It is definitely more fun talking 'daylily speak' to someone who knows what you are talking about

Here is a link to my FB page. I have several daylily friends that I chat with on occasion. Send me a friend request if you want. I also just wanted to show off my 4 beautiful kids. Hard to believe they are so grown up! The twins are graduating in May. Yipee! Brett will have a agriculture tech degree. He is my play in the dirt one.

https://www.facebook.com/teres...

daylily said:Teresa, I am writing up this week's "hybridizer series" on my first daylily mentor. She actually was the person who got me interested in growing many kinds of flowers. But, after Dottie Warrell got me interested - Curt Hanson turned it into a sickness!

Juli, I am looking forward to seeing your piece on Dottie Warrell. She's my neighbor, just down the street from my small farm. She sold me my first daylily, several years ago, then patiently talked with me about hybridizing once I caught the bug. Until I started reading online and elsewhere, trying to learn as much as I could, I had no idea that my nice neighbor was a world-class and wonderful hybridizer. Her Frozen Mert is the pod parent of this year's Stout Winner, Jamie Gossard's Heavenly Angel Ice.
This year I am looking forward to meeting some of the other outstanding Ohio hybridizers -- there is always so much to learn.
Ann

Wow! Some of you are soooo lucky to live so close to famous hybridizers! That would be such a thrill for me!

Ann. I am getting the seed making bug myself and yes there is a ton to learn! It is very exciting to think about what a tiny seed may become.

Have not been here much in the past six weeks, we have friends visiting from Scotland and the man gets up early like I do, so the computer is mostly off limits to keep from being rude.

I got my love of digging in the dirt from my mother, we always planted a garden in the spring out of necessity to have something to eat over the winter. My mother was the one that took care of everything around the home while Dad worked a full time job. I remember us three boys turning over an acre of ground with a shovel to plant the garden before someone in the area got a mule and plow. I never remember mother being big on flowers of any kind, but she knew enough about gardening to feed six kids and share with the kin folks.

I got into daylilies in the late 80s by accident, a man I was working with got in bad health and said he had 500 clumps of daylilies he need to sell because he couldn't take care of them any longer. I had no idea what a daylily was and sure didn't know what a clump was. He talked me into looking at them as they were in full bloom and I had never seen anything like them but knew I needed to go get Kathleen to look at what I had found. The man wanted $1.00 per clump which was a small fortune to us, but she agreed and wrote a check that afternoon.

I do not remember how I found out you could make seed, but after a few years we were planting seedlings and selling daylilies, had no idea you could register and name one. One day we were at the library for a reason I do not remember and I saw a book on Daylilies, in the book were names of some of the most notable hybridizers of that era. There was the name Jack Temple in Pensacola Florida among Munson, Alps, Moldovan, and several others. After several days of searching Pensacola we found Mr. Temple, who put me on the right track with the AHS, the Pensacola Daylily Club, and introduced us to Named Daylilies. He encouraged me to register my first daylily in 1999 "Lillian Kathleen" and he is the reason UFs are my favorite form of daylily.

Sounds like fate was weaving its web, Fred.

I can't imagine turning over a acre of ground with a shovel! That was a lot of work.

I have always gardened from a very early age. The soils and the rain of the tropics were so excellent for growing vegetables. I think my addiction to eating radishes drove me through those early years. Orchids I collected with a passion as well. However, adolescence and ambition finished all these until the last few years when I decided I would now do what I wanted.
It just occurred to me that I cannot remember how I got into daylilies. I went straight into cultivars over 15 years ago for some reason. This is a worry......

Back in the 50s nothing was easy if you lived in the country, no electricity, no inside pluming, cooking and heating with wood, growing your own livestock, but us kids thought it was a great way of life because we had never seen any better. Every family was living just like we were so we though we were living high on the hog because we had fried chicken every Sunday after church. What an awaking I had when I joined the Air Force in 1960.

Glen! I hope you don't worry too much about how you got started with daylilies. We are glad you did though!

Fred, first, thank you for your service in the Air Force. I can only imagine how different it would be going from the farm (or any background) to the service. I have a cousin who served in the Vietnam war and still treasure his letters to me.

I don't remember too much about the 50s since I was born in them. But I know I wouldn't trade growing up on a farm for anything. When my parents moved to an old farm house with only an outhouse, it wasn't long before two bathrooms were added to the house, lol! My sisters and I have so many good memories of growing up on a farm. And we had fried chicken every Sunday after church too! Still one of my favorites.

Yes, thank you, Fred for your service. I have veterans in my family also, plus my SIL.

I was raised on a Ky cattle/grain farm . I have many great memories from my childhood.Blackberry picking, hay trailer potlucks, homemade ice cream, canning fresh veggies, I could go on and on. My 87 yr old Mom is still living there. We plan on keeping the farm, my DH is close to retiring, so maybe he will become a late in life farmer lol.

Welcome Ann.

I and my two brothers served in the military and for myself it was a great experience. I made two trips to Vietnam and that was the worse of my service time. I had an all expense paid trip to many places I would never have seen. Thanks for the Thanks.

Hi Ann ! How great to see you here. There are plenty of hybridizers in Ohio. It will likely be difficult to decide which direction to travel ! All depends on your interests, I suppose. Anyway, Welcome !

Sunny

Hi, Sunny! And thanks for the welcome. I've been here for a year or so, mostly reading rather than contributing. As for hybridizing, I am trying hard to discipline myself (not a trait that comes naturally to me). One thing I've learned after doing this for three years: to focus at least as hard on plant habit as on the pretty face. But there are so many pretty faces!

It was great to meet you at Shirley Farmer. I didn't get a chance to tell you how impressive, and beautiful, your seedlings are! One of the most interesting and lovely sets of seedlings shown that day, in my opinion.
Ann

We had another Fred, Fred Turner, as an early mentor. He hybridized and we would literally bring home a Ranger pickup truck load each time we went to his 4 fields of seedlings. They were from $1 to maybe $5. He never registered any DLs, but many were better than some that get marketed each year. Fred would spend all Sunday afternoon with you, teaching what he had learned from two of his mentors (one was Don Harrell). He taught Doris and me a great deal, even introduced us to the NWGDS president who was there one day. We went to the next meeting, and it has been a good experience. The man who owned the business where Fred worked died. Fred was his right-hand man and started working even more long hours and he hasn't been as avid as earlier. He always smiled and gently told you how to hybridize and tricks of the trade. He said that only 1% of his seedlings were worth keeping, we thought he was crazy. He was right, we learned. As we became more involved in DLs, we have been helped by so many people, all eager to share what they know. Sort of like on here, this forum. I'm afraid that we read everything we can on the subject of DLs. But we could quit at any time. If we wanted to do so. Doris has presented programs to clubs, and will do some more next year. Her knowledge and expertise is well-respected around GA. (I'm along for the ride.) So, it becomes your turn to mentor someone. If anyone wants to learn how to eat ice cream, I'm your huckleberry.
David

Good evening, all.

I have often learned what not to be like from a negative example. I tell myself " Do not be this way."

In 1992, a couple invited me to an iris sale left by a man who passed away and left over 700 cultivars in bloom.They cost $2 per rhizome. I bought over 80.

The two women selling these belonged to iris society, and I wanted to learn about raising irises. I was a sponge waiting for information.

I attended the meetings, the iris shows, and learned to show. Later, I started to ask questions to satisfy my thirst for information. These veteran growers, and hybridizers, evaded my questions, and I did not learn any more.

Like an optimist, I stayed with this club for many years. At each meeting, we saw the membership decline as the members entered nursing homes or passed away. Younger members dropped like the pervebial dead flyes. Recruiting was a failure. The leaders wanted to know why they were not gaining new members. I told them:

You keep knowledge a secret and you will die along with your secrets. Any organization flourishes when information is shared.

Soon I quit and started learning on my own, and vowed not to be that way.

Today I share all that I have learned on my own. I grow thousands of hostas and hybridize them. I just started learning and growing daylilies. I do all on my own. Some of the same people who grew irises now grow daylilies.

There is no reason to join their club. They will all go to their graves with their secrets.

I feel sorry for them all.

Gerry

Oh, thank you Ann ! You've been doing some pretty impressive things yourself . We'll have to visit each other's gardens this summer. You're like a ten minute drive away !

My grandmother was the one who liked to garden. I grew up on the opposite side of the country from her so when my parents would ship us out to Long Island we would spend hours out in the yard doing whatever was asked of us. She never grew daylilies that I am aware of but she did grow all manner of vegetables and gobs and gobs of raspberries. She would diligently tend to her plants and did so until shortly before she died. I tried to find some of her crocus bulbs that she inherited from her grandmother but it was November and I couldn't seem to locate them. I know where they are in the yard though so maybe if I am up that way in the spring...

I dabbled in gardening for most of my teen years until I moved out to go to school. I didn't have a yard again until my mid 20's when I slowly tried to landscape the house I bought. I can still remember the first daylily I bought - Siloam Doodlebug. I liked it. It grew. So I looked into some others. I went to Maryott's on a whim and I was floored. The new additions were great so I kept slowly adding here and there while learning as much as I could from people (Michele, Fred, Lyle and others) on boards like this one. Then I saw Blue Beetle. I was hooked. That was the first new daylily I bought. Ironically I bought it because I loved the look as a double and it has NEVER thrown a double bloom for me.

Thanks, everyone. I LOVE reading thru your stories.