I agree Fred! Though sometimes an unknown shows up that is worth using or even registering despite the lack of knowing it's family tree.
Plants like Dragonfly Dawn and Waves of Joy (which is a child of DD) often consistently produce patterned children. Others consistently produce ruffles or teeth. I find it helpful to look in the Plant Database at the children of such cultivars to see if those traits do indeed pass on to their children. I am also discovering that some plants are very fertile while others are not. I have 2 siblings right now where one plant is very fertile and the other seems to be sterile. So if you are using a plant for breeding, you need to verify that it will be fertile both ways.
The more I learn, the more I am sucked into this vortex of hybridizing. It really can be mind-bending at times to get something totally unexpected! Those are the ones I give pause to and do some research to make sure that I didn't mislabel them or to discover something from generations before showing up. It's quite the unexpected ride with daylily hybridizing!
