Growing Daylilies Together

I'm a semi-retired land scaper with a focus on 'Estate Gardening'. That's just a fancy way of saying I pull weeds (amongst other things) for folks that can afford to pay me to.  Seriously, I made a profession of designing, planting and maintaining flower gardens for approximately 6 clients a year, which was a full-time job to do single-handedly and I LOVED it. I've downsized to only a few remaining clients for the past two years so that I can better focus on my own gardens, hybridizing interests and play in my own dirt. Genealogy and writing are other passions of mine that help get me through our gloomy Ohio winters.
 
I first started collecting daylilies about 10 years ago. My first daylilies, like so many folks, were the orange 'ditch' lilies and Stella De Oro because they were so plentiful. It was only about 8 years ago that I learned there were other places to buy daylilies than Walmart, Lowe's and Home Depot, like directly from a hybridizer and this was also when I began to dabble in 'dabbing' pollen. Since that time, my collection of daylilies has grown to approximately 400 different cultivars, both Dips and Tets.

 The bulk of my daylilies are somewhat older varieties, and I yearly cull those that haven't quite 'made the grade' and replace with newer ones or new intros. Although I love the more 'fragile' look of many Diploids, and will always keep some of my earlier outstanding favorites such as Jean Swann, Vanilla Fluff and Big Kiss, I'm downsizing my Dips to free up the little bit of growing space I have for the tougher, more weather resistant Tets.

My daylily interests have evolved to a concentrated effort in the area of unusual forms, unusual colors and unusual edges, of which I have, unfortunately, very few.  My husband used to say this was just another excuse to buy more daylilies. Like I need an excuse.  Anyway, I'm chasing down the blackest I can find to work with as well as the most unusual forms and edges and hope to get some black UFs with gaudy teeth and other outrageous edges.

I registered my first 9 daylilies this year (check out my photo album) and have close to 100 under evaluation for possible release next year.  I'm a member of AHS and looking forward to attending my first convention in Columbus this year. I have a passion for teaching children about daylilies and especially about gardening. After all, they are the gardeners of tomorrow.

Becki Pavlik

http://www.pavlikdaylilies.com
Westerville, OH
Zone 5
Region 2
 

MyDaylilies.com Editors Note:
Becki has been an inspiration and a great help behind the scenes.  The Scoop Game was her idea and we'd would like to thank her publicly for her great contributions to the daylily community.  Becki has been one of our editors from the start.  She is a great writer and a contributor to the forums.  I wish her luck in her hybridizing efforts and in her life.