My opinion, not that of Doris, shall be in ALL CAPS BELOW.
I think it wise, if you are looking for the gene pool only, not to spend the big bucks of a named daylily but buying its sib cheap. I AGREE 100%!!
But that is not the point I was trying to make initially.
It is selling those $200 - $1500 seedlings without registering them. I just don't get it. If it is worth that kind of money, shouldn't it be a registered daylily? I GUESS THAT YOU ARE REFERRING TO THE GASKINS' SEEDLINGS, AS THEY GO HIGHER THAN MOST ON THE LA, THEY VERY, VERY TALENTED HYBRIDIZERS, IMHO. THEIR WHOLE OPERATION IS ABOPUT THE SQUARE FOOTAGE OF AN AVERAGE HOUSE, SO THEY DON'T MULTIPLY THEM VERY MUCH. THEY WILL NOT WAIT UNTIL THEY HAVE 30-50-75-100-200 FANS UNTIL THEY INTRODUCE A CULTIVAR, (BECAUSE FOR WHATEVER REASON THEY CHOOSE NOT TO DO SO) LIKE MANY HYBRIDIZERS DO. THEY NEED TO MOVE FLOWERS OUT, SO THEY SELL A FEW OF THEIR INTRODUCTIONS FROM THEIR WEBSITE, AND OTHERS ON THE LA. WHILE THEY SELL SOME SEEDLINGS ON SITE FOR $10-25, THEIR BEST ONES THAT MAYBE THEY DON'T HAVE ROOM TO REPRODUCE GO ON THE LA. IF THEY WERE INTRODUCING10-30 FLOWERS EACH YEAR, MAYBE THEIR SEEDLINGS WOULD GO FOR MUCH LESS. WE ALL KNOW THAT SOME HYBRIDIZERS SELL NO SEEDLINGS AT ALL. I GUESS THEY DECIDED SOME TIME BACK TO STAY SMALL, GET WHAT THEY COULD TO MAKE SOME MONEY, BUT NOT GET RICH, AND PUT SOME REALLY HIGH-QUALITY SEEDLINGS OUT THERE THEY PEOPLE COULD ENJOY (OR INTRODUCE IF THEY WANTED TO DO SO). THEY ARE VERY NICE PEOPLE AND THEY HAVE CHOSEN A PATH THAT NOT MANY GREAT HYBRIDIZERS TAKE. ALSO, THEY WILL NOT BE WORKING WITH DAYLILIES FOR MANY MORE YEARS, SO, MANY PEOPLE WANT TO GET SOMETHING FROM THEM WHILE THEY CAN. THAT'S JUST MY TWO CENTS, BUT THAT'S NOT WORTH WHAT IS USED TO BE- BUT... I'M NOT WHAT I USED TO BE, EITHER!!
Registering a plant has nothing to do with the hybridizer keeping the plant for his own program, in my mind. Is it not living up to his standards? I don't know... but when seedlings bring more than registered daylilies, I just don't get it!
I purchased a nice tall dark pink UF that i am using to breed with. I asked about why it was not considered worthy for registering, and the answer was that it was not branched enough for his taste. I love it as a garden plant and have set seed on it last year and this.
Two stories:
Fooled Me was let out of Reilly's garden as a seedling, since it wasn't in his breeding choices (he liked pinks and pastels), and it didn't have great bud count at the time. Well, it was registered later by someone else, then re ID'd as a Reilly seedling and that is how it got its name. When in clump form, it did have the good stats, AND IT WON A WRITE IN up to the STOUT MEDAL!
John Lambert would register and sell out of his stock of a cultivar when he had as low a division as 7 (I think). He wanted the good ones named and out of his garden, so he would have room for more!
