- Heavenly Beginnings, Jamie Gossard
When Jamie Gossard saw a few STARTLE seedlings at John Benz’s that later became WHITE FANG and SHIRLEY FARMER, Jamie thought why not take STARTLE into a narrow form. After all John preferred rounder daylilies so his competition in this area would be limited and he would have a unique look. So Jamie acquired STARTLE from John.
Jamie’s breakthrough cross and introduction was HEAVENLY BEGINNINGS (Startle x Tetra Spindazzle). When the daylily bloomed back in the later 1990’s, Jamie had brought a bloom in a small cooler to Shirley Farmer’s summer picnic to show everyone. Shirley was already a daylily teeth lover so she was amazed at the size of the teeth. I was new to daylilies and really didn’t know what to think other than it looked like an exotic strange daylily. Our mentor had been Steve Moldovan who was a color nut and this daylily had awful color. So I guess I had mixed feelings. My wife Sandy was unmoved. She liked color first. Jamie was undeterred with HEAVENLY BEGINNINGS color as he loved the newly found toothy edge on a large daylily. True to its name, HEAVENLY BEGINNINGS was a new beginning for Jamie as it became a cornerstone in his teeth daylilies program.
I’ll be off tomorrow for family, back Friday on the daylily teeth blog. B.T.W. John Kinnebrew sent over a note, his 2011 introductions are now online at http://www.spacecoastdaylilies.com/ …
Mike
© 2010, Mike. All rights reserved. Copyright extended to images.