As I was writing the above message I decided to check to see if I could find any information on how Nassos Daphnis is doing. I knew he was getting well in age. I found that Nassos Daphnis died on Nov. 23rd 2010 in Provincetown, Mass. He was 96.

Nassos has done so much work in his life to further the hybridization of American tree peonies. That work began with A.P. Saunders and continued with Bill Gratwick. The peony community will miss this great person.

Leon

I received an email from Frank Moro in Quebec. He normally sells all kinds of lilacs but he also has many intersectionals that I have not seen before. He lists as 2-3 eye for most so it appears he grows them out for a while.

Sorry, Leon, I thought that you had received Walter Good's email. In it he mentioned that a collection of Daphnis's plants was to be started in europe somewhere. You might want to email him to see what cultivars are available.

The prices for peonies this year if you go by regular plants will be much higher.

By all accounts, Nassos Daphnis was a great and humble man.
One of his accomplishments was the restoration of fertility to the hybrid tree peonies, a gift which should not be neglected.

Dave,

Good point. Much of Daphnis' early work was based on two of Saunder's F1 lutea hybrids which showed some fertility. The plants were not worthy of garden use so they were never registered however the ability for early lutea hybrids to be used to derive successive generations was important. Late in Saunders hybridizing career he realized that more work needed to be done with these two plants. He passed plants on to Bill Gratwick who did some work with them also.

I have looked for these plants to work with but have been unable to find either of them. They are no longer grown at Linwood Gardens. As I recall Saunders labeled them F1-A and F1-B.

Leon

Some of Prof. Saunders plants went to Dr Reath, so the F1s might possibly be at reaths nursery in the UP.