SEEDLING PAGE 17

IDA MAE NORRIS BREEDING

It became obvious this year that we need to start a page dedicated to the breeding abilities of IDA MAE NORRIS. This introduction has become the clear leader in breeding in the SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE line. With the virtues of giving clear bright colors as well a vigorous, healthy plants with good bud counts and good branching, IMN is the clear choice as the best of the line for breeding so far. I currently have some (hopefully) converted pieces of IMN in the greenhouse. Such is my belief in the breeding ability of this cultivar that the entire production of seed this winter (2011) will be hanging on the use of tet IMN. With operating costs of the winter greenhouse running well upwards of $1,000 for heat alone, that is a lot of faith.

Here are some early results of the breeding efforts in the diploid lines.

This is seedling 06-1 a direct baby of IMN with MARY FRANCES RAGAN. The picture does not begin to convey the visual impact of this seedling. But the baby from it shown below may give an idea of its breeding ability.

To be named in honor of my exceptional and talented brother, DANIEL HOWARD NORRIS, this seedling is the realization of what I was breeding for when I first set upon the journey into these lines from LIGHTS OF DETROIT X WHEN I DREAM. I envisioned in 1993, a very large, flat and intense red with a gigantic throat of green. DHN will be a stepping stone in the further pursuit of even larger blossoms (as if 7" isn't enough) with deeper green throats. All indications are that this one should give us some exciting reds with spotlight throats. I like a flower that commands attention from a distance and DANIEL HOWARD NORRIS is surely one of those! To convert DHN and use it in tet form with out new tetraploid star, T10-30, would be pure dynamite. It would seem that we will be able to introduce this one in 2012 if we don't get too excited and kill too many fans in the conversion process.

Another fine direct baby of IDA MAE NORRIS and also a seedling out MARY FRANCES RAGAN, 07-2 is headed for introduction. A very large and very flat flower approaching nine inches this seedling has the kind of garden impact we love.

The 2010 bloom season showed the wide range of possibilities coming from IDA MAE NORRIS breeding. This one caught our attention with the beautiful, intriguing eye zone. The seedling number is 10-6. It is on the fast track to introduction as it brings yours truly and most visitors to a dead halt when they see it. It is simply one of the prettiest daylilies I have ever seen. 

The soft, ethereal beauty of the babies of IDA MAE NORRIS is illustrated in small part by the above image. I will say it again, IMN is the best breeder of daylilies for beauty I have ever used.

In addition to the ethereal beauty I mentioned above, the ability to put amazingly large throats in some of the babies is valued highly here. The addition of the expanded throats in green and in yellow give an added dimension and feature to the repertoire of daylilies that is badly needed in a world of look alike introductions. 

Another illustration of the variation in the breeding ability of IMN is this red with a prominent midrib stripe. I generally do not look for plants with a midrib. But sometimes one simply works better with it than without it. This one of the seedlings that Mike Derrow zeroed in on when he visited last summer. It also is one of many, many seedlings that illustrate the new characteristic of this line, enabled by IDA MAE NORRIS. This is the ability to produce pure, clear colors in the SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE lines. IMN is head and shoulders above any other cultivar in the line for that ability. We looked at perhaps 1,500 direct babies of IMN last summer and there was hardly a muddy color anywhere among them.