Like most I enjoy that early morning stroll in the garden with a cup of jo in hand. I take in the sweet air and head straight for the daylily patch. Even before most of the flowers open, I want to see which ones will be ready today. In my head I've created hundreds of combinations and now it's that magical time to really do it! Later comes the thrill of a visit to the seedling patch. The possibility of an exciting discovery awaiting my arrival hastens my pace. I was fortunate to have such a discovery one morning.

A rain soaked beauty staring back at me through the weeds. The flower was a very large luminous clear pink with a pleat ruffle adorned with a wide white edge and white watermark. This color I had previously only seen with hot pink Impatiens. The one fan plus pip was dug up immediately and moved to the greenhouse for increasing.

Having a greenhouse in Maine for increasing, for making crosses in late winter, and raising new seed has moved my breeding program along at a pace nearly equal to the south. A warm sunny fun oasis to grow in while winter still rages by outside.

The wondrous pink seedling had gone down to sleep in fall and sprouted new growth by the middle of January. It out-grew its seven gallon pot and demanded a fifteen-gallon size to continue. In March I used pollen and set pods on the new pink which I only could have done so early in the season with the aid of my greenhouse.

This past year was a great year, I introduced two more daylilies, H Pointer Sisters, a spidery unusual form near white diploid and an unusual form fun flower called H. Francis Splashed Me.

In April, an article was written in The Bangor Metro, a local Maine magazine, about my hybridizing and the move to my new garden site; "Maverick Gardners in Maine" written by Claire Akroyd, Orono, Maine.

The year ended with preparations and a four-hour phone interview for an upcoming article in Better Homes and Gardens Magazine/Special Editions/Perennials due out this April. Thanks for that to photographer Lyn Karlin whose beautiful pictures will be featured.

2008 started off with introducing my best hardy pink to date H. Princess Pink Cheeks. ( Simple Splendor X America's Most wanted) H. Princess Pink Cheeks is a very well behaved dormant daylily. PPC is the result of combining three top daylily programs with using daylilies from Pat Stamile, Jeff Salter, and Bob Carr.

In review, I would say my "love" of daylilies started back in the late 80's with Wayside Gardens and Tranquil Lake Nursery's brochures lure of daylily flowers in colors other than orange. From that point on I quickly progressed from adoration to passion. As this passion for daylilies grew, I found the most satisfaction growing daylilies came from hybridizing my own seeds, nurturing them through maturity, and judging their potentials. I had indeed been bitten by the hybridizing "hem" bug. I thank Steve Moldovan from Ohio, Ron Valente and Ted White from Maine for the early hybridizing stimulus.

My hybridizing goals are for hardiness, large flowers that are early morning openers (EMOs), and repeat bloom. I work with both diploid and tetraploid flowers. Tetraploids are the most intriguing with the doubling of genes and flower traits. Polytepalism was the first trait I pursued in the unusual forms class.

In time I found I needed more contact with my daylily peers and made the decision to start a daylily flower display garden on the coast of Maine. I've been a self-employed landscaper for most of my life spending much time beautifying yards for others. This new garden would give me a chance to do something worthwhile and long lasting in my own yard. After looking for two years for a suitable site, my wife Susan and I chose our current new garden location in Blue Hill, a small village between the famous tourist towns of Bar Harbor and Castine. Now after nearly 10 years our garden has grown into a sanctuary for us and a display garden we enjoy sharing with other plant lovers. Daylilies abound here as do Conifers and Lilacs. Conifers are the backbones and daylilies are the lace in the garden landscape layout.

In the last two years I've dabbled and raised orange, yellow, and red seedlings with edges and eyes. I don't really expect to make great breakthroughs but continue with small plant habit advances for cold climate conditions. These baby steps are made easier with my evaluations of seedlings and mother plants on cool summer mornings of which our coastal climate provides many.

I am a member of the following plant groups and societies. The American Hemerocallis Society (AHS), the New England Daylily Society (NEDS), The new Maine Daylily Society, the American Conifer Society (ACS), Northern hybridizer e-mail group, the AHS E-mail Robin, and have belonged to several Round Robin groups. For more than twenty-seven years I ran a nursery, tree surgery and landscape business in Lincoln located in northern Maine. I also own a ninety-acre timber farm which I have forested using "forest stand improvement techniques" coupled with replacement tree planting.

After viewing my hybrids, if you have any questions, please email me.