Becca's Lilies Journal

UP - DATE

2007-03-01T09:54:00.000-05:00

The lovely purple quilled seedling below recently won a seedling contest for the Favorite Open Form on the LA Chatter's! I was very surprised to have a maiden bloomer beat out some very stiff competition! Also humbled and honored!

I've been busy building a web site to feature my seedlings so I haven't been here at all since last bloom season. Here's a link to the "almost finished" site: BECCA'S DAYLILIES I do hope you will visit and feel free to contact me with any comments and do sign the Guest Book!

Looks to be a very busy spring for me as I finally get the potted breeding plants in the ground and several hundred seedlings, bot carried over in pots from last year and new seedlings started under the lights this winter. Plus I have several hundred more seeds yet to be planted, both my own crosses and crosses made by others and shared with me. Some of them will be most interesting to see bloom in a couple of years.

There aren't very many crosses due to maiden this season, only about 17 (50 or so seedlings) plus a few more that refused to bloom last season. Most of these are Tet full form seedlings with only a few SPUFs. It should be somewhat impressive to see the entire bed in bloom though.

I was able to move all but three keepers from the back bed to the big bed last summer and they will hopefully bloom this year and show improvement, especially since they were give considerably more room.

I will have to re-pot a good number of seedlings into larger pots where they will have to grow until they bloom. Most of these with be from the primary miniature crosses I made last season and perhaps a few odd numbered crosses. There were several seeds that sprouted before I was able to put the seeds in the fridge after harvest and those were planted in a huge pot last summer. Germination could have been better, but those that did grow, did very well and stay green until December. I did move them into the cold frame in late October, early November. Time will tell if they wintered over.

I started a major re-do on the front display beds last summer and will have to finish that this spring as well. The mound bed is almost there, but the surrounding beds still need a lot of work with some plants coming out, some being moved and a few new ones added. The Siberian Iris seedlings all need to be lifted and divided, not a chore I am looking forward to as they have gotten to be massive clumps!

I was able to make 2 successful crosses on my LA Lilies and was able to plant the seeds last fall. It will be very interesting to watch these grow and bloom for the first time. I had also left a few pods on some of the Asiatic Lilies and scattered them in random pots here and there. Hosta seeds collected from a neighbor's variegated plant, hardy hibiscus, clematis and seeds couple of different flower trees were also sown last fall. It will be very interesting and exciting seeing which ones come up this spring and which ones will need another winter. Fortunately I DID tag all the pots so I won't inadvertently dump anything that needs to sit around. Don't ask me where I think I'm going to grow out all these seedlings because I haven't figured that part out yet! Most will be pot grown, but that still requires space somewhere!

I hope to get pictures of some of these beds to post sometime during the growing season, until then, Happy Gardening!

Rebecca

CONTINUING WITH 2006 SEEDLING BLOOMS

2006-07-26T11:18:00.000-04:00

CERULEAN STAR X SCRAMBLED LEGS

I kept only three from this cross and only one of them bloomed last year ("C39"), the second seedling failed to bloom this year, but has made very good increase so ought to be very nice next season.

"A39" is probably the very best seedling to bloom this year. Not only is it a very pretty bloom, it is also relatively sun fast and holds up well to rain. I love the movement is found toward the end of this season's bloom cycle. Scapes weren't very tall, but at least well above the foliage. Both that bloomed this season were early-mid season bloomers, "C39" bloomed very late last year and was given the garden name of "Elizabeth Ann Benson", who owns and runs 'Landspro.com' and the discussion boards there. She was so taken by the bloom when I posted n image of it last fall that I named it in her honor. "A39" hasn't been given a "garden name" yet, but I am trying to come up with one. "You're So Vein" comes to mind!

2006-07-26T11:17:00.000-04:00

CERULEAN STAR X SCRAMBLED LEGS-A39

2006-07-26T11:16:00.000-04:00

CERULEAN STAR X SCRAMBLED LEGS-C39-EOD

2006 SEEDLING BLOOMS, CONT'D

2006-07-26T10:56:00.000-04:00

DS12-18 X WILLIE BELLE

DS12-18 is a seedling bred from 'Dark Star' lines; in these images it was paired up with 'Willie Belle'. As you see, I got three different looks from this one cross and that's only the seedlings that were kept and correctly identified! I did, however, keep more seedlings from a second DS12-18 cross using ;Crystalline Entity' as the pollen parent (not all of them were correctly tagged either).

D32 was an early bloomer this season, B32 began Mid-Season and A31 has just started to bloom, so, this year at least, the seedlings have spanned close to the full season. That could all change next season. All three were maiden bloomers this season so a lot of things may possibly change next season! Bloom size, color (though not so much withthe darker ones), movement and they should start getting better at branching and bud counts. Since these three are so diverse, I'd be hard pressed to pick my favorite, so I won't! Although "A31" is probably the best of the three. Time and maturity will tell the complete story.

2006-07-26T10:54:00.000-04:00

DS12-18 X WILLIE BELLE-D32

2006-07-26T10:53:00.000-04:00

DS12-18 X WILLIE BELLE-B32-FFO

2006-07-26T10:51:00.000-04:00

DS12-18 X WILLIE BELLE-A31-7-24-06

MORE 2006 SEEDLING BLOOMS

2006-07-26T10:34:00.000-04:00

CHIN WHISKERS X TOMORROW'S SONG

Try as I did to not mix these up when they were moved to the keeper bed last fall, I still managed to mix them all up! I do know that 2005 - #1 is B30 this season and the #2 is D30, after that there was too much change in how they looked them to how they were this season! Currently all four are still keepers and it will depend on which ones develop into the very best seedlings as to which ones I keep for possible registration and introducrion. All will at least be nice garden plants so done will be destroyed.

2006-07-26T09:41:00.000-04:00

CHIN WHISKERS X TOMORROW'S SONG-A30

2006-07-26T09:39:00.000-04:00

CHIN WHISKERS X TOMORROW'S SONG-B30

2006-07-26T09:37:00.000-04:00

CHIN WHISKERS X TOMORROW'S SONG-C30

2006-07-26T09:36:00.000-04:00

CHIN WHISKERS X TOMORROW'S SONG-D30

CHANGES IN FORMAT-PICASA

2006-07-21T18:14:00.000-04:00

I've downloaded the newest version of Picasa and am not quite comfortable with all the new buttons, so things are a in a bit of disarray! Sorry about that, folks! Plus, it's been a while since I've posted to my Journal and have forgotten how backward things are here!

Anyway, lots of new maiden blooms as well as second season bloomers to show you so do check back from time to time to see all the new images!

Bloom Season 2006, Continued

2006-07-21T18:01:00.000-04:00

Festive Art X Arctic Snow F7

This is the second bloom from the Festive Art X Arctic Snow cross. I really like this one and hope to see significant improvement in it next season. The form will round up a little, but not as much as I want it to so now I will be working toward getting this color combination with an improved form, more rounded with shorter, broaded petals and sepals.

BLOOM SEASON 2006

2006-07-21T17:39:00.000-04:00

Bloom season is past peak now, so perhaps I can get my Journal up-dated some!

This first image is from the LT 12 X Pony cross. There were two that bloomed this season, unfortunately the fan was broken off of the second one and the scape it put up was very, very short so I didn't get any decent images of the poor blooms it tried to present me with.

The color on this one is better than the images shows and will continue to improve as the seedling matures and after I get it moved to a better location than the crowded seedling bed.

This medium sized bloom is from seedling numberF2 from Festive Art X Elegant Candy. Wonderful double edge on this one. There was one sibling that also bloomed, this is the better of the two.

This is number F6 from Festive Art X Arctic Snow and one of two nice seedlings to bloom from this cross. this seedling also has the double edge and is a large size than it's half sibling.

ADDTIONAL 2004 CROSSES

2006-02-02T19:13:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to add these last three crosses for some time and today I finally got it done! "Batgirl" is the garden name I've given to this seedling from 2001 out of Unknown parents. I divided it and shipped a division of it off to Washingon state (I think) and then planted mthr remaining section in a new bed. It has taken it a couple of years to get established and it bloomed okay last year. I expect it will be even better this year and be closer to what it was on it's maiden bloom. 'Pony' was the only bi-color candidate I had to cross this one with and I am hoping for nicely rounded, full form bi-colors or possibly bi-tones.

With the FA X AS cross I hope to get better near whites with the purple eye and edge and with the FA X EC cross I hope to get some really nice pinks to lavenders with the dark eye and edge.

All of these should bloom this season and I really hope there are a few keepers. I no longer grow FA as it just did not like the winters here so I sent it south. Time will tell if I made good choices or not.

2006-02-02T19:08:00.000-05:00

"Batgirl" X PONY

2006-02-02T19:06:00.000-05:00

FESTIVE ART X ELEGANT CANDY

2006-02-02T19:04:00.000-05:00

FESTIVE ART X ARCTIC SNOW

MORE 2004 CROSSES

2005-12-13T23:54:00.000-05:00

Following are four images of additional crosses I made in 2003 and planted in 2004 that could bloom next summer. The pod parents are pod sibling from a cross between 'Frans Hals" and 'Red Precious' that I got in a seed trade with a grower in Holland. I grew many seedlings from this cross but kept only three, the remaining ones are scattered about the country, even my daughter got a couple of them! I have not seem blooms from those that went to other gardens.

I used either one of the two siblings shown or both with the pollen parent shown, but I can't find my notes from back then so am not sure which one went with which pollen parent and it may well have been both! I did use both of these seedlings again this year with OFs and with miniatures.

Both of these sibs are short growers with small blooms and very open form, the darker one coming close to being a "true" spider. The ones that meet all the criteria I have set for miniature breeding plants will be used in that program, tall growers will be used elsewhere, if at all (depends on what comes from these crosses!).

The third sibling is quite tall scaped with smallish blooms that rather strongly resemble the 'Frans Hals" pod parent I think I got a few seeds from it this summer from 'Mad Max' pollen, but neither it nor MM were all that willing to produce this summer.

With all of these crosses I was going more for form than color, still 3 of the 4 should give nice reds, yellows and oranges; not sure what will come from 'Heavenly Curls', most likely more yellows.

There isn't anything unique about the seedlings, they carry some interesting traits in their genes and should be very good bridge plants for beginning a line of mini-spider/UFs. Along with 'Siloam Stormy Night', 'Eenie Weenie' and 'Little Grapette', all of which I used this season for the miniature program along with 'Hollywood Daily' and H. fulva rosea "Rosalind" (for for and color). The seedling bed should be quite interesting in a couple of years when this combination of breeding programs all bloom.

2005-12-13T23:52:00.000-05:00

CROSSES 2004 -15

2005-12-13T23:51:00.000-05:00

CROSSES 2004 -16

2005-12-13T23:50:00.000-05:00

CROSSES 2004 -17

2005-12-13T23:48:00.000-05:00

CROSSES 2004 -18

2004 CROSSES

2005-12-13T12:13:00.000-05:00

I've posted quite a few comp images of the parent plants of seedlings I expect to see bloom next season. Some crosses have only one seedling while others have several (Wilson Spider x Bark At Me has 3 or 4 seedlings that all look like they will be big enough to bloom). I am rather anxious to see these bloom as some are my own crosses and others are from purchased seeds. I also have a couple that only the pod parent is known and I will try to post images of the pod parent with the resulting seedling's maiden blooms when the time comes.

I am really interested in seeing what comes from the cross of Chicago Apache X Custard Candy, I know they will be eyed, but have no idea about what color they will be. Another one, one I haven't posted a comp pix of is using one of my near white seedlings with 'Wilson Spider'; I'm hoping for a nice near-white cascade from it.

I except the Chesapeake Crablegs X Heavenly Curls will be yellows and oranges and possibly a peach or melon pastel, but it will be a cascade for sure (watch me be wrong! )

2005-12-13T11:56:00.000-05:00

CROSSES 2004 -1

2005-12-13T11:55:00.000-05:00

CROSSES 2004 -2

2005-12-13T11:53:00.001-05:00

CROSSES 2004 -5

2005-12-13T11:53:00.000-05:00

CROSSES 2004 -3

2005-12-13T11:52:00.000-05:00

CROSSES 2004 -4

2005-12-13T11:48:00.000-05:00

CROSSES 2004 -6

2005-12-13T11:47:00.000-05:00

CROSSES 2004 -7

2005-12-13T11:41:00.000-05:00

CROSSES 2004 -9

2005-12-13T11:40:00.000-05:00

CROSSES 2004 -8

2005-12-13T11:39:00.000-05:00

CROSSES 2004 -10

2005-12-13T11:38:00.000-05:00

CROSSES 2004 -11

2005-12-11T14:26:00.000-05:00

CROSSES 2004-12

2005-12-11T14:19:00.000-05:00

CROSSES 2004-13

2005-12-11T14:18:00.000-05:00

CROSSES 2004-14

OPEN FORMS . UNUSUAL FORMS

2005-12-10T19:23:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about these two open form seedlings and how best to move them toward unusual form. Bearing in mind what I have to work with by way of Tet PSUF cultivars, I don't have much to work with! 'Geri's Aura' isn't really one I should use for this purpose as it is just another open form when you stop and examine it. Two others I have are both reds and I really don't want to go that way, that leaves my only other Tet SPUF, 'Boney Maroney'. It's a very large bloom, perhaps 10-inches, it's drawback: it's yellow! Probably offspring colors would be in the peach range, which might not be all that bad.

What I may possibly do is cross 'Geri's Aura' with 'Boney Maroney' to produce lavender to peach "bridge plants" to use with the crosses made with the two open form seedlings and BM.

Sometimes it is difficult to only work with what you have. There are several seedlings and cultivars as well that I would like to play around with but just don't have the "right" partner for them. So I hold onto them in hopes that something will turn up in the seedling bed or I'll be able to trade for something I can use. I'm still hoping to get a really skinny red Tet spider to use with the offspring I get from my LT10 X 'Heavenly Fire Arrow' and 'Samar Star Fire' seedlings.

Here's a view of 'Boney Maroney':

2005-12-09T01:03:00.000-05:00

'Geri's Aura' - Not sure why this has been referred to as a UFas it isn't really, but it is a large flower (7.5-inches) and on a tall (37-inch) scape.(Image is from Tinker's Database).

2005-12-09T00:51:00.000-05:00

CPXATW-sdlg # 3 This one is actually more pink than this image shows it.

2005-12-09T00:49:00.000-05:00

ATWf1

WHAT WAS I THINKING!

2005-12-09T00:25:00.000-05:00

In my last post I eluded to 'Harbor Blue' as being a Tet that I was looking forward to using with a couple of open-form Tets I have, well that would be hard to do since it is a Dip! The cultivar I meant to say is 'Geri's Aura', which is a lovely deep lavender UF that would work very well with the pinkish seedlings I have in mind. Of course that is if it and the seedlings survive the winter and if they all bloom!

Two of the ones I have in mind to use are at the top of this post; both are out of 'Along the Way' breeding. One is an out cross (CPXATW), the other is a selfing (ATWf1).

CROSSES 2005

2005-11-12T19:02:00.000-05:00

Thought I would post images of some of the crosses I've made this year. Most have been offered on the Lily Auction since there's no way I can keep every seed that was produced this season!

As you will see, these crosses run the gamut from Dips to Tets and full forms to SPUFs. There are only three colors I breed for, near white, lavenders and red, but I am also beginning top work with miniatures so there is pretty much a full range of colors there. The miniatures I am most interested in are SPUF forms and most of the crosses lead in that direction.

I'm also dabbling with doubles, which is difficult when you only have three registered cultivars and they don't bloom at the same time! So I use seedlings that were either from bee pods or "experiments"! I was able to add one double flowered cultivar to my collection this summer, 'Land of Cotton', but it will be another year or more before I can use it for breeding.

I still need to figure out where I am going to plant the seeds of the crosses I am keeping and unless I can talk my neighbor into tilling up more space for me, that may be a serious problem!

I still seem to have more yellow flowered cultivars than I would like to have, but I keep because they are such great performers in the garden. The same thing goes for a lot of the older cultivars I have, oh wait, most of the older ones ARE yellows! I' not really knocking yellows or older cultivars, but space is at such a premium here I can't keep everything I would like to. There are some of the golden oldiesI use for breeding. I like using the older ones as there is such a great wealth of un-tapped genetic information there and crossed with the more moder ones something really great is very likely to show up. Older 'spider forms' are really loaded with good genetic material, especially when you take into consideration nearly 3 decades when no one was working with them.

I do concentrate most of my breeding to working with the Diploids, SPUFs and full forms, and I really don't have a lot of Tetraploids to begin with. The few I have, that are registered cultivars are reds or near whites, plus I believe I have one that is purple and one that supposed to be peach. I do have quite a few Tet seedlings though and continue to work with them.

I also have a soft spot for bi-tones and bi-colors and have several of them, both registered cultivars and seedlings. I just started to breed with them this season and have several I would still like to use. . . . maybe next season I will be able to.

One of the Tet SPUFs I have is 'Harbor Blue' and am just itching to begin working with it. I have a couple of open form Tet seedlings I'd like to use it with I'd also like to use it with one of my full form Tets, but will wait and see how that one develops over the next couple of years. It had a lot of pinching and twisting this year but may settle down and take on a more "traditional" form as it matures. It also needs to decide exactly what color it's going to be! It has bloomed this lovely raspberry as couple of times, but it has also been much lighter and nearly red! I prefer this color though. Hard to believe it's pod parent is 'Arctic Snow' isn't it. The pollen parent is one of my very first seedlings to ever bloom, a very nice red out of 'Chicago Sunrise' by 'Chicago Apache'. This seedling "AS2F" was showing a hint of an edge this season and I am really hoping it comes out as the seedling matures. I also love the "old fashioned" look of it; very traditional daylily form, "rounded triangle". It also has since to it and branching and bud count. Sure do hope it continues to improve!

I will be readdressing the images of the crosses made this year and try to give some insight into what I am looking from from each cross, or at least what I had in mind when making the cross.

2005-11-12T19:00:00.000-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:59:00.001-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:59:00.000-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:58:00.001-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:58:00.000-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:57:00.000-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:56:00.001-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:56:00.000-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:55:00.000-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:54:00.001-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:54:00.000-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:53:00.001-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:53:00.000-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:51:00.001-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:51:00.000-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:50:00.001-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:50:00.000-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:49:00.001-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:49:00.000-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:48:00.000-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:47:00.001-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:47:00.000-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:46:00.000-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:45:00.001-05:00

2005 CROSS

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2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:44:00.001-05:00

2005 CROSS

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2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:43:00.001-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:43:00.000-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:42:00.000-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:41:00.001-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:41:00.000-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:40:00.000-05:00

2005 CROSS

2005-11-12T18:39:00.000-05:00

2005 CROSSES

2005-11-12T18:38:00.001-05:00

2005 CROSSES

2005-11-12T18:37:00.000-05:00

2005 CROSSES

Smileys

2005-11-09T00:52:00.000-05:00

Smileys

2005-11-05T13:37:00.000-05:00

This is a comp image of the cross Stalks and I are discussing.

2005-10-17T19:29:00.001-05:00

'John Karl Seager'

2005-10-17T19:29:00.000-05:00

'Destined to See'

2005-10-17T19:28:00.000-05:00

'Red Ribbons'

2005-10-17T19:27:00.001-05:00

'Mad Max'

2005-10-17T19:27:00.000-05:00

'Heavenly Fire Arrow'

2005-10-17T19:26:00.000-05:00

'Samar Star Fire'

2005-10-17T19:24:00.000-05:00

'Bark At Me'

2005-10-17T19:23:00.001-05:00

'Kindly Light'

2005-10-17T19:23:00.000-05:00

'Boney Maroney'

2005-10-17T19:22:00.000-05:00

'Made in Dixie'

2005-10-17T19:21:00.000-05:00

Chesapeake Crablegs'

2005-10-17T19:20:00.001-05:00

'Lilting Belle'

2005-10-17T19:20:00.000-05:00

'Wilson Spider'-2

2005-10-17T19:19:00.000-05:00

'Wilson Spider'

2005-10-17T19:18:00.000-05:00

'Orchid Majesty'

2005-10-17T19:17:00.000-05:00

'Divertissment'