I've been paying more attention to fan increase this year. It is interesting how many double fans are still just that, versus ones that are now 4, 5, or even more fans in a clump. I wonder if they pretty much increase at the same rate each year, given about the same growing conditions, or if they multiply fast, then slow down once established or just continue to multiply until they outcompete themselves. Fan increase (or lack thereof) is where I hope to add comments in the database this year.
Another reason I've been paying attention is that I was growing out some seedlings in the greenhouse for my students to use in their project. They will be choosing a seedling based on parent characteristics that they like, but they are also hoping to pick a seedling that is also increasing (they want to get a double, triple, or mini clump with their first daylily, just like we do
).
Here are some interesting pictures showing seedlings forming new fans as well as some pictures showing the closeness of new fans. I didn't take time to crop any of these, so please forgive the backgrounds and angles.
