be seen most of the year. I really don't think I have ever seen a registered daylily that had unsightly foliage.
I plant about about 2000 seedlings per year and on a good year will move about 50-60 to the hybridizing area to watch them a second year and make sure they are pod and pollen fertile, I would never register a pollen sterile daylily. This second year is when I really watch the scape for branching, bud count, height, and bloom size. From this 50-60 I may keep a dozen to watch a third year and from that 12 I may register half or less of the them the forth year after lining them out several times to make sure they don't die when moving them. So from 2000 seedlings I may end up with 6 that I think are exceptional. The ones I sell on the auction have some trait I don't care for, some will turn out to be nice daylilies because they are only 18 months old when I select them to put on the auction. Several people have registered my seedlings so I have let some good ones get out of here. The other 99% are composted. If you are still with me I will start with three that I will have kept four years this fall and have lots of each, but will not register. This first one want make it because of the color, it's from my white uf breeding, It's a sib to LILLIAN'S VAPOR TRAIL, I don't want something thats so far off color from the two that I will register. This one has everything right at the top and there are way to many green ufs already.
This is a sib to LILLIAN'S CLOCKWORK ORANGE, I like the face of this flower but the branching and bud count are low, the scape is about 40" tall which would be fine if it were a large uf.

So out of the 2000 seedlings I planted four years ago I will register four of them. Two dips and two tets. It's seems I should be doing more dips because I only plant about 10% dip seed and register as many dips as tets. I did make a few more dip seed than normal this year.

This makes perfect sense Fred. That is one reason I have held on to so man and waited to see what they offer or don't. I want only the best of what I have to be registered,. The ones you have selected are super and people can be sure of the quality,. It is hard to see the beautiful blooms go to the compost but I understand the reasoning,. It takes a lot of seed to make a winner and that is where the price comes in also. It is not inexpensive to produce a winner and takes a long time.
I have purchased several Hems that are registered that I may not have registered myself but I want certain traits I want to put into play. Thanks for starting this thread as I have so much to learn and so far to go I need to be reminded of it all.

Fred, just a note from someone who over all tends to be a lurker rather than a participant. The reason I keep reading this forum is because of what you and Lyle are willing to share about your experience as hybridizers. I’m awed by your generosity. To the extent that all of us want to see daylilies evolve into stronger plants than they are now, revealing how you make decisions is simply invaluable. Best of luck to you both! : ) Elizabete

Thanks to both for the confidence in what I am doing, I think most small hybridizers like myself try to release only what they think are there best. We are not under the pressure of the big guys to release a certain number every year. I do this because its the most enjoyable thing (next to playing music) I have ever done. It's dirty,hot, and a lot of hard work but every now and then something comes out of it that makes it all worth while.

Here is a flower that will be registered this fall. I have lost sleep over this flower the last three years because it is so inconsistent every year with the scape and bud count which has never been great. It's better this year than its ever been and I have been asked by many people when I will register this flower so they can use it. It has one of the most distinctive blooms I have seen and is pod and pollen fertile. It is not a garden flower and should be used for hybridizing. It puts the same type edge on it's babies. It has great parentage and the babies always out preform it. These photos were taken over the past couple of weeks, the first proto was taken three years ago with a different camera, the flower is not as dark as it shows, every bloom is the same every day.

Beautiful Fred.

You do a great job and you explain things in a way that people can understand. I've read a lot of things in the past year and there are quite a few hybridizers that want to make it too technical or scientific. That's fine and dandy, but sometimes the basic information gets lost in all of that. You keep it simple and to the point. You have helped me tremendously and saved me probably years of mistakes. You are very much appreciated.

By the way, the seed trays are supposed to be here tomorrow and I can bring them over Friday if you will be home and not too busy.

What a wonderful thread -- and you've included my absolute favorite daylily too! I'm printing this one out so I can refer to it as I go along. So far I've tried 3 or 4 crosses, and it actually looks like I have two little seed pods developing on BASS GIBSON! But I understand they still can fall off pretty soon if the seeds are not viable, so I'll hold on before getting too excited. Unfortunately because of space constraints I really can't do much except dabble -- but I intend to dabble away each year and just see what I get. I have no plans to register anything, and if I actually got something I really thought was that fantastic I believe I would send some of it to you, Fred, to grow it and give me your honest evaluation first. And it would have to be an amazing seedling for me to ever get to that point.

I'm off for a two week vacation, so you won't be hearing much from me during that time. And I hope everyone has some gorgeous blooms while I'm gone!

Thanks for kind words you two. Tink we are leaving Friday morning about 10 to judge Jackson and from there to B-ham to judge Sunday, from there we will stay at the George's until Thursday when we go to Huntsville, then we will go back to the Georges after the Regional and return home Monday June 20. So I want be here for about nine days. I will see you in Huntsville.

9 days without you. Withdrawal setting in already BFG.

okiedokie then. Have a good trip and see you in Huntsville.

I have started selecting seedlings as they rebloom, I have already seen the face so now I am looking mostly at the scape higth, branching, and budcount. They are still less than a year old but there should be some improvement from first bloom to rebloom. A few will have a drastic improvement but most will only have moderate changes. I was happy to see this flower rebloom, it has one of the oustanding face's I saw this year and it has a much improved scape on rebloom. A couple more I flaged yesterday.

The first one is absolutely gorgeous. I love that huge eye and the coloring.

IT IS A KILLER COLOR AND PATTERN. 'Like the others but that one cannot be overlooked.

Wow, I really love that first one too, but all three are wonderful! I think the eye pattern and edge on the last one are fantastic.

I still think the first one from that last group is the very best!

Have been away for 10 days and was glad to sleep in my own bed for a change. These are some more selected seedlings I have flagged to look at another year.(LILLIAN'S ALABAMA SUNRISE X CRAZY IVAN) X (MARTIN BLONDELL X LILLIAN'S ALABAMA SUNRISE) LILLIAN'S CLOCKWORK ORANGE X (MARTIN BLONDELL X LILLIAN'S ALABAMA SUNRISE)
THOMAS TEW X EXOTIC TREASURE

Fred all of these are beautiful.Very nice group.

That first one is absolutely stunning. I love the eye and the form of the bloom. If you find an empty hole it wasn't me!!