Found Crik's Bloomin' Daylilies in Albion, IL today and feel like I hit the jackpot. This place has about 600 daylilies or so and many are around $5-$8 and I got more than just a double fan. A couple of these were clumps size! Unfortunately they do not have a website, (they are only on facebook). And what's worse! This is their last year!

I was afraid I would not find spots for all of these in my garden, but I did. Had to get rid of some Stella de Oro clumps to do it though.

Any opinions (good or bad!) on these would be appreciated.
Wolf Eyes $5 (to replace the one I lost last winter)
Persian Market $5
No Blue Oxfords $8
Purple Pinwheel $5
Salem Witch $5
Cowboys Don't Cry $6
Give Me Eight (bonus)

Congrats on your haul! LOOT!!!

I am not familiar with any of those but sounds like you did great!!

Nice haul, Vickie! I have Persian Market and LOVE it! I'm not familiar with the rest.

Give Me Eight is a pretty neat poly. I don't recognize the others, but looks like you've got a lot of new plants to keep an eye on... and that's always good!

You did hit the jackpot! Both No Blue Oxfords and Salem Witch were great garden plants here with nice branching and pretty blooms. I've been thinking I should add Salem Witch back into the garden....winters are long and I did some ancestry research (my own not the plants). Amazing what you can find back there

Thanks all! When I got to the daylily farm, I had specific traits in mind when I was looking. Some of my old daylilies have spindly scapes and don't hold the blooms up, so that was #1 on my list. Then I wanted nice branching. Char, you are right! No Blue Oxfords and Salem Witch have nice branching and pretty blooms. I actually got about 10-12 fans of Salem Witch. Needless to say, I was ecstatic to get so many fans. The others had at least 4-8 fans each.

Cats1, glad to hear about Give Me Eight. It is so tall! It wasn't in bloom today so I didn't even know it was a greenish white. The owner of the daylily farm told me to pick out any one I wanted for free and Give Me Eight is what I picked. Now I finally own a poly!

Natalie, Persian Market had one bloom on it and it smelled so good! It's tall, has good branching, and of course it's pink! What's not to like???

I never noticed that Persian Market smelled good! I had it toward the back of the bed, and never got that close to it in order to smell it. I'll give it a sniff as soon as it blooms! I'm so glad you mentioned that!

Sounds like we all should stay on Char's good side!!

But ... Salem Witch's ancestry, as I think Char's own research echoes, does have a really interesting history and an inspiring mix of cultivars behind it.

Back in the 1980's, Munson blended three beautiful cultivars that produced SW's pod parent, Court Magician. By choosing so well, he took the best aspects of each to get better form, improved rust resistance over one of them, and brought forth additional substance and more depth of color and contrast. CM was then chosen by Salem Witch's hybridizer, Moldovan, for pollinating with his own pollen source, Mountain Majesty.



Mountain Majesty had great color, form and rust resistance, but lacked highlights found in CM. By combining the flashier, if less resistant CM with the plainer but more resistant MM, Moldovan provided Salem Witch the benefits of both genetic backgrounds. This shows up in one of her offspring when he again matched a Munson pod parent (this time more rust resistant and less colorful, but with a modern edge) with Salem Witch and improved on both's parents expected level of color depth, form, and ability to withstand rust. Aptly, if you are one who finds a cultivar's name-history of interest, this offspring was named Divine Comedy (as Wiki says, a poem about "the soul's journey towards God").



The careful heritage continued, and wouldn't you know it? In 2010, Skinner took Salem Witch's offspring Divine Comedy and crossed it with his own choice of resistant pod parent, Sherry Lane Carr, to produce Summer Smiles, a lovely and unique "bright burnt orange with ... wide yellow midribs...". I think the the sunny contrast of the yellow midribs is awesome. So, for me it's like a beloved book series that continues to be written, while we wait on the next installment that might come about. Who might next take these early stories further and bring forth something amazingly fruitful?



Thanks for bringing daylily heritage to mind for us all, Char, it gave us the chance to be inspired by some very admirable hybridizer legacy!

Mountain Majesty did not perform well in my garden. I had it for about 7 years before I gave it away. Just didn't bloom enough to suit me. Would skip seasons altogether and not bloom at all. I moved it to a different location and no improvement.

Claudia, you are funny! I did not catch that!

Char, it is very interesting what one can find out about their ancestors and I hope you are finding a very colorful and interesting lineage My mom did genealogy for many years. Now my sister is picking up where she left off and it has renewed my mom's interest, thank goodness. Since my dad died two years ago, mom was losing interest in a lot of things. But due to her diligence all those years ago, we have learned a lot about our past.

Very interesting Tina! I love stories (and I know you do too ) This is a great way to combine two interests into one and I really enjoyed reading the one you just put together. Makes me really, really happy that I bought Salem Witch.

I agree about Sunny Smiles... those yellow midribs are a beautiful contrast to the orange.

Natalie, I put Persian Market in an area that I don't get very close to also and now am regretting it. But it seemed tall, so I couldn't put it in front. AHS lists it as 27", but do you think yours gets taller than that? Mine seems to be. I may have to re-evaluate and find a place up by the patio so I can smell it more. I love smelling the daylilies.

Wow, Cindy. that would be discouraging after 7 years. There are so many to choose from, we don't need poor performers. I have had H. David Kirchhoff for 7 years now. Moved it last year after several years of splotchy, mangled blooms and it seems to be doing better this year. So now I will wait another year to see if it will finally settle in. But it is taking up space and it may go next year if it doesn't get a lot better.

An example, though, of how so many daylilies can be improved. Speaking very generally, even if moving a cultivar does not result in improvement of garden performance, crossing it with a cultivar that makes up for its lack can change that in one generation. From what's been said Mountain Majesty's offspring, Salem Witch, has great branching and blooms. I like to look at lineage in part because it not only shows how that one-generation improvement is done, but it's also a great source for finding cultivars that are still contributing helpful attributes, even today. So, maybe grab some pollen to freeze before you toss, especially one whose pollen has done so well?

David Kirchoff did that for me Vickie for a couple of years. Now it blooms fine. I think that one just needed more time to settle in.

Vickie, Persian Market was about 32" tall for me, so it went to the back also. Luckily I started it there so that I didn't have to move it later! I used it for hybridizing, but could reach it with my hand, but not my nose! I can't wait until it blooms again so that I can get a whiff!

Good point, Tina. I have not tried freezing pollen, but have heard about it. I did just plant my seedlings in a small bed today. I am hoping they will survive the elements, because I had nowhere else to go with them. Guess I could have put them in pots, but I really didn't want to do that. Today I was thinking about making crosses where I would know both parents (I only know the pod parent of my seedlings). I had better get started making a game plan on which ones to cross.

Natalie, I told you wrong. I got Salem Witch and Persian Market mixed up. Persian Market does have a wonderful fragrance, but I did put it up around the patio. It is tall, but I probably won't have to move it after all where it is at. Salem Witch is up against the fence on the back of the border.

Cindy, that's good to know. I have not had any daylily as stubborn to settle in as DK.

Three of my new purchases bloomed today:

Cowboys Don't Cry, No Blue Oxfords, and Salem Witch

What a beautiful mix of purples! And, another nice mix of background parents with potential new features.