Pinewood Gardens

The spring and summer has been cool and we are well behind the normal bloom season. However, we have had some early scapes blooming out of season. They are fun to see and extend the bloom season.  The first two were in the pastel range.  This is good reminder to us on how difficult it is to evaluate new seedlings and see if they are better than what we have named in the garden.  These first flowers were spectacular.

 Manna From Heaven – dormant with nice scapes

Sugar in the Morning – dormant and when it is right, it is usually one of the best flowers in the garden.

 

Our diploid seedlings are off to a good start.  We are working on getting lots of green throats into patterns and having the green throat cover as much of the petal as possible. 

 Seedling 227-8 is an Arno’s Bow Tie seedling that roll back looking almost all green.

Seedling 307-4 is an Arno’s Bow Tie x Cosmic Kaleidoscope seedling with a nice green throat and banded eye zone.  Flower size is 5.5 inches so it is bigger than ABT.

Seedling 307-5 is Arno’s Bow Tie  x (Emerald Starburst x Kermit’s Scream). The green throat could be seen across the garden. 

 

Luel has been in charge of our blue eyed breeding program trying to get fancy blue/lavender eyed and edged flowers that perform well in the north.  Luddy Lambertson and other southern breeders have made excellent advances in this color range but they do not always perform well in our climate.   We have had some success in getting dormant plants that grow well in our climate but this week we noticed a jump in quality in our seedlings from our “blue” program.  Below are some of the nice flowers we saw from our work with “blue” patterned daylilies:

Seedling 327-1 – from Spring of Living Water – much larger edge

Seedling 357-2 – Double edge with teeth

Seedling 357-3 – Wide edge – big jump from parents

Seedling 357-4 – Rich color against near white petals

All the 357 seedlings were out of seedling 912-11 (Grace Like Rain x Blue Hippo).  Seedling 912-11 is a full sibling to Secret Ambition and is a potential 2014 introduction.  It appears to be an excellent breeder.  It was fun to be able to take these flowers and use the pollen on our breeding plants.

Bloom season is just starting here (July 6, 2013).  The new seedlings start first but we have a few daylilies planted close to the house on the south side.  These daylilies get little snow and a head start on the growing season with good sun exposure.  First to bloom is Bird of Prey.  Flowers have been perfect this year on Bird of Prey and are in the 7 inch range.  We have set a pod on one flower already.  Out in the propagation beds, Bird of Prey has not come close to bloom yet so we get at least a week headstart along the house.

Photo of Bird of Prey below:

Weather should be warm this week so we are looking for more flowers every day.

Seedling 4-2 has been a garden favorite since it first bloomed in 2010.  Last year we saw clumps in the garden and our first seedlings from it.  It was great as a garden plant and as a parent.  See Heaven’s Throne post with all 4-2 seedlings.

Seedling 4-2 is from ((Northern Splendor x Shores of Time) x Heir to the Throne) x One Foundation.  With some great genetics in the background, we are not surprised at the results but it is a big step up from One Foundation.  As a parent, it provided a wide variety of colors all with great edges of white or gold.  We hope to have enough to introduce in 2014.  We compare this to the John Benz 2012 introduction Dragon Rising which has a similar look.  Dragon Rising is 22″, 5.5″ and evergreen while 4-2 is 30″, 6″, and dormant.  If Dragon Rising is a $300 plant, what should we charge for 4-2?  Check out these photos:

4-2 pictures above

211-2 – Ancient of Days x 4-2

210-7 – Blown Away x 4-2

262-2  (Rolling Stone x Ancient of Days) x 4-2

265-12 Lady Stephanie Victoria Redding x 4-2

 

 

Blue Destiny is a 2013 introduction.  The parents are (Tet. Lavender Blue Baby x Destined to See) x Ancient of Days.  It is evergreen but has been a good grower here with good scapes and clear colors.  We saw our first seedlings from it this year and should see more in the next couple years. 

Blue Destiny has a nice blue eye and a white edge with fine teeth. 

Seedling 266-2  Blue Destiny x (Lydia’s Cloth x Some Sweet Day) – nice color with wider petals and edge

266-3 – Blue Destiny x (Heartbeat of Heaven x Song of the Redeemed) – Much bigger edge than Blue Destiny but retains the clear colors.

 

Heaven’s Throne has produced some fine seedlings.  In 2012, the only Heaven’s Throne cross that produced keepers was from seedling 4-2.  Pictures below are Heaven’s Throne and its seedlings:

Heaven’s Throne

245-3 – Look at the larger double edge

245-6 – Same cross as above but this has nice green edge

245-9 – Same cross as all the others.  Nice mix of colors from this cross all with wonderful edges.  With both parents dormants, we expect these to grow well in our garden.

 

I have a few posts to finish summer 2012 observations.  We are planting seeds this month and have a few sprouted already.

Seedling 30-3 is one of the finest purple flowers we have grown in the garden.  It is dormant, fancy, and blooms nearly flawlessly every time.  The flawless part comes from Lydia’s Cloth and the fanciness comes from Heartbeat of Heaven. 

 

30-3 – Future introduction when we get enough plants (maybe 2015)

Using 30-3 as a breeder gave us excellent kids:

219-2 (Seedling x 30-3)

223-4 – (One Foundation seedling x 30-3)

239-4 – (Richard Raeker x 30-3)

296-4 – (Ancient of Days seedling x 30-3)

 

I have tried to stick to a theme with each blog post but I have some seedlings that are potential introductions but have varied breeding background.  This blog post will feature these miscellaneous seedlings:

Seedling 29-9 – (Cast Your Crown x Tears for Gus) x (Heaven’s Proclaim x (Delaware Doosy x Sabine Baur))

Cast Your Crown was the only plant in this cross that has teeth.  The Heaven’s Proclaim seedling did have teeth occasionally that may be traced back to Julie Newmar.  We like the double/triple edge and the large teeth.  We have found this plant to be evergreen but will evaluate in 2013 for potential introduction.  Last summer we set seeds on 29-9 with pollen from Waldo Gone Wild and we look forward to seeing results from that cross. 

Seedling 959-3 – (Upon This Rock x (Deep Fire x Spacecoast Fancy Dancer)) x Born to Run

This bright red with orange tones is a garden standout.  It is dormant and in 2012, we set pods using Velvet Throne and some of our Lady Stephanie Victoria Redding seedlings (see previous post).  Bud count last year was about 20 so this is a potential introduction.  The breeding goes way back to some of our first crosses. 

900-8 – Natalie Grace x Blown Away

We don’t normally breed for yellows and this flower has a pink parent – Natalie Grace.  Natalie Grace also has a flat petal tip that allows the very ruffled flowers to open.  This was passed on to seedling 900-8.  I measured the ruffles on this flower and they were 1.25 inches on these 6+ inch flowers.  Very impressive the in garden.  Last year the bud count was low on small plants so we will give it another year in the same spot to prove itself.  This flower is dormant and is heavy textured. 

 

 

Our green throated and patterned diploid program had several first year and second year seedlings.  Here are some samples of the seedlings:

Seedling 115-5 (Arno’s Bow Tie x Cosmic Kaleidoscope)

Seedling 174-6 (Search for Green Pastures x Arno’s Bow Tie)

Seedling 226-6 (Search for Green Pastures x Cosmic Kaleidoscope) – This was a big flower with large green throat.

Seedling 227-4 (Emerald Starburst seedling x Cosmic Kaleidoscope)

Seedling 227-8 (Emerald Starburst seedling x Arno’s Bow Tie) – Nice bitone with big green throat.