This will be the 3rd year I will have blooming seedlings. The 1st year I didn't get anything great because the daylilies I had were old varieties & I didn't have many. The next year I got just a couple of nicer blooms, & last year I got several I was pleased with. I'm anxious to see last year's seedlings bloom again. The 2nd year's group, a couple improved & a couple changed enough to look more like their parent plant. Many of my scapes right now are on seedlings, & are looking quite grown up. I'm a proud parent :) I have to wait at least 3 years for bloom on my seedlings, I put seeds in the ground in the spring & they don't get special treatment. I figure they should be very hardy at any rate. It is fun!

Nancy

This year I'm hoping to get some bloom from my seedlings. Like Dani, I also lost a lot of the labels but fortunately, I had made a map of the bed and labeled everything. Some of mine have come up with 3-4 fans so at least they're looking good, to me anyway. Hope I don't have to wait 3 years for blooms. Don't think I could do that. Keeping my fingers crossed that some will flower this year! Marg

Dani,
That is really exciting to be so close to the results of your crosses. I'm on year 2 so I suspect I will have one more season to wait to see anything
Are you ridding yourself of daylilies with growing habits that aren't so great or blooms that have been surpassed by newer hybrids?

I know your excitement over anticipated seedling blooms! To begin with, I only had diploids, and played honey bee all summer, having a ball. I was not disappointed in the seedlings - it was so much fun so watch them bloom for the first time. Of course, with dips, they are so vigorous and healthy, and bloom prolifically, I enjoyed them immensely. Then I moved on up to tets. I was disappointed in the very few that I got that were "keepable." It sure represented a lot of work out in the hot sun all summer, too. Very disappointing.

But then, I started purchasing crosses at the Lily Auction, and they turned out really good. (See post: A Lovely Bloom) I have 4-5 sets of Lambertson crosses that I just planted this year, and they are growing like weeds - beautiful perfect little fans already. I'll just have to wait for another year, though, for any bloooms.

I'm still outside pollinating, but have gotten awfully lazy and skipped writing down the crosses. My space is limited now, and I know I'll have to trash a lot of my own crosses.

Yes, I am getting ready to start culling this fall, but not necessarily the older ones. Some of them are so outstanding with their bloom habits and colors, I don't care if they have ruffles or not. We are so plagued here with thrips and spider mites that the pinks, reds and purples with ruffles turn out often very mottled. I have been battling illnesses that have kept me from getting out and spraying early enough, and the bugs took me by surprise here in our new garden. So it's simply if I like it, it stays, if it doesn't impress me, it will have to go for soomething I think I can't live without.

Right now, I only have two in mind: Malaysian Marketplace and Big Red Wagon. (I just ordered Thin Man and Bird Talk.) I'm sure that once all the pretty blooms start filling the forum, my serious wish list will increase. I have 3-4 wish lists, of course.

Nancy

crackingtheconcrete- Both! I have many that the colors aren't as clear as some of the newer cultivars and many that the bud counts are low. Some may look like each other but one has higher bud counts. I have some that rotted partially so out went the whole thing. Some I'm just trying to get it down to a few great choices of one color instead of 6! I don't like ones that fade so out they go. Nancy has it right too- if the thrips like it, it goes. Between a full time job with overtime and 2 young kids, I don't have time for babying things or things that don't perform like they say.

I'm glad everyone is as excited as me!

Dani