That's a very nice first seedling to start the season. Bright and round! I just can't imagine planting and caring for 1200 new seedlings. Those black scapes are kind of cool. Are you breeding for black scapes now? The upside down lilies are neat!

Debra

Call me out of touch, but I've never heard of black scapes. The tips of the buds sometimes, but never the scapes. What's the deal?..........Boy, you have your work cut out for you. I can't imagine it.......Your dayllilies are bright and sunny, and I can see why you had to have that Lily from the nursery. I love that magenta pink color in just about any plant I've seen. I always grow a Vinca in that color and it just pops in the border. Claude Shride is another beauty in that color range................Maryl

Debra, we will play around a bit with black scapes. We just have to dabble in everything.

Maryl, I am not sure black scapes have been around that long. They are mostly found on small diploids. Sir Blackstem is probably the most well known. I think Mike Huben has done a lot of work with them. We have another one with dark scapes (Darkness Rising), but it's not as dark as Vader's Choice. These are new to the garden, but I believe the scapes turn more greenish when they mature. The only tetraploid I know that has dark scapes is Heavenly Dark Knight. Harmon Hill Farm carries many of Mike Huben's.

Nancy

I was enjoying your blooms, then got to the bed you are prepping and wow, can't imagine all that work! So impressed with your energy. I planted out about 75 seedlings and thought I would never be finished, LOL! Love your Martagon lilies. I have a couple, mine are not blooming yet. Where do you get your lilies, if I may ask?

Nancy, I got the Martagon lilies from Ramona Hall Titus of Faraway Flowers. She has a website now and she sells on Facebook as well. I bought these when she listed them on the Lily Auction. I am not sure that she lists there anymore. She sells all types of lilies.

We grow a few Asiatic lilies and they come from local sources--Menards and Lowes mostly. Every time I'm at one of those places I will pick up another one. Here's an lily I forgot to show. As is normal for us, we gravitate to the garish colors.

wow, that is one bright seedling. I like it as it stands out. I don't know how you two manage that much of planting seedlings.But I do understand the passion to create and see what will bloom. Very impressive. Why do you plant white clover? Help with the soil? We have so much of it this year. . It is just about finished after the recent mowing and the rabbits do love it.

Julia

Love all the bright lilies-I need more of those I think and I have no Martagon lilies!! Your seedling certainly is a bright color. Like others I am amazed at the number of seedlings you put in the ground. I seem to remember the number 3000 one year!!

This is our first time planting white clover. We are trying it because it adds nitrogen to the soil. Since that plot of ground is a bit of a slope, it will stop soil erosion as well.

We routinely plant a cover crop in the fall. When we remove a bed, we till it up (Bob has a garden tractor to do the work) and we plant winter rye. When it's time to plant, we mow the rye and then plow it. It does the same thing as white clover. Our soil is poor so we want to do what we can to enrich it.

Kate, our highest number was 3400, but that is just too many. We have just under 1200 this year. We have to be careful because we are running out of space. As the years go on, we also need more space for the selected seedlings. I think we have about 600 of them. We really need to downsize the named varieties, and we are working on it slowly.

Bob and I have always planted all of our seeds, but we may have to do what some do which is select what we feel are the best crosses and plant only those.

Golly! Count among the garish lovers. That Lily you showed is a wowzer. Does it have a name?...........Thanks for the update on black scapes. I would have been very nervous if I had bought a daylily and they shot up black scapes. There have been a few discussions about the black tips on buds causing the buds to fall off (or being symptoms of buds about to fall off). I probably would have connected the two and thought I was going to loose the daylily.............Maryl

Im glad you showed us the Vaders Choice bloom, i would be interested in seeing the whole plant and those black scapes. another lovely seedling!

OMG with that new seedling bed, dont know how you do it !

Sherry

Those Martagon lilies are gorgeous! That first seedling is a bright and attention getting one. Nordic Sunshine is pretty.

kay

Maryl, we didn't keep track of the names of most of our lilies. I don't know why because we are picky about the daylily names. I didn't keep track of the Martagons either, but since I bought them through the LIly Auction, I could see my purchases in my closed list. I matched the names with the descriptions.

Those bright lilies are indeed quite pretty! Do they last for years as daylilies do? Your seedling is also quite nice. How do you save the pollen? I'd like to cross a couple of my earlies with a couple lates.

I thought I did well to plant about 15 seedlings!

Brad

Checked out that site for lilies, I really should not have asked! I have it bookmarked!