AR10AR.62

17, Mid, 6, Pink-Peach mix w/ orange throat, Dormant, Diploid, Fragrant, 2-way branching
(Sugar Candy * Sundays with Vernon)
When I made this cross, I aimed for a large flower with short scapes and good increase. I had no idea what an amazing color I would get. I can not even describe it. It appears to be glowing. It's amazing! Unfortunately, my attitude is not as enthusiastic towards the plant habit. A mere six buds is not that impressive, and I've seen faster increase. However, the short scapes and few buds make me feel optimistic that it will look wonderful in a clump. I'll have to see. A bridge plant. Maybe I'll cross it with AR09MH.25 to get some rebloom genes in it.
In 2014, the performance was terrible. The plant habit was just as weak as in 2013, but the blooms were terrible as well. Most were deformed in some sort of way and if not, the color was faded upon opening. I hope it does better next year.

Getting ready for blooms...

Well first off, scapes are coming out everywhere! I've counted about 17 scapes on plants I have never seen bloom before! This is the time of year where I update all of my seedling bed charts, and unfortunately I suffered some fatalities. It's okay though because I didn't think They were going to make it anyway. I felt insane standing out in the garden with my red raincoat on and a sopping wet piece of paper in my hands:

Also, I missed the first bloom of the season (Saturday the 8th) which belonged to AR09MH.13. I'll always have this stunning photo to remember it by:

I felt so amateur the other day when I thought that one of my late-blooming seedlings suddenly had thrown up scapes a moth and a half earlier. Turns out it was fulva, which still hasn't bloomed in the garden. I should be seeing more blooms later this week.

AR09MH.33

34, Early, 4, Peach polychrome, Dormant, Diploid. 3 way branching, 34 buds, VFrag
(Ace Up My Sleeve * Army of Darkness)

This just shows the variation in color one cross can have. Half of the six seedlings were yellow, one white, one green, and one peach. However, I stray off topic. This has 16 buds and 4 way branching. Also, the scapes have brackets when growing which are distinctly light purple and match the flowers color perfectly. This one is a definite future. It has good bud count, it is fairly tall, very good increaser and doesn't melt on hot days. However it does fade on extremely hot days. I would also like to point out the nice white midribs in the flower. They aren't too prominent, but I enjoy the little highlight that it gives. Quite stunning. *UPDATE 7/3/14* Here's the giant clump of it, not moved since planting, in my seedling bed:

And here is a seedling from it, AR09MH.16 x AR09MH.33

AR11AR.86

Not as melon-yellow as shown in this photo, and the white midribs are more prominent. Very prim and proper, and the bagel form is attractive. It fades throughout the day like AR09MH.33 does but not in a bad way either. I'm not going to pay attention to the bud count and such because this is the first year that it bloomed.

AR09MH.43

37, Early, 4, Golden-Yellow Self, Dormant, Diploid
(Ace Up My Sleeve * MH0735X)

This was the second seedling of mine to ever to bloom. I like this one as it has a very wide flower and it has a consistent bloom, unlike its sibling, AR09MH.13. I'm not sure if you can tell in the photo (you can click to enlarge) but it melts slightly in the heat of the summer sun. It is not noticeable, but it is definitely worth pointing out as a flaw. It has 17 buds and 4 way branching. It has some really thick scapes! My daylily bed is planted near some h. fulva which is a tetraploid, and the scapes are nearly the same size. It doesn't look that big in the photo, but compared to the others, it really stood out here's the photo (that's my dad's hand by the way, holding the ruler up for me):

Overall, a very rigorous plant. It has increased rapidly, along with its sibling AR09MH.53 and it will likely be a future. Time will tell. I haven't used it too much in my program, but there are plenty of slow-increasers in the garden that need to speed it up so I might use it a lot this year.

AR09MH.13

34.25, Early, 5, White Green polychrome, Dormant, Diploid, Reblooms
(Ace Up My Sleeve * Army of Darkness)

This cross was obviously made by Mike for dark scapes. I ended up seeing six seedlings from this one, and I have decided that I am keeping at least 5 of them for futures or bridge plants. This one might be a future. Don't let this photo deceive you. It isn't generally this green. It's more of a morning thing, as it fades out to a white-peach(?) during the day. However, I have observed rebloom in it (one of two seedling I've seen so far to do so) and was thrilled when I saw it. AR09MH.13 has 18 buds on 4 branches, This cross is all in one row, and it seems to tower over the short seedlings in front of it such as AR09MH.25 and AR09MH.16. I have noticed this particular seedling to have bendy scapes, but this is a rare occurrence. This plant also has dark scapes. It has developed a nice clump, much like its siblings, but not as much as AR09MH.53. This could be a future, but I am unimpressed by the flower, though I like the green in it ALOT. I have a clump down in Cape Cod as well and it seems to be doing fine in the sandy soil. However, it is shorter down there, as one would expect. Gave a piece of it to Mike Huben in 2011 and he says (its in a comment on AR09MH.25) that he is using it in his dark scape breeding. AR09MH.13 has good plant qualities and will definitely be crossed with daylilies of a lesser status in that respect.

This year (2015), Mike Huben registered the pollen parent as 'Army of Darkness.' Although I have never seen it in person, it has proven to be an exceptional parent! In 2014 the clump down the Cape has increased even more. Very fast vigor. I like the quality of the foliage and how it seems to bloom for most of the summer.

Seed Planting

The next two days I'll be planting seeds! Takes a long time but it is totally worth it.

AR09MH.52

30, Mid, 7, Green Polychrome, Dormant, Diploid, Nocturnal?
(Vanilla Gorilla * Isabelle Rose)

"Woah!" That's what I said when I saw this thing at 7 AM in the morning. I was kinda groggy, and seeing this thing made me think I was still dreaming. I knew that it was going to be big, as the opening bud was very long, but I had no idea it would be this big. I definitely see more of its grandparents showing up in the actual flower. It's almost the spitting image of 'Magic of Oz' but with a lot more green and far less white and pink. However I can also see a lot of 'Jerry's Whirligig' in it as well. Not sure which one gave it its form as they are both UFOs but its big all the same. Only about 7 buds per scape, but it has formed a nice clump and shoots up about 4(?) scapes per year. The petals dance in the wind, which I can imagine would look quite nice if it was in a garden that doesn't have about 10 other daylilies with just as large blooms surrounding it. A probable future, but i will need to make further observations this year. This year I am planning to make some hard decisions about my 2009 seedling bed. I hope to compost around half of them: which will have me torn between flowers. While nearly all of them are beautiful and have good qualities, I need to choose which ones stand out enough in the garden before registration. Overall, this particular cross has been very successful. I would have someone make it again (Mike Huben made this seed, as with all my '09 seedlings) as I got some real color variations from near white to pink. Posting more siblings soon...

Also brought a fan down the cape. It is now a small clump which, in 2014, was unfortunately ridden with a bout of Spring Sickness.

AR09MH.25

19.5, Early, 3.25, Off-White self, Dormant, Diploid, Rebloom
(Kanai Sensei * Snowy Stella)

This was the first seedling of mine to bloom two years running and the first seedling of mine to ever bloom. It started blooming June 18th and ended September 18th in 20ll and was around the same amount of time in 2012. I shouldn't be shocked that it reblooms, as it is from seed by Mike Huben, but I was nevertheless impressed. It only has an average of 5 buds per scape, but in a small clump (which it formed impressively in one year) it plays out rather nice. Faint white midribs look nice in the dewy summer mornings. This one had two siblings which were the first of my seedlings to be discarded to the compost bin. Both did not withstand the summer heat (melting), and while they looked marvelous in the morning (one with a stunning green throat) they looked AWFUL at night, some blooms practically fell off of the scape. This one is a gem. I wish AR09MH.25 was taller and maybe had a bit bigger of a flower, but it is graceful, and it reblooms. I've used in heavily in my breeding (mostly trying to get it in a different color) and should be seeing some nice seedlings of it in 2014, as my 2011 crop of seeds won't be planted outside until this year, and I am very excited to see the results. This one is definitely a future. I am planning to give a piece to Mike Huben later this year. A seedling of AR09MH.25 and AR09MH.57:

AR11AR.45

Welcome

Hi, I'm Andrew Reilly a student currently attending one of Boston's most prestigious schools: Boston Latin School (BLS). I am a daylily breeder who was introduced to daylilies by an article published by The Boston Globe in 2008 (?). This article was about a man named Mike Huben who has since become my daylily mentor and coincidentally teaches at BLS in the upper grades.

I quickly became hooked on daylilies and was very intrigued about all of the shapes, colors, height variations, and traits that one daylily can have, while another has a whole different set. This led me to start to breed myself, using seed from Mike as the starting blocks of my program, as well as trying to use his advice and guidance when making my own crosses in the coming years.

I am still trying to come up with the basic goals of my program, but so far I know that I want: clear color, height (which so far is an undeveloped goal, though I am trying), UFO (Unusual Forms), sun fastness, and uniqueness (more of a quality I like to look for).

If you are in the New England area and interested in daylilies, I strongly suggest becoming a member of the New England Daylily Society (NEDS), as well as joining the American Hemerocallis Society (AHS) as well. The AHS send out seasonal 'journals' and NEDS has meetings nearly every month of the year.

I hope you enjoy my blog, and if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments of the post in question or shoot me an email: deepsea@me.com. Thanks!