MONDRON DAYLILY GARDEN

Thank you for taking the time to visit our web site. We are located in the far northwest corner of Ohio near the Michigan and Indiana borders on slightly less than 6 acres. We have been growing daylilies at this location for over 6 years. Prior to that time, we grew daylilies in central Ohio south of Columbus. We are conveniently located about 3 miles from the Westgate toll booth on the Ohio Turnpike. We welcome visitors during bloom season. Peak bloom is usually the second week of July. Please contact us prior to visiting to make sure someone will be available to show you the garden.

We have been growing and hybridizing daylilies for about 20 years. Prior to 2008, our one introduction has been GISELA'S SUNSHINE which was selected in the seedling bed by Gisela Meckstroth, current AHS Region 2 Director. When we moved in 2002, we brought several thousand plants and seedlings with us. Our hybridizing program was set back by the move but we are now seeing marked improvement with every seedling crop. Our goal is to produce beautiful flowers on vigorous northern hardy plants. We purchase a few plants each year to incorporate into our breeding program but are relying more and more on our own seedlings. We do not have a greenhouse or shade house and do our hybridizing in the garden in full sun. We start our seedlings indoors in the winter and set them out in the garden in the early spring. Almost all of the seedlings bloom the second year and are evaluated for at least two bloom cycles.

Our main hybridizing interests are tetraploid doubles and edges, particularly picotee edges without eyes. We have been hybridizing tetraploid doubles for many years but until recently have had very few sucesses. Hardiness and consistent form have been the major problems we have tried to overcome. We are now seeing significant improvements in both problem areas in our most recent seedlings. We now have several seedlings which possess many of the qualities we are seeking and are using them extensively in our breeding program.

For 2011 we introduced 2 new double daylilies. BONUS ON TOP is a beautiful pink double. It is a hard dormant which makes very big plants. ONE LIKE THAT is a hardy polychrome double.

For 2010 we introduced 2 new double daylilies and one single daylily. NIGHT AT THE PROM is a beautiful deep red with a gold edge double. We have never seen it bloom single. SINGING RADIANCE is a very hardy polychrome double with good branching and bud count. Lastly, we are introducing BUTTER AND JAM for its garden value and exhibition potential.

We introduced 3 new tetraploids for 2009. One is our second edge without eye introduction, BANQUO'S GHOST, which is a sibling to last year's WELL OF WISDOM. LAY ON, MACDUFF is giving us very interesting eyes and edges in shades of lavender, violet, and blue. FIRE BURN AND CALDRON BUBBLE blooms double about 20% of the time and is being used extensively in our doubles breeding and is a parent of the 09023 double seedlings. All are hardy and very pod and pollen fertile.

In 2008 we introduced two new doubles. One, DUBBLY WUBBLY, is an unusual form double. Unfortunately, branching and bud count relegate it to a hybridizer's or collector's flower. It is, however, very pod and pollen fertile and should be valuable in the development of new unusual form double daylilies. It is the pod parent of the 09001 unusual form double seedlings. We also introduced our first edge without eye introduction, AROUND THE CORNER. This is a new area of daylily interest with the first tetraploid introductions appearing in the past few years. AROUND THE CORNER is not derived from converted diploids like many of the recent offerings but comes from selective tetraploid breeding. We have several promising edge no eye seedlings we are evaluating. We are also breeding for base colors other than cream and for different shades and colors in the picotee edging.