SEEDLING PAGE 6
We have stated that CLARIFICATION is an even better breeder at the level of its grandkids. The colors are even clearer. The edges become wider and more sophisticated. The variation becomes greater.
TWO of the direct children of CLARIFICATION which have given us excellent results are:
T01-88
SPRING 2005 INTRODUCTION MARDI GRAS BEADS
T01-84 MARDI GRAS BEADS
One of the highlights of the summer of '04 was the blooming of T04-13, below. This one is the most sophisticated blossom we have bloomed in the eyed/edged category. There is often a clear triple edge of rose, gold and silver.
T04-13
Two of the hybridizers who have seen the bloom here of T04-13 are Mike Derrow of Moundsville, WV and Michael Lyons of Parkersburg, WV. I just received their permissions to include comments here that they posted to the Tinker's Garden forum. Here is what Mike Derrow wrote:
Hey Becky,
................................
when Mike and I were walking the seedling beds with Richard
this past July, I spotted T04-13 from behind while walking in one of the grassy
walkways between the seedlings beds - knowing it was something special, I
literally ran to then end of the bed and quickly tiptoed down the row in to
where it was blooming.
Quite literally, when I saw the front of that flower, I broke out in cold chills
seeing the beauty of the bloom - no daylily has EVER made me do that before.
Sadly, none of my pictures and none of those I saw that Richard took come near
to capturing the astounding visual beauty of the seedling to be named JANICE
NORRIS...
And yes, the road to Ashwood is a real twister, any way you choose to get there
but for a real roller coaster ride, try driving Rt. 78 - it will make your
stomach lurch more than once! (grin)
Mike D.
"I HAVE to chime in here again. T04-13 aka JANICE NORRIS, is to date, the most beautiful daylily I have ever laid eyes on. I know it sounds cliche' but it is true. I literally got chills at the sight of it. I have never been so moved by the beauty of any flower. It is perfection! The colors and the harmony of them are again perfection. The flower to me had a powdery satiny finish as though viewed through a sheer curtain. It is the epitome of beauty and feminity. I've seen a lot of daylilies through the years, and in my humble opinion, this one is unsurpassed."
Michael Lyons the jollygreenthumb, Parkersburg, WV
For a more complete look at that topic, click on the following link. http://forums.tinkersgardens.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3730&KW=adenahems
If you have not discovered the Tinker's website, you are missing some excellent discussions on daylilies. There is also one of the best online databases of registered daylily cultivars included in this very large site.
The 2005 bloom season brought as a very pleasant surprise. We had assumed that much of the sophistication of T04-13 was coming from MELANIE MAY. The blooming of the seedling, T05-37, pictured below, put an end to that misconception. It is the result of crossing PEARL HARBOR with MARDI GRAS BEADS. The similarity to T04-13 clearly shows that the parent which they have in common, MARDI GRAS BEADS, is the major source of its look. There are many other seedlings out of MGB that have caused us to come to the conclusion that it is now one of the most important breeders in our program to come directly out of CLARIFICATION. These are seedlings with very clear colors (usually pastel) in the eye and wide, rich edges.
T05-37 PEARL HARBOR X MARDI GRAS BEADS
The impact of T04-13 was not captured in any image we took of it. The fact that it bloomed over two months on three sets of scapes was a delight. We were very impressed with it from the first blossom. When it continued to bloom throughout the summer, perhaps 2 1/2 months, there was no question that this one is special. A comment from several visiting hybridizers was "this one belongs on every tet in the garden without regard to color." I had already been using it that way so I was glad that others saw 13 as I did. It was far and away the most used parent in the garden. We have seeds from 13 on reds, eyed/edged, creams, etc. A very wide, 6 in. blossom like that with such rebloom is not to be ignored. the one problem is that the scapes are lower that we would wish. But as a plant which had only been in place for a little over 12 months, that may be corrected by time. Of course we only bred it to other plants that had taller scapes. The pollen is very good. It sets pods but we did not push our luck beyond seeing if it was pod fertile.
I have seen pictures of other flowers that have the sophistication and advancement of T04-13 but the are almost always from Florida or they are the product of blooming in a greenhouse. T04-13 was raised outside in harsh Ohio conditions. It looked as you see it in the image every day without regard to overnight temperatures. It is a true early morning opener (EMO) Some people think that an EMO is a flower that is open by 9:00am after a cool Florida night. As cool Florida nights are not often followed by cool Florida mornings, a better test is how they perform where the morning temperatures may remain around 60 until noon. Some of you who read this may laugh, knowing that your conditions are worse than that. I do hope that you are working on EMO's as that is a virtually unexplored frontier. There are large areas of the US and Canada as well as areas in the rest of the world for who EMO's would be the answer for the spread of daylily popularity. I have seen what otherwise wonderful daylilies look like in the Pacific Northwest after just an average night there. It isn't pretty. The few that are true EMO's are what make a garden there.
We would have been pleased with the cross that produced T04-13. It was Dan Trimmer's MELANIE MAY x MARDI GRAS BEADS. So many of the others are pleasing, representing advancements themselves. Here are a few of the sibs. Remember they are all first year blooms. Great things are in store.
CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM
T05-31
The two images below are from another child of CLARIFICATION, CLARITY OF VISION. The first is a cross with KEY LIME ICE. The second is a cross with MARTINA VERHAERT.
T05-24 MARTINA VERHAERT X CLARIFICATION BABY T01-36
From a slightly different line we bloomed the flower below this past summer for the first time. It is seedling T05-7. The contrast of petal color and edge are what make this one special. It is cross of a baby of CLARIFICATION with a baby of CANADIAN BORDER PATROL. Besides the clear colors T05-7 brings height (at about 40") and rebloom into the mix.
T05-7
The images below are of results from seedling T01-88. (image above) It shows the breeding ability we have come to expect from the CLARIFICATION kids.
Crossed with Dan Trimmer's MELANIE MAY, T01-88 gave:
When T01-88 was crossed with my FLIGHT OF THE RAVEN baby, JOAN HOOD, this was produced:
This BRIGHT seedling caught the eye of everyone who was lucky enough to be here at the right time.