SEEDLING PAGE 4
The images on this page are from a line of seedlings which first bloomed in 1995 from the improbable cross of LIGHT OF DETROIT X WHEN I DREAM. It is always a problem when you cross reds and yellows together. The results are almost always muddy reds and poor colors. That is exactly the results we got in the first generation. But, the blossoms had the flatness of the LIGHT OF DETROIT with a promise of the red of WHEN I DREAM. We made numerous sib crosses and came up with a variety of very interesting results. It was in the third generation that the line began to show what it could do with such seedlings as 01-3, 00-6, 02-4 and others.
Only those who are familiar with LIGHT OF DETROIT can fully visualize what we mean by flat. Many flowers that are described as flat in today's introductions are not so when compared to L.O.D. and the babies in this line.
ABOVE: FIRST GENERATION LIGHTS OF DETROIT X WHEN I DREAM The colors scanned much better than they show in person. All of the first generation were destroyed due to low bud counts and/or poor coloration. Most were muddy reds and purples.
01-3 2003 introduction SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE
The throat on 01-3 is 4 1/2'' and is a deep green that lasts the day well. The flower has heavy substance which lasts the day well. Unfortunately, the bud count is only moderate at around 18 and the plant increase is below average. If there is another cultivar or seedling anywhere with a throat like this one we don't know about it.
At a recent meeting of the Myrtle Beach hybridizer's group, Barry Matthie of Ontario, Canada, turned to me with a gleam in his eye. He told me that I need to see what SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE did when crossed to spidery/unusual forms. Barry showed me a print of the above image. I was almost speechless. The seedling was even better than I hoped would occur from such a cross. This result along with several others that he has obtained demonstrate the extreme potential of SE used this way. To me this image screams out for use in the popular unusual form hybridization. I am even tempted to see if something similar might happen with tets when I use tet SE on them..........................nah, I'll leave that to someone else.
Here is a baby from KERMIT'S SCREAM. While we are not breeding for forms such as this, we do recognize when we get a good one. The baby is only a first year seedling.
So many things make SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE special. First of all is the substance. This is a diploid which has more substance than any tetraploid we have ever seen by a factor of 50 to 75%. This level of substance proved its worth when a driving, one hour rainstorm turned every other blossom in our extensive plantings into tissue paper. 00-6 was hardly affected. A normal hot July day does nothing to this flower. It is very fertile and we anxiously await the blooming of many hundreds of diploid seedlings from it this coming summer. But what is even more amazing to us is that we have been able to produce viable seed from Substantial Evidence breeding it to tets. We expect the substance and flatness of this one may have the ability to do some marvelous things at the tet level. Because of the throat the flower can measure in excess of seven inches. This type of throat may make it possible for a daylily to produce a much larger flower than currently without any more drain on the reserves of that plant than there are now. There is no more flower there in this type, it just looks so much bigger due to the opening of the throat.
SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE seedlings
03-10 03-8 02-4
03-6 03-4
03-7 03-12 04-3
CLICK ON THE ABOVE IMAGES FOR A BETTER VIEW
These nine images are some of the more recent results of the breeding from SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. The initial startling results from the breeding toward the "no-trumpet" look in daylilies are paying off. We have identified almost a dozen new babies that look like future introductions from this line. They carry a beauty and distinction that sets them apart from all other daylilies. They will not be confused with anything else on the market. They are all the products of several generations of line breeding. This means that they will easily stamp many of their progeny with the extra flat no-trumpet look. We are looking to a '07 release date for many of these. We had planned to release many of these in '05 however they were victims of the infamous "clay soup" bed. Most carry the same extreme substance of their parent, SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. This generation represents a big leap forward in color and beauty in this line.
This seedling 03-3, from SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE, is proving to be a most exciting breeder in this great line. The babies seem to leapfrog into the category of some of the larger, fancier diploids. They also seem to be producing a clarity of color that is not present in this line as much as it is in some of my unrelated lines. 03-3 should be ready to introduce in 2008. This winter I have taken a larger number of diploids into the greenhouse for use with this seedling. They amount to about 50% of the plants taken in for hybridization this year. Previously the plants in the greenhouse were almost exclusively tetraploid. I am passing up the opportunity to cross many tets to concentrate on using this particular seedling with some of the few decent diploids I still own. I mention that to illustrate my faith in this seedling. Here are just a few of the seedlings from 03-3.
2007 note: The image on the opening page of the web site shows seedling 03-3 as it appears in the greenhouse. It shows even better there than outside. We see that as a confirmation of what genetics underlie this seedling. It furthered our resolve to use 03-3 as a mainstay of our diploid program. It also spurred us to treat a fair number of fans in the summer of 2007. These plants are now looking pretty good and we hope that one may bloom in the greenhouse this winter. If so we are incredibly anxious to use the pollen on the tets we have there. If the breeding results at the tet level are commensurate with the results at the diploid level we will see some truly fine seedlings.
All four of these diploid seedlings from 03-3 are large with clear coloration. The very large throats command your attention from a distance. The third has a shade of electric red that could hardly be more pleasing.
Seedling 05-2 shown here is a cross of SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE and our '06 intro KERMIT'S SCREAM. The flower is over 8 inches and is flat like an hibiscus. The color is not good but the size and form are special. The image is included to give an idea of one direction we would like to go with this line. It strengthens our belief that the no trumpet form gives a much larger flower from a blossom which would not ordinarily be seen as very large. One of the things we like to do here with the no trumpet blossom is to show our visitors what a given blossom would look like if it were trumpeted in the way that an ordinary daylily is. I make a ring with my thumb and forefinger and compress the center of the blossom from the back to force the blossom into a more typical daylily appearance. What looked to be a rather large blossom suddenly is shown to be average in size. The no trumpet style produces a look that is quite distinctive but a big advantage is also that a plant is thus able to produce blooms that look very large but are much less taxing on its resources. We have often observed that bud counts in daylilies are generally in inverse proportion to flower size. The no trumpet blossom could theoretically allow greater bud counts and even facilitate rebloom. Rebloom should be easier for a plant to achieve if it less stressed in the production of the previous round of blooms.
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Here is a seedling which will be added to the list of intros for '07. It is the one that is most similar to its great grandparent on all sides, LIGHTS OF DETROIT. What makes it worthy of introduction is a better bud count, reliable rebloom and richer shade of color. Despite the amount of line breeding in 03-4, the plant is as strong and vigorous as I would hope for in any diploid. When Margo Reed and Jim Murphy saw this one here last summer, they both declared an interest in purchasing it when it is introduced in 2007. I see some real potential of working this cultivar into the spider/unusual form lines too just as their interest implies to me.
Seedling 03-4 is now an introduction for 2007. It is now name ASHWOOD WRAY OF SUNSHINE. You can read much more about this one on the 2007 introductions page.