Dear fellow conservative,

You may know that I cross breed and raise daylilies and send hundreds of daylily plants each year to Leadership Institute donors who have requested them.

Now I have a problem that I ask you to help me solve.

Each spring I carefully cross pollinate my most lovely and interesting daylily flowers to produce new varieties.  I harvest the mature seeds in August and plant them in trays to grow through the winter in my office windows until all danger of frost is past.  Then I plant the seedlings outside in flower beds.  A year later, the new plants bloom, and I can give really fine ones to LI donors with descriptions of their flowers.

The problem I hope you will help me solve is that last August so many seeds germinated that I have many more seedlings than I have room to plant in my flower beds.

I’ve filled with new seedlings all the available flower beds, and I have hundreds of healthy, extraordinary seedlings that will die if not planted soon.

They are extraordinary because each seedling has a complex ancestry from decades of my serious crossbreeding program.  Each seedling is a new variety, and I have no idea what colors or flower designs a seedling will produce.

Of course, I could just discard all the extra seedlings, but I would really, really hate to do that.

Almost all of them will produce very fine flowers, and some of them will be spectacular.

Each spring, I go to my flower beds and note the characteristics of my new varieties which bloom for the first time.  I can’t say that it’s as exciting as when I first held in my arms my newborn son and my grandchildren.  But it’s somewhat analogous.

So to keep from destroying these products of my decades of efforts, I’m asking you, if you possibly can, to adopt some of my seedlings.

Daylilies are mostly grown outside in yards, but they will do well inside in pots by windows that get plenty of sunshine.

Outside they require virtually no care; inside they need only occasional watering when the soil gets dry.

Will you adopt some of this year’s seedlings?

I’ve personally prepared sealed plastic bags, each containing four seedlings, and written instructions as to how to plant them outside or in pots.  They should be taken now and planted as soon as possible.

If you have a yard or have friends with yards who will take some, or if perhaps you’ll decide to grow them inside in pots, please see my executive assistant, Cathy Graham, after the breakfast.   They will be given away in packets of four seedlings each along with planting instructions.

Then next year, when the plants first bloom, you or your friends will have the satisfaction of seeing the blooms of your unique, new varieties of daylilies.

Above are two of the many different colors and elegant flower designs that my seedlings have produced.

Please help some of these seedlings to survive.

Cordially,

Morton

 

To take advantage of Morton Blackwell's daylily offer, sign up for the April 5, 2017 Wednesday Wakeup Club Breakfast and talk with Cathy Graham after the breakfast.