George Rasmussen-A Treasured Northern Hybridizer

We hear of national treasures quite frequently. Here in the great Northeast we count George Rasmussen as one of our treasures. While George's output of daylilies does not come close to some of the "big names" in daylilydom, his flowers are memorable in many ways. He started off over thirty years ago with diploids, but soon changed over to tetraploids. Whether they be dips or tets, all of George's plants are winners. Two of my favorites are pictured here. There is a span of close to thirty years between the two of them. ISLAND DELIGHT('74) is described as a rose-pink self with a tangerine throat. I call it HOT! This flower simmers and glows in the garden. I maintain a large clump here at all times. The other flower is TIGER SWIRL('01) and comes out of his KING GEORGE line. At about 7 inches, it's a lovely gold with red eye, and sometimes has unusual form traits. I have seen it quilled in some gardens. Both of these plants are tets, and as with most of George's chillun' they increase and are exceedingly hardy into zones 5 and 6. While he has produced mostly full formed daylilies and a few doubles over the years, George has moved into the realm of the unusual form with spectacular results. More about the Renaissance of unusual forms from the Rasmussen breeding program in future blogs.