Hill Gardens of Maine -- A VERY special daylily!

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They can be controlled...but not the way you think.

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Something Special
We've Been Working On
by Fred Davis, Hill Gardens of Maine (To view gardening articles, click Archives)

Back in the early-'90s, as I was looking for a white—and I mean really white—daylily (hemerocallis), about the only thing I could find were actually little better than pale yellows. Some couldn't even be called that! Not what I had in mind. 'H. Gentle Shepherd' came close...and, frankly, I liked the flower structure and ruffles, I didn't care for the large, greenish-yellow throat. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for. Rather than the prevailing yellow cast, while that's very pretty, my goal was a blistering white with the faintest hint of pink and a very small golden throat.

So.... I went to work with a little imagination and research...and began the process of moving pollen around our 350-variety collection, starting with 'Ice Carnival' and 'Jenny Sue'. Later in the process, 'Gentle Shepherd' took a part, as did 'Lady Elizabeth and a couple of others who'll forever remain my little secrets.

It's taken a while. If you've ever hybridized daylilies, you know what I mean. Back and forth, tweaking and correcting, winnowing them down, culling the yellows and favoring the pinks...until (as of 2008) we arrived at the beauty pictured below. I'm still working on the ruffles (and, in case you're a daylily hybridizing pro and wondering, we'll change the name if it ever comes to registering).

It's temporary name is derived from the original, now 8th-generation-distant, parentage: 'Hill's Icy Sue'. Late Midseason, 32" tall, 5.5" recurved and fragrant, lightly ruffled near white with that original goal of the faintest hint of pink and the small golden throat.

Hem.'Hill's Icy Sue'. Click on the photo to view the larger format version.

No...it's not available yet, although a few with the number "20" as part of the name were offered to some special customers during Hill Gardens of Maine's final close-out sale of 2007.

If you'd like to try your hand at daylily hybridizing, details to get you started are part of the article, All you need to know about Daylilies.

Got a question about hybridizing daylilies...or wish to offer a suggestion or comment? Drop us a line

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