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Daylily sex in suburbia—a sight I never thought I’d see
Posted Apr 23, 2009 by Loren Omoto
Updated Apr 23, 2009 at 08:50 PM
Earlier this week I met Carol Robinson. She’s friendly, funny and a total daylily freak.
She lives in a nice Brandon subdivision, where her front, side and back yards are full of blooming daylilies. She was going to tell me all about them for a story for Sunday’s Tribune, but I got her off track when I asked about the white tags hanging on so many of those sturdy little scapes. Each tag bears a cryptic notation in black marker.
“That’s the pollen I put on it,” she said.
Were they smeared with pollen? I thought it better not to tell her I’d already put my hands all over a few of them. Curiousity begs touch.
But no, that’s not where the pollen goes. Carol is hybridizing daylilies, cross-pollinating them to see if she can come up with a fantastuc new cultivar. And it all starts with a little sex. Preferably in the morning.
It was still morning, and I had to see that! So I asked.
She looked over her blooms till she spotted one with a loaded anther. Its name? Mister Lucky. Seriously.
She plucked the anther and took it over to Flaming Tongues (brazenly flaunting her her bloom right there on Estatewood Drive). Flaming’s pistil was standing right up, primed to receive. Carol gently tapped the pollen onto the pistil, and there it was. The dirty deed done dirt cheap. And, yes, on the street.
“The liquid rises in the pistil and when it gets up to the top, hopefully it picks up some of the pollen and brings it down to the ovaries,” Carol explained.
Like procreation for any species, that’s just the beginning of the work. Carol tags the pollen recipient with shorthand identifying the pollen parent. (Hence the little white tags.) She’ll watch for Flaming Tongues to develop a seed pod and when she collects the seeds, she’ll label them and stick them in the ‘fridge till she’s ready to get ‘em growing.
It takes three or four years of working a hybrid before you know you’ve got a good one, she says.
“You want a lot of buds and beautiful flowers, but you’ve gotta look at the whole plant. You don’t want a wimpy-skimpy plant.”
It sounds like WAY too much work. Until you see the result.
This is one of Carol’s crosses, and seeing it bloom, she says, is the joy of daylily sex in suburbia.
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Reader Comments
Posted by (Janna Begole) on April 24, 2009
Very interesting! Carol, your daylilies are beautiful. Please give my best to Mr. Lucky and Flamingo Tongues - may they eventually become the proud parents of yet another gorgeous hybrid. I LOVE the color of the flower in the last photo. Thank you for sharing, Carol and Penny.
Posted by (Penny Carnathan) on April 24, 2009
I was amazed to see her gorgeous flower! I know how I feel about the plants I’ve started from seed—just a little more maternal and doting. Imagine having masterminded the seed!
Posted by (Janice Vogt) on April 24, 2009
Carol, Keep up the good work. I just love the daylilies with ruffles petals. Maybe someday we can find these in a local store. Janice Vogt
Posted by (Penny Carnathan) on April 25, 2009
This just in:
Carol reports Flaming Tongues and Mister Lucky have a seed pod! I feel like an aunt!
Posted by (Susan Connelly) on April 25, 2009
Penny, thanks for a very interesting article. And Carol, I appreciate your sharing your expertise. I really learned a lot, and your flowers are absolutely beautiful!
Posted by (Susan) on April 25, 2009
Mister Lucky and Flaming Tongues? God how I love gardening when it is this entertaining. And then Carol gets to come up with a new name for baby Tongues? I love it.
But I also love daylilies. I wish I knew more about them because they are so easy to grow here. At least the evergreen kind do well here. I wish Carol the best of luck in her daylily midwifery. If the beautiful specimen you shared is any indication you will be a full fledged auntie soon.
Posted by (Penny Carnathan) on April 25, 2009
Well, geez, there’s ANOTHER good reason to buy the Tampa Tribune on Sunday, Susan G.! Dig This (often confused with The Dirt) is all about growing daylilies. Carol was so darned informative, and entertaining, I had more information than space in the paper, so you guys got the preview and juicy extras. And you’re right, the names are fantastic: Altered States, Spindazzle, Across the Universe. I can’t wait for Carol to “introduce” one just to see what she names it.
Susan C., I’ll bet daylilies do great in Texas, since we share so many plants. I don’t know if you’re already a daylily freak, but if not, and if you’d like a copy of the Dig This story, which includes Carol’s basics for growing them, email me at pcarnathan@tampatrib.com.
Posted by (Carol Robinson) on April 27, 2009
Thanks Penny, for the great article, & for the encouragement from the other folks in my hybridizing
. It really is a great hobby & there are many inexpensive daylilies to play with, something for everyone. Carol