The Ontario Daylily Society is pleased to introduce you to members who have hybridized and registered their own daylilies as well as to members who are up and coming hybridizers. These members  are serious hybridizers with goals of developing vigorous, hardy daylilies that perform exceptionally well in northern climates.

If you are a Canadian member of the Ontario Daylily Society and are an active daylily hybridizer, please email us a picture of yourself, with a short bio, including your hybridizing goals, and whether you have registered any cultivars, or plan to.

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John Burgener, Lowbanks, Ontario

John says: I am an avid daylily hybridizer and run a daylily business in Lowbanks, Ontario, John and Paula's Daylilies. I have hybridized eleven registered daylily varieties.

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Gary Carlson, Orillia, ON

Gary registered his first cultivar 'Sexy Thing' in 2003. In 2004, he registered 'Soldier's Memorial' - all proceeds from that daylily go to Soldier's Memorial Hospital in Orillia. He has 11 registered cultivars.

Gary says: 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. The garden is open without appointment July & August.
My hybridizing goals?
   - To create good garden plants, with lots of bloom, hardy in Canadian winters and fast clumping. 
    - To create reasonably priced daylilies to encourage more people to grow them.
   - To have fun!!!

Sexy Thing	Soldier's Memorial	Family Jewels	Orillia	Sunshine City	Mariposa Festival

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John Clarke, Barrie, ON

John's Clarke Farms is located in Barrie, Ontario, 90 km north of Toronto.

John says: 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.
Recently 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.

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Bryan Culver, Oakville, ON

Bryan lives in Oakville, Ontario and grows his daylilies at Culver Farm outside of Waterford. He registered his first cultivars in 1999 and now (2009) has 69 registrations.
His 'Jade Princess' (pictured here) won an Honorable Mention in 2008.

Bryan says: 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.

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Betty Fretz, Moorefield, ON

Betty and Marv, her husband of 35 years lives on Conestoga Lake north of Elmira. Together they operate Floral and Hardy Gardens with over 1500 registered Daylilies, plus about 10,000 of thier own seedlings, 350 types of hosta, and 30 heuchera and assorted other plants? Her garden is an AHS Display Garden. She has an active life and keeps her own Blog.
Betty has 35 registered cultivars.

Betty says: My hybridizing goals are VERY hardy plants with good bud counts and a pretty bloom. Especially concentrating on early and late; love the glowing throats, warm colours, pinks. Biggest goal is very very hardy. I plant my seeds outside, and the plants are never babied or coddled. No mulch. We have very heavy clay soil.

updated February, 2013

Claude Gauthier, Montfort, QC

Claude Gauthier was born in Montreal in 1949 and passed away in November 2012

Claude's spouse Linda Lagroix says: Claude's passion for daylilies began in 1993 when he bought the daylily stock of another Quebec grower. In 1996, he decided to start selling daylilies through mail order (Hemerocallis Montfort).
Claude began hybridizing around 1997 and registered his first cultivars in 2006. At first, his main goal was to create northern hardy daylilies that perform well. He was selective about the parents he chose and selected only the most promising seedlings. He started with pink tones which produced Hemerocallis 'Rose Des Sables', and over the following years, concentrated on crossing orange cultivars. In his opinion, he had created what he was aiming for with H. 'Paradîle'. He was more recently focussing on edges with teeth and has registered H. 'Barbarella', while others are still under observation. More registrations might come from his latest crosses still under evaluation over the next couple of years.
So far 33 cultivars are registered under his name."

Rose des Sables, 2006	Paradîle, 2013	Barbarella, 2012	Fruit defendu, 2012	L'Orangerie de Montfort, 2006	Clin d'oeil à Nicole, 2013

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Mike Georges, Guelph, ON

Mike's 10 acre property, Georges Daylilies, is located just outside Guelph, On.

Mike says: I have been hybridizing for several 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!!

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Paul Judge, Clinton, ON

Paul's Field of Dreams Daylily Garden is located in Clifford, Ontario. He has registered two cultivars: 'Happenstance' (pictured here) and 'Internal Combustion'.

Paul says: 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 reins 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. My first two registrations both fall into this category

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Jack Kent, Dunnville, 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. Jack now has 54 registered cultivars.

Jack says: The Potting Shed is a hobby out of control. My 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.

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Henry Lorrain, Orono, ON

Henry runs We're in the Hayfield Now in Orono, Ontario, east of Toronto. Henry continues to introduce daylilies under Lorrain and Lorrain/Lycett names, continuing the spirit of  Doug Lycett, his friend, partner and cofounder of We are in the Hayfield Now. There are 339 cultivars registered to Lycett, Lorrain/Lycett and Lorrain.

Henry says: We have been breeding daylilies for over 25 years, with vigour, hardiness, bud count and, of course, beauty, for the Canadian climate. We guarantee all our hybrids.

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, Doug 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 daylily 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 Douglas Lycett Award for Achievement in Canadian Hybridizing in the memory of Douglas Lycett.

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Anne Martin, Shelburne, NS

Anne moved from Ontario to Nova Scotia and has continued her hybridizing efforts there. She has 17 registered cultivars.

Anne says: 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.
Rural Roots Gardens

Alberta Fraser	Aleta Barbara	I am so Pretty	Kawartha Sunrise	Light at the End	Ross Memorial	Theresa Kelly	Twelve Mile Memories	Zachary Smith

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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. He has registered 32 cultivars.
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

Bonibrae Crooked Logic	Bonibrae Royal Lineage	Bonibrae Sharky	Bonibrae Mostly Ghostly

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Dave Mussar, Guelph, ON

Dave's garden, Hillside Daylilies is located in Guelph. He registered his first daylily in 2010. He moved and relocated his garden in 2009.

Dave says: 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.

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Nancy Oakes, Belfast, P.E.I.

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.
Nancy has registered 4 daylilies.

Nancy says: 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

Redlane Gardens

Free Burma	Hidden Strength	Quiet Truths

updated February, 2012

David Retallick, Millbrook, ON

Dave moved his entire garden, now called Dave's Daylily Farm, from Sunderland to Millbrook in October, 2011. In 2005 he registered his first daylilies GAINERS TO HEAVEN & GEORGETTE'S EDGE. He now has has 13 registered cultivars, including 4 registered in 2011.

Dave says: We have over 200 varieties now and have been selecting our own crosses for several years now. I have a full time garden maintenance company.
My goals are very simple - grow hardy unique daylilies that will please the eye and pocket book. I enjoy working with both diploids and tets. Eyed and edges really do get my attention and re-blooming is a must as no-one wants a daylily to bloom for only two weeks.

Big Ham 2011	Canadian Red Wine 2011	Donny Virgin 2011	Fire Meets Ice 2011

updated February, 2011

The space on Brian's one acre property is shared between a garden with a large collection of hostas, heucheras, primulas, and Japanese Maples (and daylilies!) and his English setters which he breeds and shows under the Kennel name "Briary" which is also the name of the garden.

Brian says: I started hybridizing daylilies in 2006. My goals have been round formed, fancy flowers in hot colours and eyes and edges. I grow an average of about 1000 seedlings each year.

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Gil Stelter, Guelph, ON

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. Gil has registered 5 daylilies.

Gil's hybridizing goals:

• Began with dip spiders and UFs, with some use of H. citrina.
• Then I was 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

Gryphon Gardens

Istanbul Magic	Potala Tapestry	Rashomon Gate	Gryphon Chinese Fire

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Dawn Tack, Donwood, ON

Dawn lives outside the City of Peterboroough in Donwood, right across from the Donwood Fire Hall.

Dawn says: 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.

Gardens Plus

Donwood Fire Hall	Donwood	Peterborough Sunset