megdavis said:
I love these ideas! I've been building my founder stock and doing a lot of reading on hybridizer websites to understand more about the cultivars, but I'm also a bit of a sentimentalist and have tried hard to include much older daylilies in my collection.
Meghan - good that you are doing that. A number of big-name hybridizers, including Jamie Gossard and Curt Hanson, have said that many older cultivars have not been fully explored for their potential. Sometimes it's worth it to make crosses with them that nobody else has made and see what you get. Some of the oldies have really good, solid genetics for certain traits, so you might get a pleasant surprise if you use ones that do especially well for you. And you can take them in a new direction crossing with the newer intros that are now available. You might at least be able to work some good traits into your program.
