George Rasmussen's Entry Into Unusual Forms

Within recent years George's hybridizing program has brought him into the world of Unusual Forms. For many years he had been producing full form flowers, some as large as 7 inches, such as KING GEORGE and TIGER SWIRL. Some were solid colors, many had eyes, and there were even a few doubles. In 2004 George introduced KING'S GOLDEN TREASURE, a flower which by many standards is a landmark. Unusual forms come and go, and there are surely hundreds or worthy flowers out there, but KGT is truly special. It is a lovely gold self, a semi-evergreen tet that stands on 36 inch scapes. I would call it a crispate-cascade unusual form. Its most impressive feature is its size, reaching at least 10 inches in many gardens in the Northeast, and growing to close to 12 inches in some gardens! This is a plant that just has to be here in Brookside Gardens. George should be proud of this fantastic achievement in daylilydom!

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.

Selma Longlegs-An Unusual Form That Isn't

SELMA LONGLEGS is one daylily that we would not do without here at Brookside Gardens. Heather Herrington introduced this lovely plant in 1988. A dormant diploid with 9" blooms on 34 inch scapes, its light tangerine color, brushed with cinnamon is a knockout. It's easy to see that by today's standards it would easily be classified as an unusual form, with both cascade and crispate qualities. Part of its charm is that no two blooms are exactly alike, and they frequently are asymmetrical. It is pollen fertile.

Northern Goshawk

We were treated early this year to an up close and personal view of a Northern Goshawk. It is one of the three accipiters of North America, and usually spends most of its time to the far north, even into the great Boreal Forest. Occasionally Goshawks travel south in the winter. These are usually immature birds in an irruptive migration, quite similar to the Snowy Owls that leave the arctic and spend the winter at our beaches along the Atlantic shore. Accipiters are woodland hawks with relatively long tails and short, rounded wings, giving them great agility in their rapid hunting flights through heavily wooded areas. The Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk and Northern Goshawk prey mainly on songbirds, although the Goshawk will go after mammals as large as hares. The Goshawk, the largest of the three accipiters, is between 21 and 26 inches tall, with a wingspan of 40 to 46 inches. Make no mistake, this is a very large impressive bird. Our visitor this February and March was still wearing immature plumage, although its eyes had turned to the adult red color. We were lucky to have such a magnificent creature living so close to us if only for a short time.

Clover's Creations-Take Two

My favorite Clover creation is MEHTA. It is not a spider or unusual form, nor a polytepal... merely a very lovely, ethereal flower. It carries 8-inch pale lavender blooms on 42-inch scapes, and is a semi-evergreen diploid. All of Clover's introductions have been diploids, by the way. The parentage is [CERULEAN STAR X(JULIA'S CHOICE X GIVE ME EIGHT)]. It will be interesting to see if my crosses of LEE REINKE X MEHTA will produce any polytepals. In any event MEHTA continues to be one of the outstanding flowers here at Brookside Gardens.

Clover's Creations

MUDRA, pictured at the left, is one of a number of very interesting daylilies hybridized by Anna Clover of Arkansas. It is a 90-100% polytepalous form, and usually has 5 petals and 5 sepals. Clover(as she prefers to be called) has produced a lovely mix of spiders, unusual forms and polytepals. All carry Sanskrit names. One advantage of this according to Clover is that she rarely has a name denied when registering a plant! All of her flowers are exceedingly hardy and should grow well into zones 5 and 6. More about others of Clover's introductions in future blogs.

Phlox Bright Eyes

A wonderful companion plant is Phlox paniculata 'Bright Eyes'. It is about 24 inches tall and has pink flowers with a dark rose eye. It blooms from early summer into the fall and is mildew free. Just above is 'Bright Eyes' backed up by Rudbeckia triloba, a late bloomer which is also an excellent companion plant for daylilies. At the very top we see a visitor, a Northern Bumble Bee which has decided to take a nap in one of the blossoms.

Scrimshaw-White on White

In a previous post I discussed reverse scrimshaw, using a very dark medium as a canvas. Most of my subjects in that genre are black, so the term I've used for that is 'black on black'. Here is a sample of what might be termed 'white on white', the subject being a Snowy Owl which is mostly white with black markings. This piece was executed using a piece of very light-colored mammoth ivory. Two colors were used; black ink for most of the image, and yellow for the eyes.

The piece was designed to be worn as a pendant, but as shown here it is mounted on a base of ebony which is inlaid into a Sambar stag crown, creating a display piece. The ivory pendant is easily detached from the base so it can be worn using a chain. Dimensions of the ivory are approximately 1-3/4" high by 1-1/4" wide.

A Tet by Brian Mahieu

To date Brian only has one Tetraploid in his introductions. This photo is 'ROZAVELLIAN KRAKEN' in its first year of bloom. Only in its "infancy" here in Brookside Gardens in 2005, it certainly did not reach its potential. It's a 9-inch flower on 31-inch scapes, and is listed as a variable crispate Unusual Form. When mature, the blooms should be a neon pink bitone with a watermark and a white rib. It has a lime green throat, and as with many Tets has heavy substance. I'm really looking forward to the 2006 season!

Reverse Scrimshaw

Scrimshaw is most often done on a light background using dark pigments; the media of choice usually being various forms of ivory which shade from almost white to cream and tan. As a variation, depending upon the subject matter, I sometimes do what is termed 'reverse scrimshaw' in which I use a very dark medium such as buffalo horn which can be black. The pigments then will be white or other colors that will be much lighter than the background. This is a portrait of a Mountain Gorilla silverback, a male leader of a troop. The medium is buffalo horn, a very dense black, and it is mounted on a base of African Blackwood.

The technique of scrimshaw remains the same, no matter what the medium is; incising the surface, applying pigment, wiping off the excess, and repeating the process until the desired effect is accomplished. Most of my work is done using the stippling technique, which consists of thousands of dots punched into the surface. I often combine stippling with fine line work, as was the case with our gorilla friend here.

While the technique remains the same whether I am using a light-colored medium or a dark one, my thought processes definitely change when I work on dark surfaces. In executing an image on ivory, I do not find it difficult to decide where I wish the pigment to go in order to create the design. However, that all changes when I decide to work in reverse scrimshaw because at that point I must think where I do not wish pigment to be. In effect I will be creating a negative image, and must constantly remind myself of what I am doing. The gorilla portrait is basically a black-on-black image, with only the highlights incised into the surface. In a future post I will show an example of a white-on-white image.

Brian Mahieu-Take 2

Brian's 'CORAL HUMMINGBIRD' is basically a crispate unusual form with 6-inch blooms on 40-inch scapes. However, that's where "basic" leaves off and "special" takes over. The color is a lovely salmon/coral blend with a rose red eye, and it has darker veining or ribbing. There are lighter midribs and the throat is a yellow to lime green. It has a light suede substance with some diamond dusting. Part of its charm is that no two blooms are exactly alike, and they frequently have an asymmetrical appearance. Parents are 'ROSY PURPLE ODDITY X JENNIE LOVE'. The plant is slightly rhizomatous and an excellent clumper. It is fertile both ways. This gem is a must at Brookside gardens.

Brian Mahieu's Hemerocallis Creations

Brian Mahieu is an artist who works in both pigments and pollen. This is a photo of one of his daylily creations, 'ORCHID GARDENS'. A medium raspberry purple bloom on 42-inch scapes, it is a cascade unusual form. The flowers are huge, but due to the pronounced recurve, they only measure 7 inches. It also has a bluish halo and a watermarked throat of lemon to chartreuse. Brian's flowers are unique in several ways. They are not simply a group of cookie-cutter flowers as is seen in a number of hybridizers' collections today. Color and form are very special, as is plant habit. All of his plants are diploids with the exception of 'ROZAVELLIAN KRAKEN', and they are either dormant of semi-evergreen in their foliage. All are extremely hardy and will do well in Zones 5 and 6. I'll discuss others in future posts.