(8-97), Westover Blue (8-60), and 8-80

Hello Daylily Friends,

Today is December 31, 2008. The last day of the year. So, what would I do with my day? There is only one answer: work with my daylilies. So, here is what I did today.

My good friends Larry and Cindy Grace came to visit with us just before Christmas. Larry looked at some of my seedling pictures on my computer, and he was particularly interested in three purple seedlings. He asked where these were and I told him they were growing outside. Larry instructed that leaving these seedlings outside would cause me to lose a year of work with the flowers. He suggested that I dig up the seedlings, split them, and bring them inside the greenhouse. I gave Larry's suggestion considerable thought because I had wanted to measure the plants outside after they had gone through a winter chill. Then I thought, well, they have indeed been through a winter chill. It has frozen many nights here in North Georgia since I planted these purple seedlings outside. So, I decided to move these seedlings.

I dug up all three seedlings. The first seedling is numbered 8-97. I had three nice sized plants and as of yet I have no name for this seeddling. The second seedling I dug up and split is seedling number 8-60. I have tentatively decided to name this flower WESTOVER BLUE. The name is one suggested by my daughter Kelley Rae. I like the name and this will probably be the name of the seedling. The third seedling is numbered 8-80. Just a beautiful daylily but as of yet I do not have a name.

Well, after I split all of these plants, I put them in PRO-TECH which is an algicide and disinfectant. I did this to kill any potential for anything that might cause harm in the greenhouse. PRO-TECH is easy to use. I simply mix one ounce to a gallon of water. It mixes readily with water and does not separate from the water once the mixture is made. It does not harm the plants.

I then took the daylilies to my old greenhouse where I have a large fan. I put the split plants in front of the fan to dry them. Incidentally, I put the fan on high speed. I have found that drying plants is the key to good success in successful transplantation. I do not use any chemicals on the plants to keep them from reversing and dying. Once the parts of the plants that had to be split are "healed" with a scar, the plants then recover very nicely once they begin growing again in their new pots.

I went ahead and made name tags for the new plants while they were drying in front of the fan.

I then went and planted the seedlings in 2-gallon containers. They are now growing nicely in the greenhouse. Oh, I treated the plants with MARATHON which is a granular substance for systemic insect control in the greenhouse. I specifically use MARATHON to keep "gnats" under control. I then watered and everything looks very good.

I have included several pictures. One picture shows the seedlings drying in the old greenhouse, three pictures show the daylilies themselves, and the last picture shows the daylilies growing in their new pots.

I'm glad I went ahead and planted these seedlings.

Bill