My poorest performance from Mister Butters came two years ago after a frigid winter with virtually no snow cover. So I thought the problem was that Mister Butters was a bit tender. One can't go just by zones. If there is no snow cover and almost 20 below, that's much worse than a zone 4 or 5 with the same temperature. So Mister Butters may (or may not) have a relatively narrow range for optimal performance. It was okay this year, but not stellar. But many cultivars were not okay after the funky spring and extended dryness.

Okay, guys, you are right, I missed that one, but it is very funny. I just seem to remember somebody saying something about Judy D's Osterized and there was a big discussion about whether or not they had the real thing, so it made me wonder if something similar was going on with Mister Butters. So, will the real Mister Butters please stand up, or better yet, get busy and grow the way you should in my garden.

I forgot to mention that I made a cross of Mister Butters with Mint Octopus, and there is one big seed pod I am just waiting to get when it cracks open. I sure hope this one produces viable seed and makes some lovely babies. I can hope that the MO genes translates to at least the 32" listed height, the seven way branching and the 46+ bud count with the lemon yellow of MB and its fragrance.


Mister Butters pod parent


Mint Octopus pollen parent

Avedon said:I forgot to mention that I made a cross of Mister Butters with Mint Octopus, and there is one big seed pod I am just waiting to get when it cracks open. I sure hope this one produces viable seed and makes some lovely babies. I can hope that the MO genes translates to at least the 32" listed height, the seven way branching and the 46+ bud count with the lemon yellow of MB and its fragrance.


Mister Butters pod parent

• Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Mint Octopus')
• Uploaded by Avedon

Mint Octopus pollen parent

@Avedon, did you see results from this cross yet? I'd love to know what came from it, for better or for worse, for taller or for shorter, for fragrance or not, for yellow or not yellow (surely yellow?)…

Ann

@ Hortaoholic--- Ann, yes, there were five seeds planted from this cross and four made it. All of them produced flowers and I kept three. All have fragrance, I especially notice it on Seedling #1.

My favorite--MB/MO Seedling #1

This picture shows the height----love that it's tall, think it's the only seedling I did that has ever grown like this-- notice the date, May 18th 2020, so an early bloomer here.

Now I have jumped to last year, the plants bloomed later possibly because of the big Arctic blast we had that lasted a couple of weeks.

I love the curls and the color, the green must come from Mint Octopus and they do have a fragrance once you get close to the flowers.

MB/MO Seedling #2
What a difference, right? The scapes are short, but the shape and the color of the flowers really favor Mint Octopus.



MB/MO Seedling #4

And now we have the Mister Butters influence with "fatter" petals and sepals. The yellow color is more pronounced in this photo with more sun.

With less light, the greenish cast shows very well. I think this is the one I was calling "Mint Butters", no names for the other two.

I am looking forward to seeing how they will do this year. Certainly would like more height on the scapes for #2 and #4, but that may not happen here.

Avedon said:@ Hortaoholic--- Ann, yes, there were five seeds planted from this cross and four made it. All of them produced flowers and I kept three. All have fragrance, I especially notice it on Seedling #1.

@Avedon, Thank you so very much for sharing the results of this cross! It's very informative to see the variation that can occur even among 4 seedlings.

I'm glad to know the fragrance was passed along! And I like seeing that the form can favor one or the other rather than being the "average" in every direction.

I started a thread - last month! - which I haven't followed through with yet because I've been exploring websites thither and yon.

I asked for suggestions of potential yellow tetraploids as parents to breed one that would rebloom in 5b where my daughter lives. I want to name it for her. I intended to use 'Gisela's Sunshine' (Pete Mondron) as one parent, it's a sunny yellow self that performs beautifully here.

Several people offered helpful suggestions and I will follow up when I settle on the candidates. I have 'Mister Butters' rated as one of the top 3 or 4, so I was very interested in these results. Thanks again for sharing! Photos especially welcome!

I wish growers would share information like this about a lot of crosses!

Ann

Avedon - Thank you for sharing photos and information about YOUR seedlings from the featured Daylily of the Day - Mister Butters. Everyone of them are quite beautiful. Looks like Mister Butters makes a fine parent! I have awarded you an acorn for sharing all your pictures and information about those seedlings!