My name is Virginia Harmon. I am a career Horticulturist and Natural Resource Manager. I live and work in Woodside, California on the San Francisco Bay Peninsula.
My home is Houston, Texas though I was reared in North Harris County and Nacogdoches County.
I have always possessed an affinity for the earth and growing things. My family were farmers and ranchers. My great grandmother, Rebecca Dorman Phillips, operated her Nacogdoches County farm until her eighth decade. She managed crops, livestock and flower gardens. There were meadows of flowers and orchards as well. Her front door was graced by a wisteria arbor and tiger lilies bloomed in the corner of the yard beside her 'Parson's' Rose. The lane between the house and the carriage house was lined with Dr. A. B. Stout's hemerocallis, 'Linda.' Out back where the jelly house squatted low into the earth hemerocallis flora plena blazed orange and red in the summer sun. Another daylily commonly called "Tawny Lily" was likely the species, Hemerocallis fulva. Aunt Becky, as she was called, had been a member of the gardener's round robin (a pen pal group started by the Henry Field Seed Company) that included Dr. Stout. He included seeds from time to time and encouraged his gardening friends to write back about the flowers that they produced and details about their climatic Region. He compiled the information with his research data at the New York Botanic Garden.
Years latter as a young adult I decided to get more serious about my inherited gardening bug. I volunteered at Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Garden. There I met Anna Rosa Glidden. Anna Rosa was involved with the collection of 1200 daylily varieties planted for the American Hemerocallis Society Annual Convention in 1988. The following year I served as the summer intern caring for that daylily collection and joined the garden staff the year after. Through my relationship with Anna Rosa I came to appreciate modern daylilies (of that time at least) in a much more personal way. I joined the Houston Area Daylily Society, The American Hemerocallis Society and attended every meeting, convention and garden tour that I could. My garden became one focused on the diversity of daylilies. I collected diploid, tetraploid, singles, doubles, spiders and any and every color.
Today, as I return to a daylily experience it is with a sense of purpose. I am most decidedly interested in exploring the potential of two lines of tetraploid daylilies. I have acquired foundation stock for an intense breeding program. I intend to explore 3 developments in daylilies, extra large tets, patterns, and blue tones.
Without doubt, I am not alone in these pursuits. Patterns in daylily flower colors has been, perhaps, the most enthusiastically explored aspect. Yet, the field is wide open as it is not near to being exhausted. Size of blossoms in tets has been a constant pursuit for decades. We have not found the limits. The color blue is so near but elusive. We find it difficult to accept as impossible. It is, after all, the mutant genes we seek. That sudden appearance of something new and exciting that hooks us into hybridizing daylilies. The hope that "I will be the lucky one." To introduce that monster flower...the most intriguing color arrangement.. or a color that appears to truly be blue.
Other factors must also figure importantly in my evaluations. Disease resistance and vigor are very important to me. I'm concerned with attractive foliage and pleasing proportions of flower, scape, plant and balance. Flowers must open easily without encumbering one another. Scapes should branch radially and bear high bud counts. Fertility as both pollen parent and pod parent is essential.
To this end I have selected my foundation stock from lines originating with Bill and Ida Munson. 'Ida's Magic' figured prominently in early tetraploid breeding programs. From Patrick Stamiles hybridizing genius 'Ida's Magic' produced first 'Wedding Band' and later, 'Admiral's Braid.' Both of these cultivars are predecessors of the two lines that I intend to merge. Ted Petit blended the best qualities of early tets from the Munson/Stamile work with remarkable introductions from Peat, Kinnebrew and Morse. He and Patrick also converted selected diploid cultivars that contributed greatly to their work. For twenty years these two dedicated hybridizes developed distinct lines that set benchmarks and raised the standards. Patrick Stamile sold his breeding program to Guy Pierce. From Floyd Cove Nursery I have acquired two studs for my foundation stock. 'Master and Bold Ruler' (Pierce 2017) is a massive 9.5" to 11.5" violet purple with a rose eye Zone and a bubbly gold edge that often produces "angel wings." 'Edge of Adventure' (Pierce 2015) is a colorful zoned daylily with a banded eye and bolder. From Le Petit Jardin I have acquired three sows for my program. For breeding massive tets I will put seed on 'Verge of Glory' (Petit-Goff 2016) from 'MaBR.' 'Cabo San Lucas' (Petit 2013) has much in common with 'Edge of Adventure' but with a more diverse genetic background. This cross should produce some intriguing patterned daylilies.
For the past decade I have followed Ted Petit's blue daylily introductions. His 'Blue Eden' comprises my ideal of form, color and beauty in a singe daylily. I still think that it is the perfect flower. For my foundation stock I selected a hybrid with 'Blue Eden' heavy in its background, 'Eighth Wonder' (Petit-Goff 2016). I plan to put 'MaBR' and 'Edge of Adventure' pollen on 'Eighth Wonder'. I am still considering a blue stud for this one. Even so, some of the seedlings from the previous crosses are likely to contribute to my three breeding goals. Greg Goff now owns and operates Le Petit Jardin and continues the remarkable work of Ted Petit.
My home is Houston, Texas though I was reared in North Harris County and Nacogdoches County.
I have always possessed an affinity for the earth and growing things. My family were farmers and ranchers. My great grandmother, Rebecca Dorman Phillips, operated her Nacogdoches County farm until her eighth decade. She managed crops, livestock and flower gardens. There were meadows of flowers and orchards as well. Her front door was graced by a wisteria arbor and tiger lilies bloomed in the corner of the yard beside her 'Parson's' Rose. The lane between the house and the carriage house was lined with Dr. A. B. Stout's hemerocallis, 'Linda.' Out back where the jelly house squatted low into the earth hemerocallis flora plena blazed orange and red in the summer sun. Another daylily commonly called "Tawny Lily" was likely the species, Hemerocallis fulva. Aunt Becky, as she was called, had been a member of the gardener's round robin (a pen pal group started by the Henry Field Seed Company) that included Dr. Stout. He included seeds from time to time and encouraged his gardening friends to write back about the flowers that they produced and details about their climatic Region. He compiled the information with his research data at the New York Botanic Garden.
Years latter as a young adult I decided to get more serious about my inherited gardening bug. I volunteered at Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Garden. There I met Anna Rosa Glidden. Anna Rosa was involved with the collection of 1200 daylily varieties planted for the American Hemerocallis Society Annual Convention in 1988. The following year I served as the summer intern caring for that daylily collection and joined the garden staff the year after. Through my relationship with Anna Rosa I came to appreciate modern daylilies (of that time at least) in a much more personal way. I joined the Houston Area Daylily Society, The American Hemerocallis Society and attended every meeting, convention and garden tour that I could. My garden became one focused on the diversity of daylilies. I collected diploid, tetraploid, singles, doubles, spiders and any and every color.
Today, as I return to a daylily experience it is with a sense of purpose. I am most decidedly interested in exploring the potential of two lines of tetraploid daylilies. I have acquired foundation stock for an intense breeding program. I intend to explore 3 developments in daylilies, extra large tets, patterns, and blue tones.
Without doubt, I am not alone in these pursuits. Patterns in daylily flower colors has been, perhaps, the most enthusiastically explored aspect. Yet, the field is wide open as it is not near to being exhausted. Size of blossoms in tets has been a constant pursuit for decades. We have not found the limits. The color blue is so near but elusive. We find it difficult to accept as impossible. It is, after all, the mutant genes we seek. That sudden appearance of something new and exciting that hooks us into hybridizing daylilies. The hope that "I will be the lucky one." To introduce that monster flower...the most intriguing color arrangement.. or a color that appears to truly be blue.
Other factors must also figure importantly in my evaluations. Disease resistance and vigor are very important to me. I'm concerned with attractive foliage and pleasing proportions of flower, scape, plant and balance. Flowers must open easily without encumbering one another. Scapes should branch radially and bear high bud counts. Fertility as both pollen parent and pod parent is essential.
To this end I have selected my foundation stock from lines originating with Bill and Ida Munson. 'Ida's Magic' figured prominently in early tetraploid breeding programs. From Patrick Stamiles hybridizing genius 'Ida's Magic' produced first 'Wedding Band' and later, 'Admiral's Braid.' Both of these cultivars are predecessors of the two lines that I intend to merge. Ted Petit blended the best qualities of early tets from the Munson/Stamile work with remarkable introductions from Peat, Kinnebrew and Morse. He and Patrick also converted selected diploid cultivars that contributed greatly to their work. For twenty years these two dedicated hybridizes developed distinct lines that set benchmarks and raised the standards. Patrick Stamile sold his breeding program to Guy Pierce. From Floyd Cove Nursery I have acquired two studs for my foundation stock. 'Master and Bold Ruler' (Pierce 2017) is a massive 9.5" to 11.5" violet purple with a rose eye Zone and a bubbly gold edge that often produces "angel wings." 'Edge of Adventure' (Pierce 2015) is a colorful zoned daylily with a banded eye and bolder. From Le Petit Jardin I have acquired three sows for my program. For breeding massive tets I will put seed on 'Verge of Glory' (Petit-Goff 2016) from 'MaBR.' 'Cabo San Lucas' (Petit 2013) has much in common with 'Edge of Adventure' but with a more diverse genetic background. This cross should produce some intriguing patterned daylilies.
For the past decade I have followed Ted Petit's blue daylily introductions. His 'Blue Eden' comprises my ideal of form, color and beauty in a singe daylily. I still think that it is the perfect flower. For my foundation stock I selected a hybrid with 'Blue Eden' heavy in its background, 'Eighth Wonder' (Petit-Goff 2016). I plan to put 'MaBR' and 'Edge of Adventure' pollen on 'Eighth Wonder'. I am still considering a blue stud for this one. Even so, some of the seedlings from the previous crosses are likely to contribute to my three breeding goals. Greg Goff now owns and operates Le Petit Jardin and continues the remarkable work of Ted Petit.