But ... Salem Witch's ancestry, as I think Char's own research echoes, does have a really interesting history and an inspiring mix of cultivars behind it.
Back in the 1980's, Munson blended three beautiful cultivars that produced SW's pod parent, Court Magician. By choosing so well, he took the best aspects of each to get better form, improved rust resistance over one of them, and brought forth additional substance and more depth of color and contrast. CM was then chosen by Salem Witch's hybridizer, Moldovan, for pollinating with his own pollen source, Mountain Majesty.
Mountain Majesty had great color, form and rust resistance, but lacked highlights found in CM. By combining the flashier, if less resistant CM with the plainer but more resistant MM, Moldovan provided Salem Witch the benefits of both genetic backgrounds. This shows up in one of her offspring when he again matched a Munson pod parent (this time more rust resistant and less colorful, but with a modern edge) with Salem Witch and improved on both's parents expected level of color depth, form, and ability to withstand rust. Aptly, if you are one who finds a cultivar's name-history of interest, this offspring was named Divine Comedy (as Wiki says, a poem about "the soul's journey towards God").
The careful heritage continued, and wouldn't you know it? In 2010, Skinner took Salem Witch's offspring Divine Comedy and crossed it with his own choice of resistant pod parent, Sherry Lane Carr, to produce Summer Smiles, a lovely and unique "bright burnt orange with ... wide yellow midribs...". I think the the sunny contrast of the yellow midribs is awesome. So, for me it's like a beloved book series that continues to be written, while we wait on the next installment that might come about. Who might next take these early stories further and bring forth something amazingly fruitful?
Thanks for bringing daylily heritage to mind for us all, Char, it gave us the chance to be inspired by some very admirable hybridizer legacy!
