Random Daylily Observations and Progress ReportDaylily . 9.13.15

Daylily Starts "Nursery".  9.13.15

Daylily Pods.  Left is "Pardon Me" and Right is "Chicago Apache".  9.13.15

 Various Daylily notes.  Soon the season will be over.

The starts, taken from plants I bought for Ning, are all growing nicely.  These are about one month old.  Most are one fan.  In general, I removed the smallest fan from the plants.  These are getting some TLC.  All of the leaf growth is new.

The far left plant is NOID that I dug from my old yard and gave some TLC.  It's ready to plant.  Maybe during the next week.

Daylily Pods.  "Fooled Me".  9.13.15

Daylily Seed Pods.   "Pardon Me".  9.13.15

Most of the pods, resulting from pollination / hybridization efforts this summer, are maturing.  I've harvested about 1/2 of them.  About 2/3 of  those are stratifying on moist paper towels, in zipper bags, in the refrigerator.

Signs of maturity:
Definitely if the pod is dry, brown, and the top splitting open, it's ready.  The seeds are black and shiny.

If the stem is dry and straw brown, then no nutrition can get from the plant to the pod.  The pod may be green, but in most cases it is starting to split and the color is becoming pale.  I think it's OK to harvest those too.  The seeds inside those pods are black and shiny, a sign of maturity.  If the stem is dried and light brown,  but the pod is still green, I cut it and place in paper envelope to finish maturing.  Probably not necessary.

Different plants have different rates of maturing.

Daylily "Stella De Oro".   9.13.15

 Some are still blooming.   Most of the yellows - NOID pale yellow, large flower, Stella De Oro, mutant labeled as something else but pale yellow and small, and Happy Returns, all have at least a few flowers.  Mutant labeled as "Frans Hals" continues to bloom.  I transferred pollen among these.  No expectations they will take or have time to mature, but no harm done either.

Daylily Mutant of Frans Hals.  9.13.15

Even More on the Topic of Daylilies. 8.13.15

3-Year-Old Daylily Seeds.  8.11.15

Old Daylily Seeds Float.  8.11.15

Fresh Daylily Seed Pods.  8.11.15

 I got out my seed filing box - an envelope sized file box - to use for saving new seeds.  Discovered some 3-year-old daylily seeds that I collected in 2012.  Some seeds last a year, some last many years.  I don't know about Hemerocallis.

Fresh Daylily Seeds.  8.11.15

Fresh Daylily Seeds Also Float.  8.11.15

One test of seed viability is if they sink.  These floated.

Maybe if I soak them in water for a couple of days, they will rehydrate and sink.  The peach seeds did that.

I found some daylily pods on the variety, "Happy Returns".  The pods do not change to red, or yellow, or brown.  They are green or slightly brown.  When the top starts to split, the seeds are ready.

These are nice shiny black seeds.  Not as wrinkly as the seeds from 2012.  However, a seed I collected one week ago was also wrinkly.

The new seeds floated too.  Since they were fresh, I placed them on damp paper towel, then into a zipper lock back, and into the refrigerator to stratify.  They will need 4 to 6 weeks to stratify, then I can plant them in seed starting soil.

That will be fall.  That's OK, I can grow them under the seed starting light during their first winter.

Daylily Progress Report. 8.8.15

Seed Pods on Chicago Apache.  8.8.15

 Daylily Progress Report.

None of the seeds pods has yellowed yet.  Many have big fat pods.  They are a little less green.  Maybe we are getting loser.

Chicago Apache, Luxury Lace, Fooled Me, Pardon Me are continuing to produce at least a few final flowers.  Nice this time of summer.

The variety labeled as "Daring Deception" from Lowes, has nice seed pods.  It needs some sort of label, without claiming it is either Daring Deception or something else official.   For the moment, NOID Lavender is adequate.  I still don't know if this one is diploid or tetraploid, since I pollinated with both types.  Mostly diploid.   And they are open pollinated, although most that were not hand pollinated on other plants did not take.

NOID Brick Red from Home Depot has one flower bud.  That was pollenized from a tetraploid, so probably is tetraploid.

Seed Buds on NOID Lavender Daylily.  8.8.15

 Of the newest daylilies, planted bare root this summer -

All are alive and growing.

The most vigorous are Strawberry Candy and Winsome Lady.

More delicate growth on Siloam Virginia Hansen and Carefree Peach, but they look OK.

Happy Returns - a few flowers but not much.  I feel certain that the mislabeled plants were Happy Returns as well - same size, same flower color, same petal texture.  Too bad they were labeled wrong, so I can't be sure.

Early Growth on Carefree Peach.   8.8.15

Early Growth on Strawberry Candy.  8.8.15

 So this has been the year of daylily enthusiasm.   Also, seed saving and hybridizing, including daylilies.  Who knows what the progeny will look like -

Chicago Apache X Fooled Me.
Fooled Me X Chicago Apache.
Happy Returns X Pardon Me
Pardon Me or Happy Returns or Ice Carnival or Luxury Lace X NOID Lavender.
Chicago Apache or Fooled Me X NOID Home Depot Brick Red

and other combinations.

Early Growth on Winsome Lady.  8.8.15

Early Growth on Siloam Virginia Hansen. 8.8.15

Stella De Oro Blooming, About One Month After Dividing.  8.8.15