2003 Selected Seedlings

Last updated 10/25/07.

Mike Huben's garden page.

Welcome! This was a strange year for new seedlings, since my '01 seedlings resided 40 miles north in New Hampshire at Carl Harmon's place. They'd been exposed to rust, and I'm grateful to Carl for hosting them. I only got to see them about 6 times all of last year, and so I've selected few.

On the other hand, some seedlings from previous years have gained new prominence in my breeding, and now it's time to give them their day in the sun. The order of presentation is (a) future introductions, (b) breeders for rebloom, and (c) species crosses for extra early.

Mike Huben (mhuben@world.std.com)

MH0010.4 EARLY AND OFTEN * ROSY RETURNS 18 E Re 3, Melon Polychrome, Dor Dip This future introduction has a strange color somewhere between a pale cream and apricot, with a small green throat. The blooms are sunfast, and bagel-formed even without broad petals. A tiny plant with only 6 buds, it is a very strong rebloomer (two sets of scapes per year for me). It has incredible vigor and increase, excellent foliage, and has never shown a sign of the spring sickness that is rampant in my garden. I'm using this one very heavily. The sibs in this cross were also very worthy, with a high proportion of rebloom and mostly in much better shades of pink than their parent ROSY RETURNS. Anybody breeding for rebloomers should try this cross: I'm going to remake it long. This one is being trialed with some other rebloomer and miniature breeders.

MH0103C APRICOT SPARKLES * EARLY AND OFTEN 26 E Re 4.25, Melon Self, Dor Dip This future introduction is a great improvement on both parents. I marked it as interesting long before first bloom for the excellence of the foliage and the outstanding increase. Imagine my delight when the first set of scapes showed more than 20 buds (rare for northern rebloomers, and twice either parent) and two other sets of scapes came as well! The flower is bigger than either parent's, the sepals are broader and slightly ruffled, and the color is more intense than EARLY AND OFTEN. No signs of spring sickness here either. I used pollen from this one fairly heavily in my breeding this year. Anybody breeding for rebloomers should try this cross also: I'm going to remake it long.

MH0103A APRICOT SPARKLES * EARLY AND OFTEN 26 E Re 3.75, Melon Self, Dor Dip This sib to MH0103C is a possible introduction. It had the palest coloration in the cross by far, and excellent increase. Strong rebloom, and good budcount. I need to observe it another year or two. Oh, and breed with it of course.

MH0146A EARLY AND OFTEN * LAVENDER PASSION ? E 4, Melon w'Pink Band, ? Dip Like many outcrosses from rebloom lines, this plant does not rebloom. Nor does it increase rapidly: most plants from most outcrosses are a single good fan the second year. Consequently, this is a bridge plant whose purpose is to bring excellent form, color clarity, ruffling, and bloom size into future crosses in rebloom lines. I suspect that the lavender of the parent could easily be recovered in the next generation, and rebloom and increase as well. With some luck, all together. This was the pick of the litter, with a gorgeous sunfast bloom and about 14 buds.

MH0127A FREQUENT FLIER * WINTER WONDERLAND ? E ?, Pink w'Red Eye, ? Dip Another outcross, with slow growth and no rebloom. FREQUENT FLIER is a strong rebloomer, and its kids outcrossed to near whites gave an amazing array of peculiar, pale, pastel pinks and lavenders. WINTER WONDERLAND contributed form, ruffling, size, and color clarity.

MH9913B EARLY AND OFTEN * sdlg 17 E Re 2, Cream Self, Dor Dip This little gem is from Bill Potter's PENNY'S WORTH breeding crossed into my own lines. It's a possible introduction because of the excellent increase and rebloom. It has some green in the throat, and carries melon from EARLY AND OFTEN. Two sets of scapes for me each year. This is really a rock garden scale miniature. I've bred with this one a lot this year. It's being trialed with other breeders.

MH9914O sdlg * EARLY AND OFTEN 23 E Re 2.2, Cream Self, Dor Dip Noc This sib to MH9913B (reciprocal cross) is another possible introduction. The different colorations are due to different lighting. It's slightly larger, ruffled instead of tailored, and increases even more quickly. The foliage is miniature here also, so the scapes reach high above like a cloud of dancing butterflies. Two sets of scapes for me each year, and I used those scapes heavily this year. It's being trialed with other breeders.

MH0001.8 DELICATE LACE * EARLY AND OFTEN 11 E Re 3.5, Melon Polychrome, Dor Dip My dwarfest scapes yet, yet still the blooms are above the foliage in this diminuitive gem. It's a pale melon with a lot of green in the throat, and the blooms open widely. The increase is excellent. A possible introduction that is being circulated among other breeders of miniatures and rebloomers. 6 buds. No spring sickness, and I've used this one heavily this year.

MH0001.9 DELICATE LACE * EARLY AND OFTEN 15 E Re 3.25, Melon Polychrome, Dor Dip This slightly taller sib to MH0001.8 has a brighter melon color, much wider flower segments, and somehow even faster increase; maybe even faster than parent EARLY AND OFTEN. The flower doesn't open widely enough to suit me, but I'm trialing it with other breeders. No spring sickness here either. The whole cross resulted in an incredible array of reblooming seedlings ranging up to 3 feet in height. Somebody should grow 500 seeds from this cross. I haven't the room. No spring sickness, and I've used this one heavily this year.

MH0013F FREQUENT FLIER * EARLY AND OFTEN 20 E Re 3.25, Pink w'Rose Halo, Dor Dip I'm unlikely to introduce this one: it doesn't increase fast enough or bloom an impressive amount (though it does rebloom well.) But what a gem of a flower! It has an impressively clear color with iris-like precision of form. The fans also really interest me: slender, erect, close-packed, much like STELLA DE ORO. If I can get kids that increase rapidly and make tight, reblooming clumps with scape counts like SDO, I'll have winners. So I will breed with this one quite a bit in the near future. This cross would also benefit from being remade long, as it produced many strong rebloomers.

MH9952B RUFFLED IVORY * lilioasphodelus 34 EE 5, Red Self, Dor Dip This species seedling is one of my earliest, blooming a full week before STELLA DE ORO. Where did the red come from? RUFFLED IVORY probably has a faint red overlay. This one is sunfast, diamond dusted, and has the greenest throat of any true northern EE daylily I've seen. A classic bridge plant that probably won't be introduced, but I'm breeding with it right and left.

MH0057F BOSTON SYMPHONY * yezoensis 20 EE 4, Yellow Self, Dor Dip Fra Ext This species seedling is another of my earliest, blooming a full week before STELLA DE ORO. It's a clear, pale yellow with some green in the throat, faintly spatulate, and has really rapid increase with a great scape count. This one wore me out: I set so much seed on it that I grew weary trying to think of productive crosses. I selected it from its sibs in March, because it was the one that had the most and largest fans. Carries melon and a green throat from parent BS.

MH9735A SNOWED IN * yezoensis 50 EE Re 4, Yellow Self, Evr Dip Fra Noc Ext Now where did THAT height come from? This species seedling has outstanding vigor: the third year from seed it had 9 scapes. It is a pale yellow with some green, much yellower than this picture shows. Its narrow petals have an open trumpet form. It is a multiflora that opens at 7pm, lasts 24 hours, very tall, has good branching (6) and budcount (24), carries melon, and blooms WEEKS before STELLA! The sole conspicuous fault is that the scapes lean a lot. It also can produce large numbers of seed per pod, up to 47. It's produced an excellent nearwhite kid that I described last year, MH0055D. Many more seedlings from it should bloom in 2004 and 2005.

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