2002 Selected Seedlings

Last updated 10/25/07.

Welcome! This year I have FINALLY felt as if my hybridizing is beginning to pay off. I had a wealth of good seedlings (roughly 60 keepers in the thousand), and my breeding plans have been vindicated by some real successes. Almost all of these are kids of my breakthrough EARLY AND OFTEN, a small melon with fantastic vigor and rebloom.

Here are the most interesting few of the seedlings for my tall and small nearwhite program and my nearwhite northern rebloomer program. All of these are diploids. Frozen pollen is available to hybridizers for most of them.

Click on any image to see it larger. There is also a much larger page of All 2002 Daylily Seedlings that will take a long time to download 100+ thumbnails.

These are all second-year seedlings, mostly blooming for the first time. So, my observations must be taken with a grain of salt: they may not be repeated in the future. I've been fooled before. I don't know which may or may not be introduced yet. Ask me in 2005.

Mike Huben (mhuben@world.std.com)

MH0042D Corky * Early And Often This seedling is a very successful first step in my tall and small white program. The flower is under 3 inches, and is borne on a slender, graceful scape well over 36 inches. Branching and budcount are adequate, but not great. It carries melon and rebloom (probably) from the pollen parent. I've germinated a load of seed from this, and I'm hoping for melon to nearwhite kids (50%) with the graceful scapes, better branching, and less leaning in a variety of forms, from flat open to strongly trumpet to spidery. I'm repeating this cross, and have several similar crosses planted already.

MH0043E Echo The Sun * Early And Often This seedling was a very happy surprise. The pod parent had never been known to throw anything but yellow seedlings, and so I expected two generations before I'd see anything but yellow. But it turned out that it had always been crossed to yellows! This one bloomed its first year in that vivid melon, and I was thrilled to know I'd be saved a generation of breeding. Decent branching and budcount so far. But the other happy surprise was rebloom! Writing this, I've discovered that I haven't yet planted any of its seed -- I'll fix that next season. In the mean time, knowing now that Echo The Sun throws 50% non-yellows, I'm using ETS heavily for its height, high budcount, and ability to throw rebloom.

MH0047I Aerial * Boston Symphony This was an excellent cross. I knew that Aerial would throw 50% melon seedlings, and I was rewarded with a bunch of decent looking tall and small trumpets approaching white from the melon side and about 3 feet tall. This one was special because it surprised me by reblooming. There's no reason not to work rebloom into my tall and small lines.

MH0055D Boston Symphony * (Snowed In * yezoensis) Here's a proof of concept: you can return to nearwhite, green throats, or other modern characteristics in only two generations from species breeding. This seedling had three inch trumpet shaped bloom, and was the closest in appearance to an Easter Lily that I've ever seen in a daylily. The color clarity and green throat were excellent, and this one will be important in my breeding.

MH0062K Window Dressing * (Snowed In * yezoensis) Another nearwhite in the second generation from the species. This seedling alone in its cross lacked that nasty tongue/lazy/dominant/shoehorn petal and laid all the petals flat. It had a 48 inch tall scape with good branching and budcount, and 4.5 inch flowers. I'm breeding it to smaller flowered parents.

MH0006H Chippewa Bride * Early And Often This cross was one vigorous melon rebloomer onto another. It produced a large series of strongly melon colored rebloomers with incredible vigor. When I moved this seedling after the second season, it was 17 fans! It reblooms, however not as strongly as Early And Often. This may be a good parent to work towards reblooming spideries and unusual forms.

MH0015.1 Millie Schlumf * Early And Often This was one of my longest crosses (40), and one of the most productive. Many of the seedlings rebloomed: this one quite a bit. While the form is narrow, it is quite attractive and the plant is very vigorous.

MH0015.23 Millie Schlumf * Early And Often Here's a somewhat wider rebloomer from this cross.

MH0015.5 Millie Schlumf * Early And Often My big color break! In my longest 2000 cross, all the seedlings were pink or melon colored except this one. I didn't get a good shot of it because I photographed it too early in the morning. The dang thing only had 4 buds this year, compared to its sibs which had plenty of buds and rebloomed, but the purity of the color (a near-white from the melon side with extremely little yellow in the tiny green throat) was unlike anything else in my garden. As it should carry rebloom from Early And Often, I've used it very heavily this year both for rebloomers and tall and small crosses. The flower looks gorgeous throughout the day. I'm remaking this cross to perhaps find another like it.

MH0016C (Chippewa Bride * Millie Schlumpf) * Early And Often This one is a strange pink over melon color, but has been selected for amazing increase and strong rebloom.

MH0025I Early Elegance * Early And Often Another breakthrough: a large flowered (4.5 inch) melon rebloomer with a good budcount (20). The bloom has a creamy, satiny appearance which is quite remarkable. There are no northern rebloomers remotely like this one. Needless to say, it's being used heavily in my breeding.

MH0029R Boston Symphony * Early And Often This is the face I want, and it's almost the color I want, but the dang thing is growing slowly and hasn't rebloomed. Still, every flower opens perfectly and lasts through the day. It's a nice 4 inches, and I'm using it a lot. It's much whiter than the picture shows.

MH0030.27 Early And Often * Iowa Lady My jaw hit the floor when I first saw the petal width on this 4 inch pale yellow flower at 7 AM. My jaw hit the floor again at 10 AM when I saw that the bloom had already liquified. This one is a nocturnal that doesn't close before it reabsorbs the nutrients from the blooms. I'll use it in breeding because it should carry melon and rebloom in addition to the extraordinary ruffling and petal width.

MH0034F Winter Wonderland * Early And Often This one too has the face and color near what I'm striving for. No rebloom yet, but excellent increase. The color is much whiter than the image on my screen.

MH0039H Elfin * Early And Often Gahh! That hideous gold! Why would I select this? Because this is a bridge seedling, intended to introduce extreme earliness into my rebloom lines. It opened about the two weeks earlier than Stella De Oro, and amazingly it rebloomed at the end of August. So it's a melon carrying very EE rebloomer. The kids shouldn't look anything like it, because the second generation can recover the modern characteristics.

MH0063B Early And Often * Pinhill Navaho Beauty This one was my love. It's not really along the lines of my goals: it was a fun cross made because the pollen parent is so good. This pale yellow bloom with an intense violet eye was always perfect, had that wonderful green throat, and had candelabra branching with 28 buds. So many buds that they interfered with the bloom. Vigorous, too. I'll remake this cross and since it should be carrying melon and rebloom, I'll cross it with other rebloomers and tall and smalls.

MH0067D ((Happy Returns * Deicer) * (Three Seasons * Monica Marie)) * Early And Often Finally my plans are vindicated in the third generation. This is my first nearwhite rebloomer. It's very white with a yellow throat. But unfortunately, it's the least vigorous in a cross of 15. It rebloomed first year from seed, and I waited anxiously this past summer until finally it sent up a rebloom scape. The flowers really have no faults, though the scape is unimpressive. I'm breeding heavily with this one onto all the vigorous seedlings carrying rebloom. It's not likely to be good enough to introduce, except perhaps as a breeder.

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