Press Releases

New Daylily, A "Knockout Beauty" for 1997!

NEW DAYLILY A "KNOCKOUT BEAUTY" FOR 1997!

A new series of daylilies will be launched in 1997 with the appearance of the International Plant Selection (IPS) Perfect Peach Glory (ppaf)*, by hybridizer Dr. Jack Roberson. Roberson, the hybridizer of the All-American Daylily Black Eyed Stella known for its landscape performance, also has an eye for beauty. At least this has been the consensus of the growers who have been trialing his new peach daylily. Growers like Jack McCorkle of McCorkle Nurseries in Dearing, Georgia give it two green thumbs up. "It is a knockout of a beauty!" says McCorkle. He notes that the clear peach beauty offers "heavy bloom substance, lovely foliage and growth habit… and is, all around, a real winner."

The new Perfect Peach Glory (ppaf) is the first in the Glory™ daylily series, which are cultivars rated exceptional in bloom beauty, as well as good growth and performance, for the professionals conducting the IPS trials. Although the Robersons consider Peach Glory to be an ideal specimen choice rather than a landscape performer like their popular Black Eyed Stella (PP#7909), some growers praise its flexibility. According to John Burke of Hines Nurseries in Irvine, CA, "Its attractive foliage, compact growth habit, and long blooming season should lend itself to many uses, including as a container or landscape plant."

Growers are also touting Perfect Peach Glory's vigorous growth habits, even in the dry, hot South. In Magnolia, TX, Robert Palmer of Magnolia Gardens states, "It made a good show in our bed. Considering our extreme Texas heat and periods of drought when we forgot to water, the Peach Glory bloomed for a very long period."

Burke of Hines Nurseries agrees. "The color and form hold well through the heat of southern California. Peach Glory produces more fans than many other types we grow-averaging 12 fans per five-gallon container." He added that the abundant fan count and the plant's dense, compact form combine to give a full, mature appearance early on.

International Plant Selections, Inc. is an organization committed to bringing new and qualified plant material to the gardening public from hybridizers worldwide. D.E. (Skeetter) McCorkle, of McCorkle Nurseries, in Dearing, Georgia, expresses his hopes for the new organization, "With scores of 'new' plants coming onto the market, we needed a simple but effective method to distinguish the top performer from the rest of the pack. International Plant Selections (IPS) provides a model trialing approach to find the selections we want to offer at McCorkle Nurseries. Couple a proven performer with strong marketing and it's a 'win-win' for all."

Dr. Roberson's hybridizing efforts have focused for many years on what he considers to be the optimum landscape daylilies. "But," says Jack, "Ralph Waldo Emerson was right when he said, 'If eyes were made for seeing, then beauty is its own excuse for being.' Some flowers are worth having simply to behold their beauty. My real joy as a hybridizer is to see a really beautiful bloom on a new hybrid for the very first time! Of course, this event happens over and over. But, the next process is to continue to grow and trial the plant to see if it proves to meet our demands as a performer. The IPS trials report that Peach Glory blooms above average for its color class of peach-pink," says Jack. "So, it combines the best of the two distinct classes, beauty and performance! Our hybridizing program works to provide both. The new Glory™ daylilies will be selected primarily for beauty, with performance being important, but somewhat secondary. On the other hand, our Landscape Supreme™ and Black Eyed Stella (PP#7909) are in the performance category."

One might ask, "With so many different daylilies in the market, is the horticulture world really interested in more varieties?" "There's no doubt in my mind," says Jo Roberson of American Daylily & Perennials, "that the answer is yes! More cultivars is no hybridizer's goal, but better cultivars is every hybridizer's goal. We are continually "weeding out" many cultivars, while selectively adding others. The reason is very simple," says Jo. "The buying public has become very discriminating and has come to understand that not all daylilies are created equal. Daylily buyers are very different from those that bought from us 20 years ago. Most every purchaser today is looking for qualified performance. Series like the new Glory™ daylilies will be screened carefully and then trialed for performance verification. We are very involved in both the All-American Daylily Selection Council and International Plant Selections. We are committed to bringing new and better plant material to the gardening public."

Industry reports tell us that daylily sales were second only to hostas last year. "Had the suppliers of daylilies had more stock, they believe they could well have been number one!" says John Schoustra of Greenwood Daylily, Long Beach, CA. Schoustra, another of the professionals trialing Peach Glory, believes that daylilies may soon claim the number one position. "The daylily-buying public is becoming very sophisticated, creating a large market for the new and better hybrids coming from hybridizers such as Roberson," says Schoustra.

Daylilies are here to stay, the Glory™ daylilies have just begun, and if McCorkle's predictions about IPS are any indication, the industry can look forward to enhanced value on cutting edge plants from the world's best hybridizers. From the developer to the consumer, everyone in the chain will benefit by proven plant selections like Perfect Peach Glory. The Perfect Peach Glory (ppaf) will be available for delivery spring 1997.

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* Subsequent to this press release, U.S. Patent #10,881 was awarded.