Sun Dragon Daylilies Introductions
If you have been following my Daylily BReeder Blog for the last few years, then you have a some idea what my breeding program is all about. If not, please feel free to take a look around that blog, linked above.
More information on my introductions
can be found below, past the list of
introductions by year.
2019 Introductions
Contemplation Of Chaos | Elizabethan Fantasia | Korean Queen | Flamingos On Ice | Vorlon Oddity | Wabi Sabi | Eos At Dawn | Temple Of Bacchus | Wookie Goddess | The Spice Must Flow | Phoenician Royalty | Korean Mother Of Pink | Korean Mother Of Purple
2018 Introductions
Early Symphony | Substantial Glow | Substantial Heart | Substantial Substance | Ziggy Played Guitar
2016 Introductions/2017 release
I have grown daylilies since I was a child in the 1970’s. I have grown them throughout my life. Within that time, I have had a lot of time to observe and think about daylilies - what is good, what isn’t and the areas I would want to improve if I bred daylilies. In 2010 I decided to begin breeding daylilies.
Since 2010, I have been focused on field-testing and test-mating other hybridizer’s cultivars for a wide range of traits to find base-plants for making my own breeding program. In the process I have found a handful of extraordinary cultivars from other hybridizers’ programs. I have also produced a some extraordinary seedlings that have become central to my future breeding program and are worthy of introduction. In 2016 I made my first introductions, five extraordinary diploids, which I am making available to gardeners, hobbyists and other breeders in 2017. I made more introductions in 2018 and I am now releasing thirteen new introductions for 2019, including my first tetraploid introductions.
I am excited to get these out to other breeders and growers. I am excited to hear how they do in other gardens and other areas of the country and how they work out in other breeding programs. I hope to get feedback from all who grow them and I will pass that feedback along as I receive it.
My program doesn’t have a singular focus. I simply like too many traits in daylilies to tunnel-vision on one minute trait or the other. My goals are broader, and my test-matings and field-testing have reflected that. I detail this in many posts throughout my Daylily Breeder Blog.
Plant traits and flower traits are equally important to me. I believe a truly fine flower is found on a fine plant, but some flowers are important to collectors and breeders even if they don’t excel in every other trait. However, such plants may not be of much use to the average gardener. My central focus is plants that combine an extraordinary plant with a beautiful flower, though I don’t close the door to introducing the occasional plant strictly for breeders or collectors. I will say that I am working with both diploids and tetraploids, though I actually have been in the process of moving more toward tetraploids. However, I have some good lines of diploids and will continue on with those for a while.
In the list of my introductions below, you will find descriptions of each of my introductions. It is my goal to make those descriptions detailed, to offer as much information as I can, including anecdotal information regarding my field-testing and test-matings of each of my introductions. I have been screening for rust and insect resistance since 2012 and will offer my anecdotal observations on these issues, where applicable, in the descriptions, as well as the anecdotes I have received on these and other issues from those who have grown those plants. As of 2016, I have completed the rust resistance screening in my garden. All future screening will be done in gardens in the south where the select seedlings can be tested in the most extreme, endemic rust conditions, giving me the information to continue to make informed breeding selection and introduction selection.
I want to be clear that in screening for rust resistance, my goal has not been to create either 100% resistance (immunity) nor that 100% of my introductions should be 100% resistant. My goal has been to find individual plants and especially family lines that show consistent, increased resistance to use as base stock in order to develop my own lines from such stock. I will introduce plants I think worthy of introduction, whether they have shown exceptional rust resistance in my garden or not, but I will note what I have observed in my garden in the description of my introductions on this page. The same is true for insect resistance. I have focused in this area on a flower that holds up well against pests such as thrips, aphids and spider mites.
