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

Daylily: Carbonator

The fact it takes me 6 years to go from a seed to an introduction often has me wonderin' if I'm really "getting anywhere" with the colossal effort it's been... perhaps because it's been my actual chosen career (not a hobby), so I don't have the luxury of distractions making the time go by any faster? When plants like "Carbonator" make it to fruition though, it's actually kinda mind-blowing!

Dark purples and reds were always my fave daylilies, at least during the first decade I spent as a breeder up in the Poconos. When I moved to NC, well over half of the 10K plants I brought down were of the ilk. However, within just a few years after getting here, nearly all had to be tossed... as the dark colors would "slick" horribly under the more intense sun here, almost like a stick o' butter on the hood of a black Chevy (to be honest). "Nearly" all isn't "all" though, as a few did indeed seem relatively impervious to the searing heat. One of the best became the award-winnin' "Mars Attacks", which led me to another winner in "Ken Can Do". An angel named Peggy Jeffcoat (LOVE that woman!) turned me onto the late Mack Carter, who'd produced a resilient black named "Raging Bull" - but the flowers were too convoluted to open correctly all the time, it was definitely a great bridge for substance. Put all these traits together, and along with years of my life... and voila - "Carbonator" comes to LIFE!

So... I guess it's not "all for naught", and time does pass after all. This amazing new kid has the stature of a bull alright, with such fast rebloom that there's no break at all in its 8-week run in the arena. As always, the camera shows more red than it should... but at least not so much in the "full sun" shot - where you can see that even at mid-day, there's no slicking to be had whatsoever. Black as carbon to the eye, and ready to whip up some atomic action in YOUR garden too... IF ya order some, at least! ;-)