Central Florida, home to Walt Disney World, is one of the most popular destination spots for families. For daylily growers and collectors this area of Florida is also home to the southern Daylily Mecca. Each year in May during peak bloom daylily lovers travel to this gathering which includes open gardens, cook outs and…daylilies. Thousands of the newest creations from some of the leading hybridizers of daylilies are seen during this event. In this hybridizer feature we will be exploring the daylilies of the Kinnebrew family.
East of Disney World on the coast of Florida is the John F. Kennedy Space Center, NASA Visitor Center and the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. A short drive north is Scottsmoor, home to Kinnebrew Daylily Garden and the Kinnebrews series of Spacecoast daylilies. Beginning in the 1970’s daylilies became a family affair for John Sr., Marjorie and John Jr. as they traveled exhibiting daylilies and began hybridizing as a hobby. An increasing interest in hybridizing and demand for their cultivars during the late 1990’s was timed perfectly with the retirement of John Sr. from the Kennedy Space Center and the hobby was elevated to business.
The first cultivar to be registered by John was ‘Midnight Magic’ in 1979, a black red tetraploid which was awarded the AHS Lenington Award in 2002 for a cultivar with outstanding performance across many areas of the country. ‘Spacecoast Starburst’ (1998) with its vertically raised edge became the foundation for the Kinnebrews breeding line of daylilies with ruffled edges.
Spacecoast Starburst ( Kinnebrew – J., 1998)
Earning the respect of garden judges, ‘Spacecoast Starburst’ received a 2002 Honorable Mention and 2005 Award of Merit. This early interest in producing fancy edged daylilies led to the award winners from Spacecoast Starburst’ including ‘Darla Anita’ (1999) with a 2003 Honorable Mention and 2006 Award of Merit,
Darla Anita ( Kinnebrew – J., 1999)
‘Jerry Nettles’ (2002) a 2005 Honorable Mention
Jerry Nettles (Kinnebrew – J., 2002)
and ‘Lori Goldston’ (1999) with a 1999 Junior Citation and 2002 Honorable Mention.
Lori Goldston (Kinnebrew – J., 1999)
Their desire for fancy petal edges includes cultivars showing the toothy petal edges popular today. Cultivars such as ‘Iwanna Piranha’ (2006) with a 2009 Honorable Mention, ‘Randy Stephens’ (2007) a 2010 Honorable Mention recipient, Spacecoast Chomp! Chomp! (2011) a toothy Unusual form and Spacecoast Snaggle Tooth (2009) are a few of their cultivars displaying toothy edges.
Iwanna Piranha ( Kinnebrew – J., 2006)
Randy Stephens (Kinnebrew - J., 2007)
Spacecoast Chomp! Chomp! ( Kinnebrew - J., 2011)
Saturated color in purples and reds, lavenders, pinks, yellows, near whites and eyezones are all a part of the Kinnebrew hybridizing program. A successful line of intriguing appliqué patterns can be traced to ‘Catcher in the Eye’ a 2001 registration coming from a cross of a seedling with Jeff Salters “Daring Deception’ (Salter 1994). ‘Catcher in the Eye’ received a 2004 Honorable Mention and in 2008 was awarded an Award of Merit and the R. W. Munson Jr. Award for the best patterned daylily.
Catcher in the Eye (Kinnebrew - J., 2001)
From ‘Catcher in the Eye’ came “Spacecoast Sea Shells’ (2003) a 2006 Honorable Mention winner and following in its parents footprints received both an Award of Merit as well as the R. W. Munson Jr. Award in 2009. Outshining its parent ‘Catcher in the Eye’, ‘Spacecoast Sea Shells’ was a runner- up for the Stout Silver Medal in 2011 and again in 2013.
Spacecoast Sea Shells ( Kinnebrew - J., 2003)
For the Kinnebrews ‘ Spacecoast Sea Shells’ has produced the cultivars ‘Spacecoast Behavior Pattern’ (2006) with a 2009 Honorable Mention and ‘Spacecoast Pattern Plus’ (2007).
Spacecoast Behavior Pattern (Kinnebrew - J., 2006)
Spacecoast Pattern Plus (Kinnebrew - J., 2007)
Daylilies hybridized by the Kinnebrews have received a wide range of awards, Junior Citations, Honorable Mentions, Awards of Merit and the Lenington All American Award not once, but twice. Specialty Awards including the R. W. Munson Jr., Extra Large Diameter, Annie T. Giles, Donn Fischer Memorial and multiple AHS Achievement Medals in AHS Exhibitions. In August of 2009 the family suffered a great loss with the passing of Marjorie Kinnebrew and in early 2013 it was announced that Jamie Gossard of Heavenly Gardens would be joining John Jr. in continuing the hybridizing program of the Kinnebrews.
To see more registrations and images of the Kinnebrew daylilies check out the ATP Daylily Database - click Search By Characteristics and enter "Kinnebrew" in the hybridizer box, then click the green search button.
The Kinnebrew Daylily Garden website link -
http://spacecoastdaylilies.com...
