When the collecting bug first hit, I joined the local daylily society.
I thought spending $25 for a daylily was over the top. HA! Collectors there were bidding $50, even $100 on some of the latest things. I couldn't believe it.
So, while sitting there with another newbie, we jotted down the names of the parents of those important new daylilies, thinking that if we got the parents, we could get the kids (or something like them)!!!
Phil Reilly on the scene.
Encouraging everyone to give it a shot. Two rules - buy the best you can afford, and build your program on buds and branching. In other words, you can put a pretty face on plants with buds and branching, but it is much harder to put buds and branching on a pretty face. I relate this second rule to watch for plant habit, not just a pretty face. The second might also pertain to northern breeders more than the south, where daylilies have repeat bloom seasons.
Anyway, I gave it a shot. And got hooked. My first problems were that I was liking tall and skinnies at a time when short and fats were just coming into vogue. So when the 'group' visited my seedling beds, my comments were to buy more fatties, and I tossed away my pink skinnies. Too bad. It was discouraging.
Until I met Bob Schwarz and Margo Reed, that is!!!
