Region 13 Meeting

Region 13 Meeting is done, Arkansas and Lousiana make up Region 13. It has been long overdue about us going to the Big Dance. Kathy and i used to go most of the meetings but with moving a garden and building a new house we had to let some things go. It was a great time for all who attended. The meeting was held in Hot Springs, Ark and i think it was the best ever. We really enjoyed it and we saw lots of beautiful gardens. There isnt enough room on our blog for even a small percentage of pictures we took. i will show a couple and prove Lee Pickles has been in Arkansas this weekend. Thanks to All who participated in this Regional. We had 130 people and had to shut off any more visitors. Next meeting will be in Baton Rouge for the National.

The garden picture is of Floyd Worleys garden in Benton, Ark.. Floyd has worked his tail off for 3 years to get to this point. The water fall in the picture wasnt complete but someday it will be beautiful. Thanks Floyd.

We had lunch saturday at a marina in Hot Springs Village, with Lee, Sheila and me just after lunch. What a beautiful place.

Heres a wacky combo of 3 Cajuns and a Razorback. Clarence Crochet, Muriel and Tom Walker and myself. My wife and i have been friends with these 3 Cajuns a long time. They welcomed us when we first met and believe it or not they still talk to me. Clarence thought we had died and were long gone from the daylilies. Nope, it just takes a long time to get organized again. Muriel did the Regional Newsletter for region 13 and won several nation awards but does other jobs now. I was telling a person on the bus going to the gardens that if Muriel still did the newsletter that she would put me on the front cover saying" Jims Back". Thank You All that came and enjoyed the 2 days of beautiful gardens, great food and great people in Region 13.

Seedling with Tooth

When i was in the garden the other day i noticed something strange with my favorite seedling. There is a tooth sticking up in the middle of the petal. I have never seen this before. I am not sure what to do or where i should go with this. This is a 6 inch dip seedling. I have never had a black eye on a burgandy seedling before but i love it. Thank you Lord.

Also i had to show a picture of my friend Randy Bechum. Randy is very interested in the lilies so i have been sharing my interest with him in hybridizing. Randy has a beautiful yard and garden of his on but he is fired up about the lilies. Thanks for looking. Jim Elliott

Culprits of Seed Set

You ask yourself why am i not getting seed set on some days and seed set on other days? There are several reasons why and some are the hybridizers fault and sometimes Mother Nature just has her way.

Here in Arkansas we have what i have called a pollen bee that steals the pollen from the blooms. When the lilies first start blooming there are no bugs but before long they are very numerous. Are they really a bee, I dont know, i just know they eat pollen. As the temperatures get into the 90s these little theives are hungry. I was watching them this morning and they really liked this red eyed flower as there was 4 on it at one time. Seems they start by landing near the throat of the flower eating the loose pollen and then move up to the anthers and start eating the pollen there. I did catch one that landed on the pistil and worked on that pollen i had just put there. So when you come in from work and go look at the flowers and collect the pollen and its gone here are the Culprits. So get you a piece of Alum foil laid flat and collect the anthers before they open. Put them in the house where its cool and they will open just fine. You can collect the pollen when you get in or at lunch but you will have it. I have an article on our website about saving pollen with pictures listed under forums. http://www.woostergarden.com/

Another common problem is pistil splitting. Maybe you havent noticed but there are several cultivars that do this on a regular basis. When that pistil is splitup you can save your pollen cause you aint gonna set a seed pod there. Another just as bad as splitting is when that pistil is closed off. When it is pointed and not flat, save your pollen. Think of a pistil like a handful of drinking straws in your hand. When the pistil is flat like those ends of straws the pistil can suck down the pollen to the overies and pollinate the seeds. Also when humidity is down the tip of the pistil may be dry. If you will watch your lilies when the anthers start opening and fluffing the pollen the tip of that pistil will have a tiny drop of lubricant to ease the pollen down the pistil. But when the pistil is dry you will not set seeds. If you have 3 blooms on a scape and only 2 have the lubricant on the pistil you will get 2 seed pods.

Also for those wanting to know why some pods have 4 chambers, those are from flowers that were polytepaled(4 petals) and they also had 8 anthers instead of 6. it doesnt mean you will have more seed per pod but you will have 4 chambers.

When i was hybridizing this morning and watching those bugs making a living i was thinking how great this world is that God has created, all things big and small. Jim Elliott

NE Arkansas Club Visit

Saturday morning the sun came up and what a beautiful day. As i tried to get things looking good for the club visit, get the smoker going and all the other things to do i felt i was forgetting something. I didnt forget, i just never had time to hybridize that morning. Two ladies came before the club made it here and it never fails to warm my heart hearing talk when they are in your garden, the oohs and ahhs really make all the sweat and work worth while. Sheila and her friend came about 30 minutes before the NE Ark. Daylily Club got here about 10am. They traveled 3 hours to look at our garden so i wanted them to feel welcome. I had my son Jeremy come and do the cooking for lunch while Kathy and i dug plants.

After a good lunch of hamburgers, hot dogs and cut fruit we had a nice visit and were able to cool down from the garden. They left about 115 pm. Kathy and i had gone to there club meeting last August and had arranged this visit then. Now tommorrow i can get back to spreading pollen again, then go to work.

The Region 13 meeting is this weekend and Lee Pickles is our guest speaker and i am really looking forward to our visit. The Arkansas State club had Lee for a speaker several years ago and he didnt dissapoint anyone. I do know he likes BBQ. Jim Elliott

Water Marks

These flowers are about 5 1/2 inch diploids yes diploids. So what are Watermarks? I really dont know how to get them but im glad i have some. They are like reverse eye patterns. Instead where the eye pattern is darker or a different color but still darker, Watermarks are always lighter. Chalky or a frosted eye pattern. The old Munson tets had the trademark of watermarks on their flowers. Any time you saw a chalky eye on a purple flower you could bet money it was Munson bred. Ever see a coffee table that had water rings on it where cups had sweated and the moisture got under the finish on the wood and it is light so they call it a watermark. So hopefully someone out there learned a little about daylilies tonight. For me as a hybridizer these watermark in my diploids are new and i am not sure where to go with it. But i sure do like that purple.

I am using more pollen each day and as different beauties open i have a new pollen to work with. But before i use that pollen i want it to go on a nice scape that has lots of bud count and tall. I have several plants with 32 to 36 inch scapes that are very thick at the base. We had another thunder storm thursday afternoon and we got 1 3/4 onches of rain in about 2 hours with high winds. The few paper tags i had on pods are gone nothing but a string hanging there. Thank goodness i started using colored wires this year from the start. Tommorrow is saturday and there is a club and several individuals comming to visit and buy seedlings. Jim Elliott

At The End Of The Day

My wife came in the house at 830pm this evening bringing in this bloom and had the gaul to tell me that this is what a daylily should look like at the end of the day. It was 95 here today and this bloom was in the field and no shade. I felt of it and it had lots of substance. I told her to put a ribbon on the scape and i would put some Man Scape pollen on it in the morning if it bloomed. I can take 40 blooms like this on one scape. Jim Elliott

Man Scapes

I hope All had a great time at the Nationals but someone had to stay home and take care of the farm. Todays Blog is about Man Scapes. There is nothing feminin about these boys. God has blessed me with 4 such plants that have these Huge scapes. Yes they are Dips. I have the Hulk (tet) and it has a big scape but these bad boys have the Hulk beat. They are all 30 plus inches tall and 4 and 5 way branches with terminal Y. One is a cream pink blend and one that bloomed todat is baby pink. Flowers are 7 inches and substance is very thick. I have been watching these scapes since they started out of the fan. My wife thinks i am nuts but she can appreciate that. If all the buds do bloom how many seed pods can a man get with using pollen from 150 flowers. I had 2 flowers open yestaerday and one flower today. I was very selective on what the pollen went on. I will show flowers maybe tommorrow. This is how dips used to look when i first started going to Jack Carpenters. I dont know if pictures show well or not but scapes are about 1 1/2 inch diameter. Thank You Lord. Jim Elliott