Great parents in daylily breeding

Tadeusz Kosmus

In the 80s or 90s of the last century in the United States of America, a group of enthusiasts (among them there were both, professional breeders, as well as the hobbyists) brought daylilies to a new and higher level of development. Of course, all of them worked on the basis of earlier work of scientists-botanists who derived their breeding achievements from botanical variations and species. Modern garden daylily of that time possessed the qualities, which among the output variations were only outlined, and often not even revealed. Only in this small number of contemporary variations, the breeders have centered their efforts by making a large number of crossings. Thus, very rapidly new variations have formed, and they were the more numerous the more surprising and fascinating effects were revealed among seedlings. In accordance with the title of this compilation I would like to show, which of the popularly used variations in particular way deserve the recognition in terms of this great process of daylily improvement. The need to use a relatively small number of variations on one hand limits the analysis, but on the other hand provides profuse conclusions, and shows the richness and diversity of those variations, as they were used in countless breeding associations. It indicates almost unlimited possibilities concentrated in their genetic code. The only calculable attestation of “merits” incurred by a specific and defined variation in the process of daylily improvement, is its contribution in the creation of new variations, or in other words, number of ‘children’ that were created as a result of crossings with its participation. Conducted statistics in regard to this matter allow determining which of the many thousands of daylily variation enjoyed the greatest popularity in the past, and which in the process of shaping the contemporary image of the daylily flower have the greatest merits. In the figures below you can find the Great Parents of the history of daylily breeding of the past century. In the brackets next to the name, you can find the number of newly created variations with the use of each Great Parent.

IDA'S MAGIC (367)

ED BROWN (326)

WEDDING BAND (292)

ADMIRAL'S BRAID (268)

BETTY WARREN WOODS (213)

FOOLED ME (128)

SPC.STARBURST (128)

COURT MAGICIAN (115)

DARLING DILEMMA (113)

WISEST OF WIZARD (110)

AWESOME BLOSSOM (103)

SOMETHING WONDERFUL (101)

SHERRY LANE CARR (95)

DARLA ANITA (88)

CHANCE ENCOUNTER (86)

FORREST LAKE RAGAMUFFIN (86)

GREAT WHITE (80)

VICTORIAN LACE (76)

DARLING DECEPTION (59)

BELLA SERA (56)

DIAMONDS AND PEARLS (53)

ELIZABETH SALTER (52)

FORTUNE'S DEAREST (50)

SABINE BAUR (48)

ROSES IN SNOW (46)

LARRY GRACE (45)

BELLE COOK (41)

STARTLE (39)

MOMENT IN THE SUN (38)

JOHN PEAT (38)

MANDALAY BAY MUSIC (37)

DESTINED TO SEE (37)

MICHAEL MILLER (37)

MAGIC AMETHYST (32)

PRIMAL SCREAM (23)

REYNA (21)

This collection contains variations that not only had in those times, but also currently have a great contribution to the progress of development of the modern daylily. While assessing the multiple uses in breeding works of the subsequent variation, it should be noted that it resulted out of the mentioned limited choice, but probably as well from the shaped fashion, and only in further perspective we can conclude conscious and deliberate choice of the breeder. Yet it is impossible not to recognize that part of the mentioned variations have particular features that adapt them for continuous use in the breeding process. You can see it by analyzing the oldest parent variations used in the variations registered in the recent years. Here are some examples

BLUE MAGICIAN Ida's Magic x Court Magician Nichols '04

ANNETTE'S MAGIC Ed Brown x Forestlake Ragamuffin Rice '04

HUMBLE COMPANIO Ed Brown x Something Wonderful Netherton '05

ETERNITYS SHADOW Wedding Band x Secret Splendor Petit '96

BUBBLING EDGE Darling Dilemma x Wedding Band Collins '96

ANNONCIATA Souvenir D'Afrique x Admiral's Braid Harrison '06

CLAUDETTE J. COLLINS Betty Warren Woods x Admiral's Braid Collins '02

BANZAI Fooled Me x Holiday Delight Reilly '96

BELLE ISLE SUMMER Fooled Me x unknown Roycroft '02

EXUBERANT LADY Spacecoast.Starburst x Arabian Magic Gomez '05

FORSYTH SPELLBINDER Velvet Beads x Spacecoast Starburst Lefever '05

MAGE QUEST Irving Shulman x Court Magician Salter '93

NINJA KNIGHT Court Magician x Tet. Grand Masterpiece Moldovan '90

BENJAMIN Heavenly Dragon x Daring Dilemma Pickles '98

IN STYLE Wisest of Wizard x Wild Mustang Marryott '06

GAVIN PETIT Awesome Blosson x (siewka x Only Believe) Petit '05

KELLEY'S YELLOW DRESS Betty Warren Woods x Something Wonderful Waldrop '02

ALICIA BURNS Something Wonderful x Fooled Me Pickles '03

CATCHING THE LIGHT Betty Warren Woods x Sherry LAne Carr Jarvis '03

DILEMMA Larry Grace x Darla Anita Maryott '06

This analysis is not able to cover all the issues, and because of the enormous range of variations, in a conscious way I’ve avoided the diploid forms. Nevertheless I hope that this compilation will become a kind of reference point, for any critical evaluation, and it may need necessary additions. All of those that are interested in the analysis of the parent forms of the registered variations in a broader sense than I provided here, I eagerly refer to the online databases:

AHS Daylily Cultivar Search: http://www.daylilies.org/Daylily DB/

Tinker’s Gardens Daylily Database: http://db.tinkersgardens.com/?script=1

Super-Mamas & Super Papas: http://members.cox.net/hiddeninthecity/SUPER-MAMAS%20&%20SUPER-PAPAS.htm

While presenting this compilation, I would like to draw attention of the “HONOURABLE BREEDERS” to the necessity of careful analysis of the obtained (in result of the crossing) plant material, which should, in the course of arduous and unfortunately lasting about 6-7 years process of testing and observation, lead to the scooping out of the seedlings that have value of the “GREAT PARENT”. Obtaining such original and unique seedlings in your breeding program will be resulting in success in further work on introduction of the variation to the Polish registry of daylily variations.