Hi Royce, I can't imaging a crop of 302 seedlings, let alone 302 with the same parent. I can hardly wait to see what those babies look like. I can relate to the biting bugs. The blackflies are thick here. When blackfly season ends it is time for the mosquitoes. I am jealous of you now but in about three weeks it will be your turn. I will be the one posting pictures of blooms. I can tell that I am bored because I am bidding on Tommy Maddox seedlings again. The Lily Auction is addictive.

Edward

Sounds like you had a good year for seeds, all in all, Royce. I've got lots of pods, but have not collected any seeds as yet. Some of the pods are huge, and I expect them to begin drying soon. I wish you many beauties from your crosses, and be sure to post pix when you have new babies that bloom.

Edward, you won't have time to be bored when your dl's really get to blooming. You'll be spending all your spare time in your garden, admiring and probably dabbing as well. I've managed to stay away from the LA for a couple of months now, but found myself " browsing" today. Didn't bid on anything however, so my will power is still pretty good at the moment. :)
Ya'll both have a great summer!
Jan

Edward, there is no need to be jealous of me now. It is now so hot that it is miserable outside the air conditioned house, except in early morning and very late afternoon and I now have to use that time for chores. Your turn for fun now.

I have my eye on a couple on the LA now, but not those you are bidding on. I have made a list of 6 to 8, I would like for next year. It is now getting to be the most boring time of the year for me (late June through August). I will have to be careful of the LA temptation.

Thanks Jan. Hope you enjoy your trip to Savannah. Sorry I could not give you any garden ideas.

BROOKE! BROOKE! BROOKE!!! Just as I post that VICTORIAN LACE was my favorite new daylily this year, what do you do?? You made a post on the Discussion side that ARCTIC LACE is even better. Think I will just have to look at your pictures until it comes down in price. BTW, the picture is beautiful. I noticed that LAKE EFFECT is one of the parents and it is a lavender to pink cross. Hoping to get something decent from LE and SHORES OF TIME. Also, have a few seeds from LE/RAT and LE/VL, plus LE and some other pinks. I have over 100 seeds with LE (both ways), so hopefully will get something good enough to justify getting out of bed early to see it.

Royce

I do have seedling pics captured on the hard drive but have to get them up to PictureTrail. This is NOT my boring time - see me in January and February.

I finally figured out why you do long crosses - too lazy to make all those seedling markers - giggle, giggle, snort, snort

Since Nancy was so good at successfully tempting you, I thought I would try - guess I was successful too! ARCTIC LACE is gorgeous, hope she is a good producer. Another couple that have gotten my attention are ROYAL PRESENCE and MOONLIGHT SAIL but hubby hasn't had the photo session with them yet. RP is a purple purple but the edge is gold. MS is a red purple, gold edge but both need drool bibs.

Misting rain here so all my planned crosses are out the window. If it continues, I might get some pics uploaded. Or I could clean house.

Brooke

I finally figured out why you do long crosses - too lazy to make all those seedling markers - giggle, giggle, snort, snortcolor>

Brooke, you are too smart for me. It is a nice extra benefit. BTW, when I said I had over 300 seeds for VL, this is 4 crosses with VL as pod parent and 12 crosses with VL as pollen parent.

I checked RP and MS on Stamile's web site. Both are nice. I like AL best as a garden plant and think I might like lavender more for hybridizing. Next year, I want to do some crosses for lavender and also more pink and lavender, hoping for white. I am now making my list (and checking it twice) for hybridizing next year. I think I am about finished, unless overcome by temptation. If you are familiar with any I am considering ordering, will appreciate any comments.

Already on order: Ageless Beauty and Savannah Royalty.
Probably will order: Imperial Elegance, Jane Trimmer, Lemon Parchment, Bella Sera and Lavender Heartthrob.
Considering  but probably only at a good price: Piping Rock and Southern Wind.

Reasons: Ageless Beauty  Red edge/eye. Savannah Royalty  double edges.

Imperial Elegance and Jane Trimmer for the eye/edge. I liked the unusual look from the seedling from that cross. Would like to explore that cross more and especially use with other eyes/edges.

Lemon Parchment. I need more branching/buds in all my seedlings. According to Stamile's catalog, this one is outstanding in both departments. Stamile claims 7 br/40-45 buds.

Bella Sera  color  purple with silver edge. Better than average br/bc. Disadvantage  difficult pod parent.

Lavender Heartthrob  color  lavender with gold braid edge. Large at 7". Not sure I need LH and Bella Sera, although one has silver edge and one a gold edge.

Piping Rock  Branching/bc at 6 and 45-50. Color  purple.

Southern Wind  Br/bc of 6 and 35-40. Relatively inexpensive. Not at all sure I need this one.

BTW, I do realize that I will not get the br/bc that Stamile gets, but hopefully I will get enough to improve my seedlings. Will appreciate any comments on those I have not ordered yet.

I saw a container of BELLA at Frank Smith's last year and just about dropped my teeth - had to hold them in with both hands it was soooooooo gorgeous. If it had been blooming when I was at Stamile's I would have gotten it but it wasn't open that day. I have always passed on it because of the pod problems but obviously the pollen is potent.

I saw PIPING ROCK at Stamile's but really wasn't into quite that dark a bloom at that time.

I don't have SW or the Heartthrob but have always admired the blooms.

I'm very impressed with the bc/br on most of Stamile's plants even this far north. Plants put in last fall are showing very promising bc/br and they aren't even established yet. Some of his from two years ago are unbelieveable this year.

Interesting blurb or two on the mama Robin about which do you choose - ugly with branching/bc or beautiful lacking in branching/bc. A couple people said they would pick br/bc because they can always put a pretty face on it. Riddle me this batman - if you can put a pretty face on the branching, why can't you put branching on a pretty face. I've been pondering this ALL day while I mulched that big bed and did zero hybridizing.

Brooke

Thanks for the comments. I probably won't get PIPING ROCK and SOUTHERN WIND unless I get super deals and possibly not even then. I am leaning toward getting the others.

Riddle me this batman - if you can put a pretty face on the branching, why can't you put branching on a pretty face. I've been pondering this ALL day while I mulched that big bed and did zero hybridizing.

Good question and I don't have the answer either. When I first started hybridizing, I was told over and over to get a good plant first and then hybridize for a pretty face. Even so, I mostly did pretty on pretty, so now am trying to improve branching and bc. I sometimes keep one where plant performance is the deciding factor, but only extremely rarely will I keep one that is flat out ugly. I did keep one that was awful, because it has the widest edges of any daylily I had. I am interested to see how difficult it will be to increase br/bc.

I have some second year seedlings bloom, siblings, and one I love the face on and the ugly one has great br/bc - you know which one I'll keep. If I breed pretty to another with the br/b/c and a sib has good br/b/c, hopefully the genetics will increase the good things too. I cannot keep an ugly one just because it has br/b/c.

This is the first year I have culled first year seedlings on plant habit - if you want to call 3-4 tiny leaves a plant. ED BROWN for me grows great but I know for some can be picky - this year I had a whole cross of EB seedlings that were tiny. The whole cross was tossed because I have other EB seedlings that did great. Obviously the other parent contributed vigor, I guess.

I wish I could predict what will be the outcome of a cross like some people do - sure would cut down on the hard work.

Brooke