LIDS NEWSLETTER Spring 2011
John Stahl, Editor
Holy Moly! Has this global warming ever been a problem this winter!! Even the polar ice cap is
increasing, as well as the Himalayan glaciers. And shoveling all of the ‘climate change’ residue
certainly took up the time of a lot of people. What’s this world coming to? Spring-like weather !nally
arrived in early March, no thanks to a shift of 10 inches in the earth’s axis, caused by the Japanese
earthquake. .e earth’s rotation even speeded up about 1 millisecond. It didn’t even rustle the few
hairs left on my head! Let’s just wait with baited breath and see what summer has in store for us!.
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Confessions of a Neophyte Hybridizer
by John Price
In my last article (Fall 2009) I described planting 4000 seeds in a bed at my tennis club
in May 2009. About 70% germinated, and last summer about a third bloomed. I think the
unusually warm spring and the bed having 100% sunlight may have stimulated blooming.
Many bloomed in August, September and October. On November 1 I had seven flowers and
seven scapes with buds! Since I am hybridizing for lates I’d like to think that all the
late bloomers were truly lates; but perhaps first year blooms tend to be later than is
normal for those plants. Time will tell.
I had many 3 to 4-1/2 ft scapes and lots of ufs. Many of the tall ufs had flowers with
mixtures of yellow, white, orange and pink. I can’t wait for this summer when they all
will be blooming. I plan to dig up all the flowers I want to keep and move them to a
new bed at home for this purpose. Then I’ll give the rest away and use the bed for
planting seeds next year.
One interesting thing about this bed was that in September about half the scapes had
proliferations, some had three or four, and some prolifs had prolifs and flowers. It was a
striking sight; reminded me of a tropical garden.
The bed I planted with 2700 seeds in May 2008 all bloomed last summer. I had about
70% germination here too. There was nice variety of flowers, but none I wanted to keep.
So I gave the plants away and will use this bed this May for planting my current 1700
seeds,
I made crosses into October this fall but found that any crosses made after the middle of
September never produced a mature seed pod---too cold.
In the summer and fall of 2009 I collected about 1000 seeds which I planted last May in
a new bed in my friend’s back yard. I had about 80% germination. So I now have three
beds for growing seeds which I can rotate, giving me a fresh bed every May.
After five years of trying, at this point I have only one flower, a seedling from my first
year, which I am considering for registration. It’s a yellow, curly UF with a slight reddish
zone. I’m hoping to find a number of worthwhile flowers this summer to add to my
collection. I’m crossing my fingers. Will keep you posted.
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Daylily Memories~Part II
by Roswitha Waterman
I memorialized one trip I made with five LIDS members to Louisiana’s famous hybridizers in an article (Vol 38, No. 4) I wrote about a year after that trip at the request of the then editor of the Daylily Journal, John Algood. John had mentioned to me that he had such difficulty in finding somebody from that region to supply him with an article to print about their area’s hybridizers. I had responded that I could understand their reluctance to elaborate about local hybridizers and suggested he should look for an author from outside the region. My casual remark prompted him several weeks later to write me that he was
waiting for a description of our tour, as promised. He did not accept my protest, nor my pointing out that I had only ever had two short articles printed. Those were in a pamphlet (In English and Arabic) that was handed out to visitors of the first international flower show in Beirut, Lebanon in the early 1960’s. I felt I really lacked the writing skills needed for an indepth article. However, he insisted that I do it.
That trip to Louisiana had left all of us with indelible memories. After admiring Lee Gates’ extensive field of hems, we visted the more garden-like daylily beds surrounded by stately aged trees at the Crochets. Beth suggested we also visit Edith Sholar’s garden, which we did. Clarence and I found out that we both loved classical music and he was delighted when they were our house guests once that I had lots of his favorite pieces on records. We developed a genuine friendship over the years. When my European contacts asked for recommendations of daylily gardens in the southern U.S to visit, theirs was always one I mentioned. At the visit to Ken Durio, we were shepherded around the garden by Ken with explanations. When I tried to take photos of areas he did not take us to, he called me back explaining that he had a problem with nematodes in certain parts which he tried to keep under control by limiting walking there. Special boots were standing at the infected area into which he or anybody else changed before working there. When he noticed I took a close-up shot of one of his red seedlings, he inquired whether I liked it, which I confirmed. I noticed that he introduced it in his next year’s catalog and I eventually acquired it for
my husband who was particularly fond of red hems. Luckily, it survived the climate change from his property.
After a two-hour car ride we arrived at Lucille Guidry’s garden where we were allowed to roam around to our hearts’ content. Lucile told us that she had been the nurse for the famous hem hybridizer, W.B. MacMillan, who inspired her to start her own crossing with plants he gave her. She proudly mentioned that Macmillan had, at one point, congratulated her that she too had become an
independent creator of daylilies. Her very sizable garden was laid out with wide grass strips between each hem bed to facilitate visits by MacMillan who was confined to a wheelchair in his later years. I fell in love with one of her seedlings and asked her to sell me one from the large clump, but she turned me down. She explained that this was its first bloom year and it needed to be observed another season before she could be sure that the flowers would not change in appearance later on. This was
startling information to me. She phoned me much later on to let me know that the seedling had never bloomed again the way I had seen it and she did not ever introduce it. She urged us to visit Macmillan’s former gardener, Oliver Monette, who had started crossing hems of his own using his gift plants from MacMillan. She arranged our visit over the phone and I remember being taken to a hem garden most unusually located in a narrow incline between the back yards of two rows of houses on different streets. Our communication was extremely limited since he spoke in a very strong Creole dialect. It ended up that he would questioningly point at a flower, saying “pretty”? and I would respond nodding my head for a “yes” or using my hands to indicate “so-so”. His family was easy to understand and they helped us find a worthwhile restaurant for dinner serving quality Creole food.
The garden we all were especially looking forward to was Mrs. Elsie Spalding’s. It was smaller than I had expected and full of other visitors as well. She took us around, commenting on what she planned to introduce and what she felt was not worth keeping, constantly removing unsightly plant material. Eventually she sat down with us in some shade and showed us the two daylilies with which she had started all her hybridizing. She frequently referred to Edna Spalding who had decreed that Elsie
was to continue Edna’s work, a challenge she most impressively rose to. She appeared to have instinctive knowledge about which varieties to cross for successful results. I doubt that she had ever acquired much book knowledge, but she was an icon in what she was doing in the garden. She sent us to see her daughter’s hem plantings, which were mostly Elsie’s surplus, but much more spaciously arranged. Elsie’s daughter also tried her hand at crossing but with much less success than her mother.
Remarkable to me was the fact that most of Elsie Spalding’s introductions survived in our climate and also in Germany.
In 1988 John Algood asked Arthur and me to function as helpers in his garden which was selected as a stop for the bus tours during the AHS National in Savannah. We traveled south with two German guests from my Frankfurt lecture circle planning to visit other daylily gardens before that commitment. When we touched base with John to let him know that we were in his area, we learned that he urgently needed help to get his flower beds in shape for the expected visitors. We changed our plans and started working in his garden. The four of us were soon joined by other casual volunteers and when the first bus load
stopped to view the large grounds, they had been transformed into mint condition. The Algoods had assigned volunteers to different parts of the garden for information. I was the only roving person with the task of helping visitors find what they were looking for in different parts of the grounds or answer questions. Arthur was detailed to their house which was also open to visitors. I had never realized how much organizational thought had to go into the preparations for a national meeting and its
bus tours.
Fortunately, we had the chance to accompany the Algoods to a business meeting in Savannah in preparation for last minute arrangements and thus got to see the Joiner garden, which was also scheduled for bus tours, without a crowd of other visitors. In addition to Enman’s own varieties and a bed of guest plants, I noticed quite a large area of yellow hems. Enman explained to me that they were to be used for dinner table decoration. He had done research to find a daylily that would stay open during the entire evening festivities and this quite plain yellow one had lasted the longest into the late hours. From then on I paid more attention to which hems stayed fresh-looking longer at the end of the day.
After the last bus had left Algood’s garden we drove to Savannah to join our German friends for the last dinner and distribution of awards. Little did I suspect that I would be receiving one of them. AHS had established a new service award for international activities and I became the first recipient. I was overwhelmed and very happy that our two German guests were there to witness the event.
To be continued.......
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What Directions Do We Take?
by George Rasmussen
The January luncheon was a success. Members wanted a good speaker and we had a wonderful one in
Paul Owens. Buck Bucklin, the program chairman, did an excellent job. I’d like to thank Luanne
Madden and Pam Milliken for having Paul as an overnight guest at their home, Joan Rasmussen for
taking care of details with the hotel and Mare Miller for handling guest lists and keeping in contact
with the hotel. In addition, Luanne, Pam and Gene Moglia were helpful in the transportation of our
guest to and from the airport.
Forty people attended the luncheon, which is down from what used to be eighty to one hundred. My
question is whether we should continue this program when it appears difficult to get forty people to
attend. Let’s talk about it.
Question number two regards our private auction. Should we spend one thousand dollars for plants
and then hope enough people will attend the meeting so it will operate at a profit? Attendance at
this meeting has declined considerably.
David Kirchhoff and Mort Morss will be guest speakers at our April meeting. Let’s hope we have a
great turnout.
Restaurant Review ~ Cooperage Inn By the Gastritic Gourmet
If you ever find yourself out on the North Fork, looking for good vittles at reasonable prices, look no further than the Cooperage Inn on Sound Avenue in Baiting Hollow. It’s casual country dining in a cozy relaxed atmosphere. They serve the freshest fish, meats and local produce in a variety of ways. Most dishes can be prepared with low fat and low salt. Their Prix-fixe dinner at $24.95 offers soup or salad, entree, dessert and coffee. You’ll find everything from meatloaf and chicken pot pie to grilled pork chops and rack of lamb.The seafood brousse is an enormous concoction of shrimps, scallops, mussels and
clams in a red wine tomato sauce on spaghetti. You’ll definitely need a doggie bag! All desserts are homemade. The coconut cream pie and key lime pie are to die for! Open seven days, lunch is from 11.30 to 3:30, dinner from 3:30 to 9:30. Marvelous Brunch on Sundays. My choice wold be lunch during the week.
At 2218 Sound avenue (north side of the road) in Baiting Hollow, Cooperage Inn is near
Tanger Mall in Riverhead, Briermere farms and many of the North Fork wineries.
Phone: 631-727-8994
www.cooperageinn.com
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THAT’S IT FOR NOW, GANG
Your Editor