Bill Waldrop Seedling
One reader writes about the OUTER LIMITS”…… “slow” …… Outer Limits……, and the $300 I spent seems to have been a waste of money. I only got 3 blooms last year, after 2 years of being here. So, while it may be worthy of all the praise you gave it where you are, here, not so much. As of this fall, after a hotter summer than most, it only multiplied by one fan.I am hopeful this summer I will have more blooms, but I am disappointed on the whole.Before you sent so much praise for the world to see, please consider the entire country.”
Dear Reader, I understand your concern. Spending $300.00 for a couple of blooms, at first glance hurts. But does it? Remember as hybridizers we are concerned as to what we can pull out of a daylily more so than how it performs in our own yard. Those three blooms you had from O.L. are very precious. That is why many of us hybridizers bring in Southern genetics, knowing they aren’t going to perform to specs. Or Larry Grace painfully uses dormants that misbehave in his garden. We are after specific traits. OUTER LIMITS has a suspected green edge gene in it and has been producing very heavy edged daylilies in zone 5. I use it for that reason. It would be a nice addition but I don’t care about garden looks for hybridizing daylilies. When I introduce kids out of a daylily, they will carry the looks and specs we require. Outer Limits is F1 cross and is a drop dead dormant in our garden. You should be able to start a solid dormant program with it. Another point to consider is the breeding in this daylily lends itself to small crown and slow increase. Dormants are nortoriously slow and painful in regard to vigor. My thoughts are as a Northern hybridizer, I’d prefer to use one bloom from an outstanding Southern daylily than 100 blooms on great garden performer with an ordinary bloom. From a non hybridizers garden perspective, you are right, three blooms are a disapointment. Thanks for your food for thought~! Anyone else please leave your comments. They are welcome.
I have had a request for talks about Brother Charles. So that’s coming soon… Image is a daylily seedling of Mr. William Waldrop, procurer and connoisseur of fine daylilies…Kennesaw Mountain Daylilies
Mike Holmes
© 2011, Mike. All rights reserved. Copyright extended to images.