puffer fish teeth

Don't panic when I mention the word "teeth" -- no dentists involved here.  I'm talking daylily teeth. Teeth are all the rage in daylily hybridizing. In fact, many hybridizers breed specifically for teeth. Pictured is my daylily named "Puffer Fish," which displays a good example of teeth. As you can see, the petal edges are full of spiky little yellow teeth. Even the sepals have a few tiny sharky teeth. This fancy daylily is a dormant tetraploid; very hardy and fuss-free. It's also a 'mid-season-late' bloomer which is also a desirable trait. Puffer Fish was hybridized by Jamie Gossard and registered in 2006. Many of his awesome daylily introductions have teeth.

The late Brother Charles Reckamp (from the Chicago area) was one of the pioneers that first hybridized daylilies with teeth almost 50 years ago. Brother Reckamp's daylily genetics are found in many of today's cutting edge "teeth" dayliles (no pun intended). Of course, today's hybridizers have taken daylily teeth to an entirely new level with some of their latest introductions.

Loving words as I do, I get caught up in the many creative daylily names with teeth references. For example: "Buzz Saw," "White Fang," "I Wanna Piranha," "Deadliest Catch," "Riding a Chainsaw," "Venus Flytrap," "Swimming with Sharks," and "Vampire's Bite." Not only are the daylilies innovative, but so are their names.