Daylilies have been popularized by nurseries who, armed with a database of 60,000, are able to display in their catalogs so many beautiful selections of diploids , triploids and tetraploids that it is hard to resist. All one has to do is walk into a sun drenched field of daylilies to be hooked. If I had more sun I would have a lot more daylilies. Most of the daylilies I have were grown locally. I'm hoping someday to get a better than average flower from the tetraploids. This morning I matched up Bear Bryant and Lemon Flurry. Jerry
( photo / image / picture from AAnightowl's Garden ) As far as I know these are Tiger Lilies, somewhat like an Asian lily. Friends gave me these a long time ago. They get little bublets in the axils of the leaves. So, are they diploid or triploid or tetraploid? I am not sure I have heard the terms before. I have a few other lilies in the Asian lily family or type. Most of mine are regular daylily types. So, in your note to Cayuga Morning re the Stella De Oro lilies [Star of Gold], you mentioned striped little brown architects ? Do you mean bees, or some animal ? I have brown striped hornets here, which I do not like. Do you start them in the ground, or in pots/trays until they get bigger ? How long until they are large enough to bloom ? I have not tried pollinating any flowers on my own. The bees here have made a 4th color of my Rose of Sharon bushes though. It is a light cotton candy pink, and very pretty.
Ann, chipmunks will dig a hole in a spot that smells good, looking for a snack. They occasionally dig up newly planted seeds or flowers. :twisted: I start the daylilies in pots and long trays to keep them away from the chipmunks and squirrels. Blooms are about 3-4 years away because of all the shade. They develop better in the sun. Each spring all the daylilies get fed with 10-10-10 granular fertilizer. Jerry early sprouts ( photo / image / picture from Jerry Sullivan's Garden ) The near tray has daylily seeds just sprouting.
Jerry Sullivan, That sounds SEXY....thoughts of 2 flowers in a 3some with Jerrybee..... WOW Now I'll go back under my rock......
Thank you Jerry. Chipmunks are also little brown striped pests [but cute little pests]. I wish they would eat my wisteria seeds. They make millions of them and get very invasive. And they are high in the treetops, so there is no way I can prune them before they go to seed, or ever for that matter. I prune what I can reach. I am 5' 4", and occassionally, I will climb part way up a ladder.
I will not see any flowers for a couple of years but the results of 'a day as a bee' have paid off as several tetraploid seeds planted a couple of weeks ago have sprouted. Tetraploid Daylily Seedlings ( photo / image / picture from Jerry Sullivan's Garden ) The sprouts will remain in the pot until next spring, I will select a location where I can monitor their progress with a watchful eye. With over 60,000 cultivars, many of them tetraploids, daylilies provide an endless variety of color, size, bloom times and winter characteristics. What will these seeds produce? Often the coloring is a combination of the parents, in this case Toreador's Cape and Lemon Flurry. Even then, I did not put up a sign that said bees keep out. Sooooo……. I will be happy with flowers that are different as I am with all the new flowers from other seeds. I will have something no one else in the world has, each is a surprise when it opens for the first time. I like surprises. It is always fun being a bee for a day. Jerry
