Best parents in our breeding programs

 Early on, we took the advice of the Morry family (Canadian hybridizers with a blog) and crossed Northern daylilies to Southern Daylilies to bring in hardiness from the North and add fancy edges from the South.  As our hybridizing programs matured, we quit breeding with Southern plants except ones that survive well here for us.  We are zone 6, sometimes 5, but with almost no snow cover with temperatures up and down all winter, and sometimes down to ten below, Fahrenheit. Many southern plants that survive further north (into Canada, zone USDA zone 4) with snow cover, don't make it through the winter here.  We have tired of losing so much time and money on southern plants and are now mostly adding only northern plants, as well as using our own material for hybridizing. 

So, after 14 years of hybridizing, we can look back and identify the plants that have been the best parents in terms of passing on health, bud count, and a pretty face.  Here are a few of our favorite parents by other hybridizers...

Sea of Cinders, Salter, 2010.  Southern and borderline tender here, but a wonderful parent for passing on teeth to orange and scarlet offspring.

Crimson Stories, Ludlow Lambertson, 2013.  Southern and very tender here, but as the product of Luddy's fancy southern strain, it has given a number of beautiful faces on hardy plants. 

Hip Hop Music, Dan Hansen, 2010. Though southern, it has proven hardy here without showing much increase.  Nonetheless, it has given us some fancy edges and eyes, most notably in our fulva program. 

Raggedy Man, Elaine Seifert, 2012.  A hardy, healthy, beautiful toothy plant and a great parent.

So Beautiful to Me, Klehm, 2003. Very hardy, and gives a toothy edge and height to its offspring. 

Ruffled Strawberry Parfait, Reckamp-Klehm, 2003.  Not a tall grower, but a great parent for giving fancy faces on hardy plants. 

Ebony Pools, Stamile, 2003.  Small and short, but ooh-la-la, nice rich color it passes on.  Hardy for us and gives good increase. 

Wandering Werribee, Chad Bush, 2016.  Short and tends to produce short offspring, but many nice edges and generous with teeth in its offspring.  One surprise is that when crossed into the second generation fulva seedlings, it gave a number of clear pinks.  

Little Red Bantam, Frank Smith, 2009. A great parent for 'tall and small', healthy offspring and it gives a lot of seeds. Southern, but fully hardy for us. 

The Bride of Dracula, Rich Howard, 2015. A marvelous bloom, and generous producer of toothy offspring. 

Love All Serve All, Mike Holmes, 2012.  A good parent to give edges, breeding similar offspring to it's parent, Wolverine, but with better color. 

Rosemary Mussar, Dave Mussar, 2013.  A good one for breeding beautiful babies with watermarks.

Last Man Standing, John Benz, 2000.  A good parent of fancy lates, though it stamps many of them with similar looks to itself. 

Pineapple Bites, DeMory, 2014.  Hardy and a great parent for orange toothy seedlings.  

Snidely Whiplash, Michael Georges, 2013.  A hardy Canadian, and breeder for dark offspring

Ruby Grandeur, Richard Norris, 2007.  Rich, rich color and it passes on size and color well. 

Sam Abell, Richard Norris, 2010.  A reluctant seed parent for us, but good for breeding eyes and edges. 

Empire of Dawn and Dusk, Mike Derrow, 2013.  A great seed parent and giver of clear backgrounds with eyes and edges.  Probably one of our most important parents for our whites with red eye and edge since the purple flips easily to red. Also, the foundation for bringing modern looks into the Fulvas, giving several plants with clear color and eyes and edges in the F1 generation. 

Little Donny Darko, Cochenour, 2010.  What a seed setter!  An easy one to grow and breed dark diploids. 

Just a sampling of our good breeders!