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Introduction

Introduction

Hello! I hybridize roses and daylilies, trying to produce new varieties of a gardener‘s interest. Here I give an insight into my routine work with plants, mainly with hybridization, nursering young plants, selection process and all my ups and downs during this exciting journey. I started my hybridization experiments about 10 years ago, and since then I managed to produce some varieties which are still in testing.  Hybridization of roses and daylilies is done in Vienna, Austria, in my rooftop garden, where I keep my parent plants (mostly, pollen parents, as I can collect pollen elsewhere). It is very important to have them within reach for a swift handling and for statistics. The young seedlings are kept there as well. Hence, the first step of selection is made in my rooftop garden. Those seedlings who performed well, are taken to my test field, which is about 120 km away to the north-west of the country.  My test field is an untamed area, with a different climate, where only t...
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6.9.26 Budding finished

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 Picture on the left: photo in spring; picture on the right: now finished budding. There are 91 rootstocks here, and all together I have about 135 propagations. My seedling Penny Lane x Arethusa in the test bed:
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28.8.26 Budding project

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 We have been having a vacation. However, I was able to visit my test field 3 or 4 times to continue working on the budding of my most promising seedlings. The rootstocks are totally stressed because of drought… although I tried to water them whenever I could. Still, there is no other way, and I have to use what is there. I‘am afraid, I will be facing some failures in budding, because the rootstocks were way out of the appropiate condition for budding.  Bottom image: Here is one seedling I want to bud — Golden Celebration x Louise Odier. It is a budded version from the last year, but I have to propagate more.
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7.08.26 Endless watering

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 Well, the drought has been keeping us hostages for many weeks.  It is hard to make any report because nothing is going on (except for endless watering).  The lawn is burned. I pruned my roses a little bit to make them save water. I usually drive about 220-230 l water in cans a couple of times per week, and try to water, water and water plants which needed it desperately… And certainly, it isn’t even slightly enough. Last time I had about 270 l in my car. However I managed to water two hedges which looked very poorly. When I glanced at them a couple of hours later, they already looked better. Some daylily seedlings popped up. Really, resilient plants! No watering!  Back at home, I started to collect pods. The ripening beginns. I am really thrilled to see that many of my crosses worked. 
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30.7.26 Massive drought

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 We haven’t seen a good rain for ages.  A massive drought caused a lot of stress (and damage) in my plants. I can water only a few plants at a time.  I am amazed though, that some daylilies withstand these conditions and even bloom. Here are some of my seedlings:
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15.7.26 Daylilies

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 I always see bees and hover flies visiting my daylilies. Hems are really nice and robust garden plants, and I think that their benefits in local gardens are severely underestimated. They are survival masters; where roses and many other plants would give up in unfavorable conditions, they live and bounce back with all powers after conditions get stabilized. Hemerocallis plants can thrive in climatic zones from 4 to 9. There are up to 90000 registered varieties; the breeding is driven mostly by american hybridizers, that is why it is more or less difficult to get modern varieties from overseas. Here: a bee is collecting pollen from “Wolfman” daylily. Irish Royalty - a daylily, best performing in dry and warm weather And a couple of my own seedlings:
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2.7.26 Heat wave

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Two weeks of heat, 38–42 C, it was unbearable in my test field. No water supply, no rain, I had to drive water cans from home for watering the most critical plants. The voles attacked my new seedlings bed. It is not possible wrap seedlings in protective nets, like roses, so I have to figure out another way to protect them. I am trying to insert the metallic rods (about 30 cm long) all around seedlings, but still do not know if it really helps; however, at least the spots where I used them were not bothered anymore, but maybe the voles also had another plans.  Here is my older bed, and the whole patch in the middle is missing. I still can‘t tell, did the voles eat all those plants or they just made it impossible for them to grow here because of the underground activity (or maybe both?).  I spotted three nice daylily seedlings.  My roses seedlings are only starting to bloom:
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22.6.26 News from the field

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 Currently, two biggest roses in my field are: ‘Erinnerung an Brod’ and ‘Aennchen von Tharau’ (Geschwind). Well, they were planted about 4 or 5 years ago, however they can’t be named optimal growers since they also suffered from different malconditions (of course, it’s not their fault). Nevertheless, they are doing quite ok, in my view, if compared to many other varieties. Further, I’ve got these two once-blooming seedlings which I decided to keep.  This one is a gallica hybrid (Capri x Soleil Brilliant). Overwintered with no protection at all. Survived and bloomed. Wonderful flowers, very full, heavy petals texture, resistant to heat, great scent, beaming color. Another one is Blue for You x Zigeunerknabe. Survived with no winter protection at all. Not too many blooms, but the plant looks good and promises to be a bigger shrub. I loved the bloom color. Darker shade, with even darker petal rims, with bright yellow stamens, they seem to be lit from the middle. Scented! The bloo...
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