I planted my first daylilies - three of them – circa 2006-2007. They were Pardon Me, Stella D’Oro and a third
which has since expired. We had no garden
then; the yard was mostly devoted to play space for my two grandsons who lived
with us at the time. By 2011 that had
changed and in that year I planted Happy Returns, a plant that was labeled Stella
D’Oro but has turned out to be a mystery plant, Paper Butterfly, a plant that
was labeled Siloam Paul Watts but has also turned out to be a mystery plant,
Janice Brown, Little Grapette and Custard Candy.

In 2014 something happened – my interest
went from “Oh, aren’t they pretty” to something more serious. I started reading and found out about mail
order and hybridizing. I bought a starter kit, and that year I
harvested and planted about 90 seeds, all pollinated at random. Some failed to germinate and I kept weeding
out the scrawny ones and today have about a dozen left. Here’s the cool part: AT LEAST ONE OF THOSE SEEDLINGS WILL BLOOM
THIS YEAR, a cross with Woodside Fire Dance, and it was planted only 14-15
months ago.

Last year,
in 2015, I dead-headed all my daylilies, but right near the end of the season I
made my own cross – I pollinated Siloam Paul Watts with Joan Senior. The vast majority of the seeds germinated and
today I have 14 plants, about half quite robust and the other half less
so. Needless to say, I am truly psyched
to see what comes of all these seedlings.