New Daylilies from Local Hybridizers

By Russ Allen

You would probably never have guessed that some of the most beautiful new daylilies were created by gardeners located in our very own Southern New England area! To illustrate this, the author went on the following quest to highlight some of them for you.

Background
Daylilies (also referred to as the “perfect perennial”) are quite amenable to hybridizing by local gardeners to create gorgeous new varieties. The performance of daylilies (such as bloom quantity and quality, multiplication rate, weather tolerance, etc.) can vary widely depending on the climate zone, so selecting daylilies that are outstanding performers in one’s geographic area is important.

The Quest
Since the author lives in Connecticut (climate zone 6), the American Daylily Society website (www.daylilies.org) was used to identify leading hybridizers in Southern New England. The goal was to learn about the favorite new daylily registered to-date by each of these leading local hybridizers. The approach taken was to identify gardeners living in Southern New England (CT/MA/RI) who are members of the American Daylily Society and have registered 10 or more new daylilies including some within the past two decades.

The author then contacted the 15 hybridizers identified to obtain details about their favorite daylily cultivar registered to-date – along with a photo. This listing includes the name of the daylily, the hybridizer, the year of registration, and other interesting details.

Favorite Daylily Introductions by Leading Local Hybridizers
The favorite new daylilies created by these leading Southern New England hybridizers are:

1. Rose F. Kennedy – George Doorakian 2007: This cultivar was named after a well-known Massachusetts resident and has received the highest award from the American Daylily Society – the Stout Silver Medal. This cultivar is a mid-season bloomer, with a flower that is green with a wide purple red picotee edge above a green throat. It is 29″ tall with a bloom measuring 7.5.” This outstanding cultivar has been the genetic source for a large number of new daylily introductions and is widely available from commercial daylily gardens.

2. Knoll Cottage Quintessence – Lori-Ann Jones 2021: This daylily has a medium rose-red flower and is an early-midseason bloomer which is 30″ tall with 5-inch flowers. What makes it so special is that it “blooms and reblooms” which is a spectacular advance for northern grown daylilies. Lori-Ann says “What excites me the most is seeing a daylily bloom, more than once in a single season, in our northern climate.” Knoll Cottage Quintessence is available on the web at knollcottagedaylilies.weebly.com

3. Isabelle Rose – Ellen Laprise 2009: This cultivar from a Massachusetts hybridizer recently won the Stout Silver Medal – the highest award for a daylily awarded by the American Daylily Society. Ellen notes that Isabelle Rose “never has a ‘bad hair day’ All blooms are beautiful! It’s long blooming because it is a bud-builder, also constantly putting out new scapes, so it increases nicely!”

This cultivar is fairly tall at 59″ with 7″ flowers. It starts blooming early season, has an unusually high bud count per scape, and is classified as an unusual form daylily due to the shape of its petals. Its color is pale yellow diamond dusted with some ruffling above an extended green throat. It is available at various daylily commercial gardens as well as at Ellen’s Partridge Hill Gardens in Dudley, Mass. which is open by appointment.

4. Explosion in the Paint Factory – Rich Howard 2013: This cultivar has garnered five national awards from the American Daylily Society to date, and represents one of the first “broken-color” daylilies. Each flower can vary in appearance, with a yellow color with variable red, broken, overlay. It is in the class of Unusual Form day- lilies and is a late season cultivar which stands 38″ tall with a 7″ flower. The nice branching, high bud count, and late peak bloom make it a “wonderful addition to the late season garden. It is available locally via the website ctdaylily.com Rich is a former Connecticut Daylily Society president with his commercial daylily garden located in Wallingford, CT.

5. Cape Cod Diamonds Are Forever – Mary Howe 2020: This cultivar is white with yellow petal sides and wide yellow ruffles. A fabulous feature is that it is heavily “diamond dusted” which means that its petals can reflect sunlight which makes it sparkle in the sun. The plant is 28″ tall with a 4.5″ fragrant flower and blooms midseason. It can be seen at the Howes’ Gardens on Old Stage Road in Centerville, MA.

6. Toy Trumpets – Bob Sobek 1984: This cultivar is medium yellow in color and makes a great impact as a clump. It’s a midseason cultivar, with fairly small (2.6″) flowers and a height of 33.” “It is best appreciated as a mature clump, showing a grace that makes it a great addition to a mixed perennial planting.”

The cultivar is available at Harmon Hill Farm in Hudson, NH. (harmonhillfarm.com)

7. Sprinkles – Curt Turner 2021: Sprinkles is an early-midseason blooming daylily whose flowers have a quite unique coloring. The plant is 39″ tall with 4.5″ blooms. The hybridizer believes that “its clear, clean blend of light-mauve and pink stippling, dotting and streaking represents a cutting-edge, best-of-breed presentation of stippling in daylilies which is passed along to its progeny.” It has limited availability at greywoodfarm.squarespace.com or adadfarm@aol.com

8. Connecticut Candy – Gary Jones 2015: Connecticut Candy got its name in part from being well suited to Gary’s northeastern CT location. “Hybridizing daylilies that perform well throughout the country is a goal of many, but a goal that is rarely achieved.” This early midseason blooming cultivar has flowers that are red with a darker red eye and a yellow to green throat. It stands at 30″ with a flower 4.75″ across. It makes a very eye-catching display at clump strength. Gary is a former Connecticut Daylily Society president whose garden is located in Woodstock, CT. Connecticut Candy is available at harmonhillfarm.com or O’Brien Nursery located in Granby, CT (obrienhosta.com)

9. Greywoods Rainbow Equus – Darlyn Wilkinson 2016: This eye-catching patterned daylily is a midseason bloomer with a color scheme including lavender with a complex broken violet pattern around violet cream stacked rings, with ruffles and a large yellow green center. It’s 34″ tall with a 6.5″ flower. Darlyn indicates that “its complex eye pattern of stacked violet, mauve and cream rings, show many faces on cold mornings vs. warm afternoons. Besides being a carefree, long blooming garden plant, it is also very fertile.” Limited availability at greywoodfarm.squarespace.com

10. Alina – Mike Huben 2021: Alina is a near white early cultivar, with 3.25″ flowers that are self-grooming. Mike indicates that Alina “has by far the most distinctive face I have yet bred. It is a very white, green-throated, small spatulate unusual form daylily … but its most distinctive feature is that it also reblooms very well – up to five sets of scapes.” While Mike was a long time Massachusetts based hybridizer, he currently lives in Ecuador. Alina is available at harmonhillfarm.com

11. Hill Hollow Glorious Moment – Susan Stowe 2014: This midseason stunner is pink cream in color with a yellow band blending to a green throat with large pleated and floppy ruffles with a gold edge. Susan indicates that this cultivar “is the highlight of my program by completing my goal to produce a round pink tetraploid daylily with heavy texture … and garden presence.” The cultivar is 26″ tall with 6.5″ flowers. It is not currently commercially available.

12. Cherry Tart – Mary Holt-Wilson 2022: This recent introduction is named for its bright cherry red color. Mary indicates that “I love Cherry Tart because it’s elegant, but humble, it doesn’t sport lavish ruffles or multicolored edging but is a hard-working diploid that blooms for weeks on end each summer, putting forth bloom after bloom of a clear, vibrant, cherry red.” The cultivar is 28″ high with a 5.5″ flower which holds its color well in the sun. It is available at fourdogfarm.net

13. Grandma Jean – James Brennan 1991: This cultivar, like many hybridizers’ favorite creations, was named in honor of a family member. Its bright tangerine with an orange throat brightens up any garden. Grandma Jean is 36″ tall with a 5″ flower, and is a midseason bloomer. It is available at harmonhillfarm.com

14. Be Bop a Lula – Bobbie Brooks 2013: A great name for a daylily from a former piano teacher! The color for Be Bop a Lula (she’s my baby) is a very light lavender white with a huge extended green throat. Bobbie notes that “on cooler days it shows some lavender; hot summer, it is very white.” This mid-late season cultivar has 7.5″ flowers and stands 33″ tall. It’s classified as an unusual form daylily due to the shape of its petals. It is available at Bobbie’s garden called Distinctive Garden Designs which is located in Gloucester, Mass. on Route 127 out on Cape Ann.

15. Implausibility – Nick Chase 1997: This cultivar was named essentially due to its genetics “because its origination was not impossible, but it was implausible that this particular cross would yield viable seed and a vigorous plant.” Implausibility is registered as a tetraploid with a fire engine red color with a darker red halo and gold to green throat. It has in its parentage Hemerocallis fulva ‘Europa’ which is genetically a triploid daylily with a reputation for robustness and vigor. Implausibility is a midseason bloomer with a 5″ flower and 38″ in height. Nick notes that “I was advised that you can’t cross diploids with tetraploids in hybridizing … I have had fun demonstrating that’s usually but not always true.” This cultivar is available at harmonhillfarm.com

Conclusion
It is most impressive and heartwarming to see so many outstanding new daylily cultivars coming from Southern New England hybridizers, and let’s hope in the future to see many more!

Russ Allen a director of the American Daylily Society and a former president of the CT Daylily Society. He has a Daylily Display Garden in Guilford, CT.