one of the goals of many hybridizers is putting bubbly edges and teeth on daylilies. bubbly edges have been around for a bit longer. the quest for teeth goes on. and the teeth are there now on daylilies like Forest Lake Ragamuffin. and the quest has moved to things like the sharkiest teeth. this daylily, Raspberry Sickle only has some of those toothy appendages. it also has cream colored petals with a dramatic raspberry colored eye and edge. three images…
Rather than flat cardboard puzzles, or online brain teasers I frequently find myself playing this game. A seedling where some of the information is hidden and some is revealed. These are the parts of this puzzle. And it is one where pounding the piece into place seldom works. The players are Old King Cole, and anonymous seedling shortly since lost to mystery and antiquity, Raspberry Sickle and a decision on the next player in this game.
Old King Cole (left) was crosses with what is now an anonymous seedling (middle). The seedling from that cross ( also anonymous ) was crossed with Raspberry Sickle ( right).
This last cross produced these two seedlings. They both have a bit of a toothy edge and both have what I choose to call muted colors.
Close inspection of the flower on the right will show the bits of color are little individual dots of color. Georges Seurat might even have been amused at nature imitating art. Or was it always the other way around ? So here I sit thinking about the coming summer and who might be the next candidates to bring together. Should these two siblings be introduced to one another ? Or perhaps a cross out to something like Thais ? Just another piece of the ever changing puzzle.
This is the sibling to yesterday’s post in Raspberries and rhymes. Some characteristics resemble and others do not. It has more of the fringed edge than its sib. It does not have an eye zone at all. The petals are, aside from the edge, all the same pale base color. And this one is a bit smaller in petal length producing a slightly smaller bloom. And for all that it is quietly very interesting. And very much balances its sibling.
Seedlings are surprises waiting to be discovered and enjoyed. Make it 34 more blooms until spring.
In the last couple of days Old King Cole and Raspberry Sickle were both posted here. So what sort of things come when these two plants are crossed ? It is always hard to predict. Daylilies have enough genetic combinations that there are always a few surprises. This particular cross does not have full saturation of the colors. You can actually see the points of color in the petals. Little dots of color sprinkled across the petals. A very different and unexpected look.
Now the whole flower…
Exploring the unknown is just as far away as your garden. What surprises are waiting ? Make it 35 days until Spring.
Since it is winter the answer is simple. The ones up here are watching the hellebore bloom and the rest are in the Southern hemisphere. And right here we are trying to post one a day. Simply counting the days to spring in a floral numeric way. Today’s flower is Raspberry Sickle, a flower with an interesting name. Perhaps it is a reference to the color on the edge of the blossom.
39 more flowers until Spring.
a north east ohio garden 