RUBY CORONA: a daylily to use for teeth hybridizing

WHITE FANG x RUBY CORONA John Benz

Nancy Olson asked  “Do you have any suggestions of a toothy cultivar that would enhance the height and branching and still keep the red prominent?”

Looking for a tall toothy red daylily is a hard find. They primarily exist in gardens as seedlings so they have not been made available to the public. But I do have suggestions. Even though RUBY CORONA does not have teeth, it is worth mentioning.  RUBY CORONA was by hybridized by John Benz.  John’s description of the daylily  says  “Fertile both ways and a magnificent parent, throwing clear deep reds with huge white braids and shark’s teeth” RUBY CORONA is registered at 36” and is a dormant. John crossed his RUBY COROEA with WHITE FANG.  WHITE FANG is a cross of (Angel’s Smile x Startle).

Nancy also asked, “ I also used RUFFLED STAWBERRY PARFAIT  with PAINTING THE ROSES RED and WISH FULFILLMENT that same year. Have you seen teeth from either of those cultivars?” WISH FULFILLMENT has been a very good parent/grandparent  for Stamile’s edged line. RED FANG is a direct cross of WISH FULFILLMENT.  VIOLET BECOMES YOU and TALLADEGA also go back to WISH FULFILLMENT. So while I probably wouldn’t use WISH FULFILLMENT, I’d certainly use RED FANG, VIOLET BECOMES YOU, and TALLADEGA crossed into teeth.  RED FANG is northern hardy zone 5.   As for using PAINTING THE ROSES RED, I don’t think I’d use it in teeth crosses because the scape height is 26 inches and more importantly it hasn’t produced teeth seedlings that I’ve seen…as of yet….. On tomorrows daylily blog we’ll look at a seedling….

Mike