Early Symphony
(Sdlg#MHPNKRE17)
{My Complimentary x {(Boston Symphony x Early and Often) x (Millie Schlumpf x Early and Often)} X (Pastel Classic x Early and Often) x Vanilla Stella}
30" scapes - 4" flower - Diploid - Early - Extended - 3 branches - 15 buds - Semievergreen - Rebloom
Bright medium pink petals with lavender shading and slightly darker petal edges. Very pale pink midrib. Lighter pink sepals with medium pink-lavender edges making the flower a bitone. Darker pink eye with bright green throat shading into chartreuse that blends into the eye as a pink-peach band between the dark pink eye and the upper chartreuse section of the throat. Strong rebloom.
For a complete list of available daylilies and pricing, click here.
For a complete list of available daylilies and pricing, click here.
Early Symphony in the late evening
Early Symphony is a product of Mike Huben's fine breeding program. Look at that pedigree... That is breeding!
Mike sent me seeds of this cross in spring of 2011 from his 2010 breeding season. The seedlings that became Early Symphony was a standout from the get-go because it had the prettiest foliage of the entire group of seedlings. Once it bloomed, I was even more excited. The entire cross showed exceptional rust resistance, and Early Symphony showed that same excellent rust resistance through all five years of my screening program. What finally, and fully, set it apart from its siblings though was the high thrip resistance it showed. It is also a reliable rebloomer in my garden, with both instant rebloom and late season rebloom and has been very reliable for me in this regard.
Early Symphony - Mid-morning
Early Symphony turned out to be the select from the group of seedlings, showing the nicest foliage of the group, excellent rust and thrip resistance, reliable rebloom and this amazing flower. In every way, it was the superior seedling, and it is an exceptional flower on a plant showing many exceptional traits. It is fertile both ways. I have many seedlings from it and I can tell you, it is an amazing breeder.
The shot above shows Early Symphony in the line-out bed. You can see the scapes here well, both the mature scapes starting to flower and the instant rebloom scapes emerging below the mature scapes. The flowers in the back of the picture are covered over by the tall foliage of Ziggy Played Guitar. Early Symphony never blooms under the foliage! The scapes always show these partial leaflets at the junctions of the branches, though they tend to fall off as the scape matures and starts to flower. The foliage is a nice medium-dark green, but it is not stunning and can get a touch ragged, especially in seasons with very late, hard freezes. It throws better foliage in seedlings, the best I have produced from it coming from crosses with the Substantial family introductions I have made. The plant shows fast increase and is a very hardy semi-evergreen in my garden, never having shown serious damage or loss of fans from severe winters here, and it tolerates late freezes well with little to no impact on the first set of scapes, though it can make the foliage a bit less attractive. All-in-all, an excellent plant and amazing flower that moves the small reblooming diploids ahead.
The flowers of Early Symphony are stunning! There are so many good traits here. The first thing that grabs my eye is the green throat, and it is very, very green. In the morning it is just solid, deep green with an edge of chartreuse, as you see in the picture above. By the end of the day, the flower still looking great in sun or rain. The throat still shows deep green, though more of the throat have faded down to chartreuse while the centers have remained bright green making for an interesting effect (picture below). The flower starts the day as medium pink with a lavender overlay and a darker pink eye with slightly darker sepal and petal edges. As the day progresses, the color fades slightly to a softer baby pink and the edge becomes more prominent on the petals, while the throat shows a striking chartreuse with green stripes effect beneath the eye that is now the color the petals were in the morning. The flower is just stunning!
I can't tell you how pleased I am to have this plant and to be able to offer it to the daylily community. It is a special addition to the small reblooming diploid types, but it will have applications well beyond that one group. In my own breeding it is producing a wide range of interesting seedlings, from fully round and ruffled to unusual forms and near-spiders. It can be taken in a number of directions, and many of its seedlings also show its rebloom, rust and thrip resistance. What may be even more exciting to many of you though is that it is also throwing that stunning green throat and clear, clean coloring into its seedlings. I have seen some really amazing lavender, purple and pinks, as well as some near white and even a few bright rose reds. I have also seen a couple of stippled seedlings and a couple with pattern in the eye. Take Early Symphony into all the new directions!
