Creating modern hardy hybrid daylillies...
especially for gardens in northern zones!

Daylily: Unexpected Mentor*

Positively MASSIVE fans produce “out of this world” sized scapes, which in turn pump out BIG flowers of the most insanely rich and deep orange (with reddish tint) that I’ve ever seen!!! Totally unexpected (the habit, though blending orange and red has given me GREAT successes for the eye-zinging shades I crave in the garden), and has certainly taught me a thing or two about making too many assumptions about the total JOY of breeding diploid daylilies! Overall bud count isn't as "extreme" as my "Giants", but with such huge flowers, it's not exactly noticeable. ABSOLUTE “specimen” in clump form (and totally bummed that I never had it in a spot where I could get a clear shot of an entire clump), with height and color that will be admired by people driving by your house at full speed… “curb appeal”, for SURE!!!

This plant is dedicated to a young fella… named Andrew Bagnara. Andrew, you see, was the epitome of what you’d expect of a high school senior… who “had it all”. Athletic, wildly popular, handsome… you know the type, right? Well, even if he was indeed the kinda guy some of us science geeks used to be painfully jealous of (AKA in juvenile terms: “hate”)… when Andrew was diagnosed with a VERY rare form of intensely aggressive leukemia during his senior year of high school, it not only changed his life… but many others, as well. His closest friends (and then some) rallied to his cause… which in reality, doesn’t always happen in such cases. A long, and very hard road for everyone (especially Andrew, of course) followed. We’re all much more acquainted with cancer than we should be these days, so just imagine what harsh treatments for such a vicious type (and on such a young man) may have entailed… double that… and you might be nearing an idea of what Andrew went through.

Ten years later, and after procedures that would positively blow your mind… Andrew has recovered. Once the classic “jock” with the material world under his very command, he’s now an Environmental Science graduate, working for a conservancy on Cape Cod. Indeed… it’s a flat out miracle he’s made it, against ALL odds, “to the other side”… but in my own experience, I can’t say I’m shocked at the fact that when people are truly pushed to such limits of life and priorities… they invariably figure out that “all that glitters” really means nothing - it’s the living world that matters - our relationships, and their meaning. There’s NO doubt that Andrew, with his Mom by his side, has learned a GREAT deal in all this… and better yet, has recently (and “officially”) become a Mentor for teens in need. With luck, this VERY “Unexpected Mentor” will open some eyes… to the stuff that our lives are truly made of.