I've seen this in the past, on a few diploid seedlings. Not so much right on the edge of the leaves, and not on every leaf, but I'd occasionally see a thin white pinstripe running down one side (not on the edge) of a few leaves. I wouldn't call it variegation (too thin for that, and too few leaves had the trait), and it was never entirely clear to me if it was due to the parentage, or some mineral/nutrient deficiency. (I mostly dabble in tets now, but one of the few diploid seedlings that I kept may have that trait; at least, I remember being surprised by a few pinstripes this spring when I was fertilizing it.)

Tell us more about YOUR seedlings... do those two having the trait have a common parent (or parents)? Do all or most of the leaves have this stripe? (The diploid WHITE STRIPE, which has recognizably variegated foliage, does not exhibit the trait on every leaf, nor on every fan - and it has what I guess you would call unstable variegation... a fan that was variegated one year, will not show the trait the next. (Not sure about vice versa.))

I would keep a sharp eye on those seedlings and look to see what transpires when they send up bloom scapes. If the scapes are themselves variegated (some scapes on WHITE STRIPE also have a white stripe) then some of the blooms on that scape may be variegated (part of the bloom will be solidly white), and you can try to hybridize using such flowers as pod parents.

(That's if your interest is in producing variegated seedlings... the theory, as I understand it (I don't recall where I read it) is to use the variegated blooms only for setting seed on - with the hope of getting variegated offspring. Personally I wonder - even if you don't get variegated offspring from such a pod - if this might be a route to really white flowers.)

Congrats if these really are variegated seedlings. Good luck to you for beautiful blooms, and in hybridizing with them. And if they are not striped enough to really be called variegated (my seedling isn't), but just have the odd pinstripe here and there on the foliage, then simply enjoy them for their quirk; it is all part of their charm as a unique seedling.

Thank you so much for your response. These are two year old seedlings, and to be honest with you, I really had not spent a lot of time with them until this year since scapes are now appearing. The stripes are on two of 6 seedlings from the same cross. The leaves are a bit finer then their 4 siblings. Three from that cross have buds, not the ones with stripes yet. I have never seen any form of variegated DL. We have visited several very nice nurseries and never seen any there either. I am addicted to variegated leaves so this I might have noticed. (I also grow a LOT of hosta).

The anticipation of waiting for the first blooms this year from the seedling bed has me out there watching them daily. Yesterday we noticed someone had snapped the buds from several of the scapes. I sure hope it was squirrals and not the neighbors children. They are much easier to relocate.

I will get some pictures and keep a close eye on them.

Thank You so much
Brenda

Brenda, sorry to hear about your snapped scapes. :(

Today I went and looked at that one old diploid seedling that I mentioned in my previous post. I had to search through the foliage, but I did find a couple of leaves with a white pinstripe. Curiously enough, both leaves had the pinstripe right along one edge, which was not where I recalled seeing it.

WHITE STRIPE is an older Mullison-Howard Hite diploid daylily, and I am not surprised that you have not seen it in your nursery tours. The scapes have low bud count and branching, and the near-white blooms have an older, "classic" daylily form. The foliage, as I have said, is unstably variegated. Despite these drawbacks, I like it enough to have it tucked in a corner of my Moon Garden.

Below is a cropped and enhanced portion of a (bad) closeup picture I took recently of WHITE STRIPE. It shows 2-3 variegated leaves, a streak of variegation on the left petal of the front bloom, and one (almost white) variegated bud (with a normal bud just above that). (The clump is shaded, and it is also caged against the invading deer. Sorry also for the ratty and snail chewed foliage.)

If early September isn't too late for you to plant daylilies, I could try to send you a couple of fans, if you would like. (I say "try", because I don't know right now how many fans I have which are currently variegated - and I would only want to send you variegated fans.) Tree-mail me, if you are interested.

Re variegated daylilies in general....WHITE STRIPE Is not the only one, but it is unclear to me how many there are in commerce. There's a daylily called GOLDEN ZEBRA which is supposed to have stable variegation, but I don't have it and thus can't comment on it.

(SECURED BORDERS (not sure if that is an AHS registration or not) is also supposedly variegated. I bought it a few years ago, but it was a weak plant for me (may in fact now be dead... have to go look) and I am not entirely convinced it is really variegated at all. (Supposedly the variegation is fleeting and colors up on the leaves as the season progresses, but maybe weather has something to do with it, and we are too warm here.))

Here is a link that might be useful: WHITE STRIPE

Maybe this makes more sense to me now. I really like near white lilies and have bought quite a few. I need to go do some study on the pollen I used on those seedlings. Could very easily be from some of the white I bought and used for crosses. I found 2 in a back garden at the home of a hosta grower, he shared them with me and I think these are from one of them. Guess I know what I will do when I get home from work today.

I l\also checked my over better. On each leaf the white stripes are along just one side of the leaf, and on he inner 5 leaves of each fan on those plants.

I don't need but do appreciate the offer of plants. We need to do some cutting back. We are out of room and now will have the temptation of what to seep from the seedlings. Lucky for us our daughter loves them too and has a lot of land to fill.

I am still however on the search of a white with a red border and eye. We are going to be going the the Western NY Hosta and daylily show and sale in August. I hope to find one there.

I think daylilies and hosta are the perfect garden combination. I never get tired of looking at them.

Brenda