ODS Hybridizers

The Ontario Daylily Society is pleased to introduce you to members that are hybridized and have registered their own daylilies as well as up and coming hybridizers.

These members  are serious hybridizers with goals of developing vigorous, hardy daylilies that perform exceptionally well in northern climate.

If you are a Canadian member of the Ontario Daylily Society and are active Daylily Hybridizer please email us picture of yourself, with a short Bio, including your hybridizing goals, whether you have registered or plan to. Email ODS Webmaster

Bryan Culver

Some of the goals we have at Culver Farm Daylilies are hybridizing daylilies that are hardy, vigorous and healthy plants for our northern climate. We try to pick out of our hybridizing program daylily flowers that have good clear colours. All the daylilies are grown in field conditions without the aid of any artificial benefits to enhance daylily growth. The freeze thaw cycles we received during most of our winters weed out the weak and unsuitable daylilies for our climate. Daylilies that will flourish under ordinary garden conditions are a major goal for me - Bryan Culver

Bryan lives in Oakville, Ontario and grows his daylilies at the Culver Farm outside of Waterford.

Gary Carlson

I began the hobby of Daylilies in 1997 after seeing Tom & Kathy Rood's Grace Gardens. I knew instantly, that I wanted to Grow Daylilies, create a Display Garden, and eventually Hybridize.

Daylilies in the Field became an Official AHS Display Garden in 1999. Today we have over 1100 cultivars. Their garden is open without appointment July & August. He registered his first cultivar "Sexy Thing". In 2004 saw Soldier's Memorial, all of the proceeds goes to "Soldier's Memorial Hospital" here in Orillia.

Hybridising goals? Good garden plants. with lots of bloom, hardy in Canadian winters, fast clumping. Create reasonably priced Daylilies to encourage more people to grow Daylilies. Have Fun!!!

The   CANADIAN DAYLILY AVAILABILITY GUIDE   is compiled by Gary Carlson RR#1, 31 Maplewood Parkway, Orillia , Ontario, Canada  L3V 6H1  Phone/Fax (705) 326-4044 . Info from 29 growers and 10 additional sources. The price is $10.00 or one Daylily.   E-Mail  Gary at  gcarlson@interhop.net

Family Jewels	MARIPOSA FESTIVAL	ORILLIA	SEXY THING	SOLDIERS MEMORIAL	SUNSHINE CITY

Betty Fretz

Paul Judge

I have been growing and hybridizing daylilies since about 1997 at my parents’ farm near Clifford, Ontario. Garden space is not a limitation here, only time is! That keeps my program to a manageable size of approximately 1,000 seedlings per year. These are primarily tetraploids.

My initial breeding goals focused on hot colours, flowers with eyes and matching wide edges, and bitones or bicolours. With the great variety of daylilies available I found I was breeding all of the above in addition to stippled flowers, complex eye patterns, and wide light edges. Yikes!

Recently I’ve pulled in the reigns and decided to direct my efforts in fewer directions with the largest emphasis on the appliqué throat patterns. Some of these types arose in my very first crop of seedlings and they’ve intrigued me ever since. I am currently in the process of registering my first two daylilies which both fall into this category

HAPPENSTANCE

 

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Douglas Lycett

1937 - 1998

James Douglas Lycett  died of heart failure on Sept. 15, 1998, aged 60.

When Doug and Henry Lorrain moved to the farm near Orono in 1984, he made his first attempts to hybridize new daylilies.  It was after his mother died and he was at a low spot that he phoned Bill Munson, a renowned lily hybridizer in Gainesville, FL, asking if he could come and see his garden.  For 13 years Doug, and later Henry, made regular visits to Florida, learning all Mr. Munson could teach them. Doug Lycett and Henry Lorrain were partners and owned We're in the Hayfield Now

The Ontario Daylily Society created the Doug Lycett Award for Achievement in Canadian Hybridizing in the memory of Douglas Lycett

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Henry Lorrain

Orono, ON

"I am pleased to present our hardy new Canadian bred daylilies.I am very proud to present this year's introductions of lavenders and purples with heavy gold edges, great branching and bud counts, near whites in a variety of shapes, a tomato soup red, and a stunning yellow with terrific growing habits."

Henry continues to introduce daylilies under Lorrain-Lycett. Continuing the spirit of  Doug Lycett, his friend, partner and cofounder of We are in the Hayfield.

Henry runs We are in the Hayfield Now in Orono, Ontario east of Toronto.

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Larry Longson

Windsor, ON

Daylily Dreamin

 punchy1943@gmail.com

I caught the Daylily fever after reading a story on Lycett & Lorrain’s “We’re In the Hayfield Now" garden and Daylilies. I jumped in with both feet and have gradually eliminated most of the other plants.

I hybridize from 4-5 hours a day during peak bloom season and have gradually started to use “bagels” and Tet Spiders almost exclusively. I feel a bit sad for people who don’t hybridize as there is nothing like seeing the first bloom on a plant that you created.

I’ve registered four plants so far, naming them for family members. The biggest thrill I’ve had growing Daylilies is not the registrations I’ve had, nor all the beautiful blooms, but the fact that a fire truck pulled up in front of the house one morning and the firemen did a short tour of the Daylilies in bloom.

 

Larry's Spider and Double Daylilies

Daylily Dreaming

 

Dianne Lee Longson	Hazel Francis Walker	Mary Josepine Longson

 

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Jack Kent

Cayuga, ON

 

Jack maintained a commercial dairy goat operation for nearly 20 years. Sale of the herd allowed time to start gardening for a hobby. Daylilies quickly became the plant of choice and the old "breeding instincts" kicked in again.

The Potting Shed is a hobby out of control. Jack's goal is to produce "southern looking plants" that in a northern climate actually look like the pictures and perform well. Specifically I am giving the colour ORANGE a lot of attention.

"I have registered just under 20 intro's to date.  "In Cold Blood", "Tantrums & Tiaras" and "Global Warming Trend" were previous intro's. Of the nine spring intro's  this year my pick is "Organized Confusion" (pending)."

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Liz MacDonald

Barrie, ON

 

Liz MacDonald is an avid gardener with over 800 varieties of perennials, vines, shrubs and trees in her modest AHS display gardens in Barrie, Ontario. Her collection of registered daylilies includes species from the 1700's through to modern day 2005 cultivars which she uses in her breeding programs.

 

Liz has been hybridizing for hardiness and uniqueness in her daylilies for about 5 years and has several registered through the American Hemerocallis Society. While she does sell some of her other garden inventory, her first daylily intros will be forthcoming by spring 2007. Liz's second passion in the garden is Hostas and her hobbies include birding as well as digital photography. Liz has created her own website at Gardeness Gardens and may be contacted via email at: gardeness1@yahoo.com.
 

Here are Liz introductions

Heart of the Ocean	James Edward Wells Memorial	Ocean Breeze	Shipwreck

 

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Anne Martin

Shelburne, Nova Scotia

My main desire or goal is to produce vigorous daylilies with a high bud count and good branching that will thrive in our northern gardens. I want good foliage, strong clear colours, and colour fastness in my dark daylilies. I have had too many deep reds and purples in our garden which sun spot or fade by mid day. Of course I want a beautiful flower with great substance, and if possible fragrance too!

 

The hybridizer who influenced me the most was Steve Moldovan.  He was very concerned with the direction that daylily hybridizing was taking at that time, with the emphasis on "pretty faces". He was deeply concerned that some of the qualities --hardiness, disease resistance, and fragrance to name a few, were being bred out of the modern daylily.

 It is time for a new adventure, and to move on to our new home on Jordan Bay, Nova Scotia. There we will hopefully create a whole new palette . However, we ARE taking many of our favorite plants with us, so a piece of Cedar Ridge Gardens will continue to live on in our new garden in Nova Scotia. Anne will continue to hybridize, and she will continue to introduce her new daylilies .

Alberta Frasers	Aleta Barbara	I m So Pretty	Kawartha Sunrise	Light at the End	Ross Memorial
Theresa Kelly	Twelve Mile Memories	Zachary Smith

 

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David Retallick

Sunderland, Ontario
www.perfectpruning.com

We have over 200 varieties now and have been selecting our own crosses for 5 years now. I have a full time garden maintenance company. Finding time is very hard to make all the crosses I would like to do.

My goals are very simple grow hardy unique daylilies that will please the eye and pocket book. If I had my way it would be DOUBLES but the wife says otherwise.  I enjoy working with both diploids and tets. Eyed and edges really do get my attention and re-blooming is a must as one wants a daylily to bloom for only two weeks.

Dave's landscaping business is Perfect Pruning Gardens in Sunderland. His garden is always open to visitors and he just loves to show them off. In 2005 he registered his first daylilies GAINERS TO HEAVEN & GEORGETTE'S EDGE.

 

Canadian Wind Braid 06	Canadian Candy Braid 06	Gainer's to Heaven 05	Georgette's Edge 05

 

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Gil Stelter
Guelph, ON
Visit the Stelters' new website: Gryphon Gardens

 

Hybridizing Goals Began with dip spiders and UFs, with some use of H. citrina. Tempted by the alluring but oh so tender exotics from Florida. Adapting tetraploid spiders and UFs to the North. Experiments with H. fulva to try to make tet spiders and UFs

Gil Stelter's garden in Guelph is on a huge 3/4-acre city lot. Picture a century stone house, white picket fence with a "species walk" starting with historic daylilies and meandering through different time frames of cultivars. The walk concludes with new intros plus seedlings and other perennials and shrubs. Then add a pretty pond, "map" garden and a huge patio.

2009 Introduction Gryphon Chinese Fire
Previous Introductions Click on thumbnail for larger view
Potala Tapestry (2005)	Rashomon Gate (2005)	Istanbul Magic (2007)

 

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Dawn Tack

Peterborough (Donwood), ON

 

I have lived outside the city of Peterborough  in Donwood across from the Donwood Fire Hall..

 

I became serious about of daylilies while visiting the late Douglas Lycett. His passion was transferred.   My collection grew from 10 to 500+ in 8 years.  Garden Plus is now an AHS approved display garden

 

My goals are simple - loads of buds and pretty faces'.  To date have registered 3 all with 25+ buds and named after the area I live in. Ones never knows what could happen look at the awesome 'faces' out there now! 

 

I do workshops to encourage gardeners to try to hybridize and grow more daylilies.  All proceeds donated to Breast Cancer annually.

 

Donwood	Peterborugh Sunset

 

 

Up and Coming Hybridizers

The Ontario Daylily Society has many members who are backyard hybridizers. We like to list a few members who have become serious about hybridizing and are considering registering in the future or just enjoy the hobby.

John Clarke

Barrie, Ontario

 

Clarke Farms is what I blissfully call my small backyard daylily hobby garden. Because of space restrictions, each year as more and more seedlings need to be kept for evaluation, it seems to leave less room for registered daylilies.

Over the past two summers my hybridizing program has evolved into attempting to break up the eyed zones of some of my favourite daylilies into erratic avante garde patterns with a variety of colours that splash the sepals and the petals with complex designs. Unfortunately, the pollen parents that seem to break pattern the best, H. His Highness, H. Egyptian Queen and H. Heavenly Flight do not set pod well and so far have carried this nasty trait over to most of my more interesting seedlings. It seems that the next stage to further the excitement is to cross pattern with pattern with my seedlings and hope for new unique changes in display and colour.

 

 

Mike Georges

Guelph, Ontario

 

I have been hybridizing for about 6 years.  My goal is to produce pretty flowers with exceptional plant habits.  I have not registered any daylilies and it will be a while before I do primarily because this is a hobby and I do not want to get involved with packaging and shipping.  I am a confirmed lazy guy and I strive to keep work to a minimum.

 

 

 

Mike Georges with Bryan Culver    

 

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Don Longton

Petite Riviere, Nova Scotia

Hi! My name is Don Longton and I am past VP and co-founder of the Nova Scotia Daylily Society.

 I have been hybridizing since 1999, I plant about 1200 seeds a year attempting to achieve large ruffled  edges on vigorous, cold hardy dormant to hardy semi - evergreen plants for our northern climates.

In 2003, I was fortunate to win the "Douglas Lycett Award" for my seedling BEKIWS02. This was across between 'Bold Encounter X Knights in White Satin'. This seedling is proving to be a pretty good parent but my main focus is on big edges with eyes and good branching. In 2005, I was thrilled to discover the seedling MBDA 02 ‘ Mandalay Bay X Darla Anita’ in my garden! It was consistent all Summer long with 32” scapes and 27 buds. One of its siblings has green edges!

I am taking it slowly, learning as much as I can from others and applying the new ideas to grow the best plants first, then focus on faces. I learned a lot from the Mecca 2005 Tour. It was phenomenal!

It takes time, slowly narrowing my choices down until I cross only my best plants with the best from other hybridizers. I am getting some surprising results, each year becoming more exciting than the last. What fun this is!

 

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Barry Matthie

Bloomfield, ON

 

Barry is making significant in roads in breeding formal, ruffled, gold-edged, double-edged and rounded red ruffled flowers that perform reliably in northern areas.

 

With tetraploid breeding he is introducing new colors and patterns, and his mini-spiders are hardly recognizable as daylilies, and a really original addition to the garden.

Barry runs Bonibrae Daylily Gardens in Bloomfield Ontario. A recommended stop during Peak Bloom.Over 100,000 beautiful daylilies.300 hosta varieties, potted oriental lilies.
 

Bonibrae Daylilies

497 Matthie Road, Bloomfield ON, K0K 1G0
http://www.fairyscapedaylilies.com/Bonibrae.htm
bonibrae@kos.net     613-393-2864
 

 

 

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Dave Mussar

Guelph, ON

In August 2000, a friend and former neighbor from Guelph visited our garden. It was then I learned that he had been seriously hybridizing daylilies for a couple of years. He gave me some pollen to play with and a few fans of some of his newer cultivars and an addiction was borne. I set my first few pods that summer and the following spring joined the Ontario Daylily Society and the American Hemerocallis Society. I am now a certified AHS garden judge and my personal collection is up to about 350 - 400 named cultivars. I plant about 450 - 500 seedlings annually and bloomed my first large crop of seedlings in 2003.

One of my hybridizing goals is to develop a "spotted" daylily with large distinct spots spread evenly over the petals like you can now find on a phalenopsis (moth) orchid. Currently there are a number of speckled or stippled (very finely speckled) cultivars that I have collected and am using as breeding stock. My first speckled seedlings bloomed in the summer of 2004.

Dave's website can be found at Hillside Daylilies

 

 

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Nancy Oakes

Belfast, P.E.I.

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Red Lane Gardens started life as Flowering Perennials, as a way to introduce more unusual plants to the gardeners' palette, it evolved into a Daylily nursery once garden centres finally figured out that gardeners wanted something besides Yarrow and Phlox.

I try my best to garden as organically as I can. It was very easy when the Daylily list numbered 70, but now with over 900 cultivars, I have been known to use Round-up and in 1999 when the garden was overrun with Tarnished Plant Bug, I resorted to Cygon on the cultivars that seemed to be the most attractive to them, as well as their favorite food plant, Lamb's Quarters. But for the most part, it's just a lot of manure and stoop labour.

2009 Introductions Click on thumbnail for larger view
Free Burma	Quiet Truths	Hidden Strength

 

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John Burgener I am an avid daylily hybridizer and run a daylily business in Lowbanks, Ontario, called 'John and Paula's Daylilies', found at http://jpdaylilies.ca/. I have hybridized nine registered daylily varieties, with over 5,000 seedlings.

 

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