Fred, Cynthia, and Michele - THANKS!!! This is one of the most interesting threads I've read about hybridizing daylilies! Now I am starting to understand how much some hybrids can change from year to year.
Michele - Thanks for posting those photos! Some of the changes in blooms is shocking! I had NO IDEA that some first year blooms could change that much! The first one really knocked me over with the change! Incredible!!! And the third one, too! That last photo is sure freaky! What would cause that yellow vein streaking through the blooms like that? It's a characteristic from a gene? That is so bizarre!
Fred (or anyone else) - Please post a link to the thread where "you" posted the bloom photos that show the change in the flowers from bloom to bloom and year to year. I would REALLY like to see them! I can't imagine planting 2500 seedlings only to destroy almost all of them for a choice few. And then culling those few again! That leaves me stunned!!! Really!
And ... To wait 10 years in some of the northern states before a new daylily would be worthy of registration and introduction is really unbelievable!!! 10 long years???!!! Can you imagine all the cultivars and new characteristics that can be introduced in that period of time in the southern states. Almost not worth the effort to even try to hybridize in the north! (Not meaning to insult anyone with that comment ....) Though of course, there are millions of northern gardeners who would likely buy a new intro that was suited for the north ... so I am probably off course with my thinking ....
I have no intention of selling any daylilies, but I am very interested in registering a few of my hybrids in memory or honor of someone .... and/or .... as a very special gift for a family member or a friend. At $20 to register a hybrid, what an inexpensive but really lovely gift to honor someone with or to give in memory of someone dear who has passed away.
So my questioning is to help me determine what would make a daylily worthy of registration. Since most of my family/friends would most notice the blooms and not so much the growth habit ... that is why I ask about the number of years for the blooming of a daylily before considering the possibility of naming and registering any.
Y'all are so wonderfully helpful in your answer and photos! Thank you so very, very much!!!
