And so begins a new season


Going to try keeping a daylily diary here this year instead of in a notebook

Woot! First blooms are always so exciting! Great things to come!

Off to a very slow start. 2nd FO on Stella is all there is today. They're clumping already in the roundabouts and by the mall, but not so much in my yard

Still just Stella and Black Eyed Stella. Lots of scapes on other varieties. Thinking a seedling will be the next new one to open.

Same old same old today. Dug out the taller mass of Stellas and put them on curb alert. The tiny Stella is clumping now.

Anticipation is killing me. Thought sure this would be the next one to bloom:


Or this one:


But noooo! It is Baby Doll, whose scapes only just appeared a few days ago.

I totally get that! One of the very first daylilies to produce a scape in the garden this year was Cherry Ripples... two scapes, in fact. I was shocked to see them so early. Now, with big fat buds starting to show colour (for the past three days), a third scape has appeared that is growing so fast it has nearly caught up with the first two. And still no bloom...

Go figure!

First seedling bloom that beat several others which put out scapes way earlier. Cisty x Spanish Beauty

Finally! 1st tet of the season. 2nd year blooming, Chicago Cattleya x Elizabeth Salter. Better bud count this year too.

Black Eyed Stella is putting on a good show this year. Resisted the temptation to take another clump shot. Stella is still blooming, and Baby Doll is clumping. The bed looks awful with daffodil foliage still dying down, so it wasn't hard to resist taking a clump shot with that mess going on. The dark red seedling has its second bloom open today. The Cisty x Spanish Beauty seedling had its 2nd bloom yesterday. FFE today on Dublin Elaine x Blushing Peach. Photo does not do the color justice at all. The bloom is very large, but very wonky.


STILL waiting for Katie's Coral Ridges x Looney Tunes.


The scape on the seedling to the south of that one is very odd. I bent back the leaf covering up the buds, so it sent out another leaf to cover them. Looks almost like a jack in the pulpit.

Katie's Coral Ridges x Prickly Sensation, really nothing new to see here


FFO on Asian Artistry


Repeat on Chicago Cattleya x Elizabeth Salter


FFO on Golden Chimes


FFO on Prickly Sensation, seems extra early this year


Stella is starting to have bud blast. Black Eyed Stella and Baby Doll are still clumping. Low temp forecast for 75 degrees overnight, high in the mid nineties again today. Hoping for rain midweek.

Chicago Cattleya x Elizabeth Salter #1


Chicago Cattleya x Elizabeth Salter #2


Asian Artistry not fully open, so didn't take a pic.

Painter's Splash had 2 FFOs


Sunset Rogue, amazing color on the FFO this year. More red than rose.


Baby Doll is still clumping. Golden Chimes had a couple open. The clump looks the best it's ever looked, so looking forward to a good show.

Katie's Coral Ridges x Yellow Pinwheel. Flower is HUGE like Yellow Pinwheel. Color is a surprise. Nice that it's earlier flowering though. Tall scapes on this one.

Took a picture of everything today. Not going to post anywhere else today because there's estate stuff that needs my attention.

Looney Tunes FFO, then Katie's Coral Ridges x Looney Tunes for comparison




FFE on White Wizard x Katie's Coral Ridges. @Seedfork , it has some sculpting. I will send you a fan of WW when it's done blooming this year.


Black Eyed Stella is starting to have some bud blast in this heat. So is Doll House, and it hasn't opened any buds yet so no photo of that one. Pollen beetles are here already, too.


Cisty x Spanish Beauty is a lot darker colored than previous blooms. Spanish Beauty has a similar trait of color variance.


Chicago Cattleya x Elizabeth Salter #3 FFEs. One splotchy, one nice.


Painter's Splash repeat


Sunset Rogue repeat. Might be a nice cross with Dublin Elaine x Blushing Peach. The flower today on the seedling is better, but still a little wonky shaped.




Chicago Cattleya x Elizabeth Salter #1 and Elizabeth Salter x Chicago Cattleya. Only one of the ES pod offsprings that survived the first winter. The red coloring obviously isn't a fluke when 4 out of 5 seedlings have it.




Prickly Sensation repeat


FFO on Copper Medallion


Clump of Baby Doll winding down. Golden Chimes amping up.




Almost forgot - Asian Artistry. Dabbed some pollen from it with a couple of the seedlings yesterday. I love this one. Flowers aren't huge, but they're plentiful.


Chicago Cattleya x Elizabeth Salter #2. Similar to #1 but shorter and bud count isn't as good so far.


Noticed when I went out to water pots that Merna Karen had her FFO today. Dabbed pollen both ways with Sunset Rogue and the DE x BP seedling, and with Painter's Splash and the C x SB seedling. Took pollen from Prickly Sensation and dabbed it on the ES x CC and the WW x KCR seedlings, one way only, and with CC x ES #1 and #3, one way on #3 for pod.

hawkeye_daddy,
I do still have four seedlings with White Wizard used in the cross from the seeds you sent.
2 White Wizard x Magician's Magic
1 Magician's Magic x White Wizard
1 White Wizard x Brown's Ferry Peaches N' Cream
Looks like it will be next year at the earliest before any of them bloom, but they are still alive and growing.

Black Eyed Stella, Asian Artistry, and Baby Doll were "clumping" today. The Chicago Cattleya seedlings #1 and #3 were almost there. #2 had a single bloom. Sunset Rogue and Painter's Splash had three nice blooms each. FFE on Midnight Oil x Balls of Red was a nice little double, great form, and very interesting color. Hundredth Anniversary x Miss Jessie probably isn't a keeper. Nice tall scape with 2nd FO on Merna Karen. 2 polys on Looney Tunes; one of them had 5 petals.

It is a sauna bath outside today, but we did get some much needed rain. The colors on Sunset Rogue and Prickly Sensation are back to normal today, so it must not have been the heat. Wonder if day length could possibly be the factor?

25 different plants are blooming today. Didn't have a single bloom until the first week in July last year. I guess White Wizard had its FFOs yesterday, but they didn't open fully, and today they are mush mummies. 12 of the blooming plants are seedlings. Most of them are blooming ahead of the parents, so that's a win. I have succeeded in extending my season on the front side if nothing else

White Wizard x Katie's Coral Ridges is a much softer color today. It still has the sculpted texture, but not so much that it has trouble opening. Had my FFEs on Sailing at Dawn. These are likewise sculpted and trouble free. Might make a nice cross but it's too miserable out today




Looney Tunes x Fuchsia Dreams are nice big flowers with strong tall scapes. I like the big greenish throat on the #2 one.




I think this is why Black Eyed Stella is Harper's favorite daylily.


Along the Way x Red Noid is an interesting color, big flower, and earlier than its parents.


I like the first year blooms better on this Chicago Cattleya x Elizabeth Salter seedling. It is the only one out of crosses both ways that isn't red. I am kind of meh about it, but my daughter likes it so it will go to live with her.


Santa Cruz x Asian Artistry is such a pretty color. It is very short, like the pod parent, though. Was hoping for a watermark and taller scapes, but I'll probably keep it anyway.


I love the color on this one, and am so happy the flower form finally straightened out. The color on it is softer today, also. Dublin Elaine x Blushing Peach, and it is SO much earlier than its parents. It stays.


Other FFOs today were Hot Wire, Crimson Pirate, and the Fugly Noid. Others blooming were Painter's Splash, Asian Artistry, Sunset Rogue, Baby Doll, Copper Medallion, Looney Tunes, Santa Cruz, and Merna Karen.

Of course, White Wizard would choose today to make a clump shot. We're expecting storms today. I want to dab pollen


FFO on Alabama Jubilee is just about the same color as the Elizabeth Salter x Chicago Cattleya seedling. Camera doesn't do it justice.




Santa Cruz x Katie's Coral Ridges is really similar to Katie's Coral Ridges x Looney Tunes in color. Form is a little different.




Todays FFOs besides Alabama Jubilee: Blue Racer, Bright in the Night, Precious Candy, and Dublin Elaine x Blushing Peach #2








Other group shots today: Baby Doll, Black Eyed Stella, Copper Medallion, Crimson Pirate, Golden Chimes, Hot Wire, Looney Tunes, Painter's Splash,
Precious Candy, Prickly Sensation, Chicago Cattleya x Elizabeth Salter seedling group, and Sunset Rogue.
























Seedling repeats: Midnight Oil x Balls of Red, Along the Way x NOID

Going to start with the clumps. Asian Artistry


Baby Doll


Black Eyed Stella


A very messy looking White Wizard. I did dab pollen from other sculpted varieties yesterday, so there are a lot of mush mummies today. I decided to dedicate all the blossoms on a scape to one pollen. Today, I only dabbed one of the five blooming scapes. I didn't have any more sculpted varieties other than seedlings to try crosses with, so I just harvested the pollen on the other 4 scapes. I'll save those scapes for later on.


Repeats - Alabama Jubilee


Blue Racer


CCES seedling 1 trio with seedling 3 photobomb


Bright in the Night


CCES seedling 2


CCES seedling 3 on a different scape, not as blotchy


Cisty x Spanish Beauty seedling 1


Copper Medallion in the raised bed. Bloom on this fan was unusual last year, and looked different enough that I isolated it. Looks like it's supposed to this year.


The rest of the clump that's in the ground next to the raised bed. Forgot the clump of Golden Chimes so going to throw that in here too.




Crimson Pirate


Dublin Elaine x Blushing Peach seedling


The Fugly Noid isn't nearly as ugly as it was the first few years. It's a nice companion to Quilt Patch, which should start blooming soon.


Hot Wire


Katie's Coral Ridges x Yellow Pinwheel seedling. Better color today. Bloom is enormous.


Looney Tunes poly. It does that a lot.


Katie's Coral Ridges x Looney Tunes. Hasn't thrown a poly yet. Blooms have been very consistent.


A pair on Merna Karen.


Santa Cruz


A trio on Sunset Rogue. Dabbed pollen on this from Dublin Elaine x Blushing Peach seedling 2 on those mush mummies yesterday.


FFO's today
Along the Way x Frosty Elegance seedling. It has just a little sculpting. The flower is bigger than either parent.


Cisty x Spanish Beauty seedling 2


The Campfire NOID. Or maybe it is Campfire Embers. Had zero success getting any pods to germinate, and it only would set pods with diploids.


Miss Jessie


Hundredth Anniversary x Miss Jessie. Big flower, amazing color, and tall.


My favorite red NOID


Summer Wine


Looney Tunes x Fuchsia Dreams seedling. Nice big flower.


Santa Cruz x Asian Artistry seedling. Very nice pink color and a little bigger than Elegant Candy, but it is short.


Santa Cruz x Katie's Coral Ridges seedling 1. This is tall and a little sculpted.


Santa Cruz x Katie's Coral Ridges seedling 2. This is short and doesn't seem to be sculpted.


Done!

FFO on Katie's Coral Ridges today. Comparing her to some of her kids.














FFO on Elegant Candy. Comparing her to the Santa Cruz x Asian Artistry seedling FFO from yesterday.




37 different plants blooming today, including 9 seedlings. FFOs on Chicago Cattleya, Elegant Candy, Exotic Love, possibly single form on Oh Danny Boy, Katie's Coral Ridges, Mary's Pride, and Primal Scream. Repeats on Alabama Jubilee, Asian Artistry, Baby Doll, Black Eyed Stella, Blue Racer, the Campfire NOID, CCES seedling 1, 2, and 3, Copper Medallion, Crimson Pirate, Dublin Elaine x Blushing Peach #1, Dublin Elaine x Spanish Beauty #1, Elizabeth Salter x Chicago Cattleya, the Fugly NOID, Heavenly Flight of Angels (had 4 today!), Hotwire, Looney Tunes x Fuchsia Dreams, Merna Karen, Painter's Splash, Prairie Blue Eyes, Precious Candy, Prickly Sensation, favorite Red NOID, Santa Cruz x Katie's Coral Ridges, Summer Wine, and Sunset Rogue.

Editing to make that 38. Missed this FFO on Not Power Surge. It's been established long enough that the blooms shouldn't be wonky anymore. No trace of green in the throat at all. Grower doesn't recognize it. Now that I have better looking seedlings of my own, this one is probably going away.