maturing

i try to take pictures of selected seedlings through the growing season. so i took this first picture this summer. then i checked the image folders to make sure i had not posted this flower too recently. i try to avoid repeats too close together. i found the second image from last summer. should the title be ‘fading violet’ ? daylilies can take several years to mature. this can include established plants that are transplanted to one’s garden. and that maturity can include the flower colors. flowers that were originally all orange after several years turned to orange and golden yellow. and this one which may or may not be done maturing has faded at the ripe old age of three years of blooming history. it is also displaying white pollen. which usually means it is pollen sterile. so if i want to use this plant for more crosses it would have to be used as as the seed pod parent. not as the pollen parent. at this point the expectation would be that the colors would remain faded. or perhaps fade more. and now the rest of the story… while the above can possibly occur my notes are largely photographic. slightly scattered pictures over years of photo folders. that final search turned up three images. two from july 30 of 2020 being very similar to the first and very last image below. and one from august 7 of 2020 – the middle image below. so there were at least three seedlings blooming from that cross. and the process is thinly monitored chaos. because i would not really want to look too deep into my notes if there was more data and in the form of written notes scattered over entire summers. there would be notebooks or note files everywhere and i would be in desperate need of a secratary. and that as they say ain’t gonna happen…

this year – of first sibling

last year – or second sibling

third sibling

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