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

Daylily: Ronnie Reckseit

WHAT a SHOWMAN!!! "Burlesque" comes to mind, when seeing this big flower performing in the garden, for SURE! Flowers are a very clear and consistent cream orange, and SO numerous! This new cultivar, however, isn't at ALL totally about the flower... but I swear, has the plant habit of something one might almost consider to be a new species of daylily altogether!

In the very early-season clump shot, can you SEE how MASSIVE these plants are?! The row/block stake in the ground (with #6 painted on it) tops out at 30", and the foliage of this beast easily reaches that height. You can also see how it compares with other plants around it... simply insanely HUGE deep green dormant foliage habit, with fans larger than my ankle! Branching of the baseball-bat scapes is as crazy as everything else about this plant, with laterals that bifurcate as well, providing a true "candelabra" effect of a massive number of blooms to the garden. I regret not getting a photo of this plant while at peak bloom last year, but believe me, a plant this big and hardy can do nothing but provide a mind-boggling experience when it kicks into full gear.

This plant is a dedication to my "Uncle Ronnie". He's actually Uncle to my partner David, but I've adopted him. I've been wanting to dedicate a plant to Uncle Ronnie for quite some time now, but in light of "who Ronnie really is", it's not been easy to find the perfect plant for it! You see, Ronnie comes from a very long line of performers... starting with numerous ancestors who were in Vaudeville. After he himself retired as a Cruise Director for Carnival, he (to this day) keeps a very full schedule as a performing Comedic Magician... a TOTAL "showman" from stem to stern, and as viable of pure wit as ever (even at age 79). The man has certainly "been around", to say the least! He's simply remarkable... and anyone who knows him, loves him dearly. There was no doubting at all, when I saw how this new plant had such an INCREDIBLE zest for life, that it was meant for him... and him alone. For all the love and thoughtfulness that Uncle Ronnie has so freely given, and for so long... it's amazing to me how he's maintained such a vibrant being, in the face of some very deep losses. He's a charismatic party boy, a wonderful husband, a trooper of a father, a wonderful mentor, and above all... a true "Mensch". Thank you Uncle Ronnie, for being so accepting of me... and teaching me what it means to really love life, and the true art of living it.

Update: It saddens me deeply to report that Uncle Ronnie passed away quite unexpectedly in 2014. At 82, he was still immersed in doing stand-up shows all over the country... demonstrating the "art of LIFE" until the day he passed. We all miss him horribly, but know he's certainly doing his "schtick" to a very LARGE cloud full of angels as we speak... I hear their thundering applause with every storm that passes! A small memorial garden was installed at his Temple, Shaarei Tikvah (in Scarsdale, NY), which will of course be featuring "his" daylily.