At first "Pumpkin Festival" was what I considered a rescue adoption. Rarely have I bought daylilies from any source other than those I know that are true plant divisions (as opposed to tissue-cultured). But this pretty face stole my heart. There it was in the garden center, blooming forlornly in a small pot, calling out my name. So I took a chance on it and the tiny plant came home with me. If it was tissue-cultured and didn't perform I could ditch it, right?
Well, this gorgeous daylily has thanked me year-after-year for bringing it home. Pumpkin Festival has great bloom performance, muted, yet vibrantly-colored flowers, and winter hardiness. Hybridized by Patrick Stamile, and registered in 1997, this daylily grows about 20-24" tall -- perfect for the front of the border. My Pumpkin Festival turned out not to be tissue-cultured. The nursery where the plant came from (noted on the name tag) had a disclaimer posted online that all the plants were field divisions.
Tissue-cultured plants are created in a lab by taking a few cells from a mother plant and developing new plants (clones). This is an inexpensive way to produce large numbers of plants in a short amount of time. Problem is, tissue-cultured daylilies often do not thrive, or may not look exactly like the mother plants. I once had a tissue-cultured daylily that produced beautiful foliage, but after three years it failed to produce even one bloom. Compost-city for that plant.
Many large-scale operations sell tissue-cultured daylilies for greater profit. When you see what should be an expensive daylily being sold at a 'cheap-o' price, this could indicate that it has been tissue-cultured. But often, these daylilies can be priced as expensively as the field grown divisions. This is why knowing your source is so important.
Well, this gorgeous daylily has thanked me year-after-year for bringing it home. Pumpkin Festival has great bloom performance, muted, yet vibrantly-colored flowers, and winter hardiness. Hybridized by Patrick Stamile, and registered in 1997, this daylily grows about 20-24" tall -- perfect for the front of the border. My Pumpkin Festival turned out not to be tissue-cultured. The nursery where the plant came from (noted on the name tag) had a disclaimer posted online that all the plants were field divisions.
Tissue-cultured plants are created in a lab by taking a few cells from a mother plant and developing new plants (clones). This is an inexpensive way to produce large numbers of plants in a short amount of time. Problem is, tissue-cultured daylilies often do not thrive, or may not look exactly like the mother plants. I once had a tissue-cultured daylily that produced beautiful foliage, but after three years it failed to produce even one bloom. Compost-city for that plant.
Many large-scale operations sell tissue-cultured daylilies for greater profit. When you see what should be an expensive daylily being sold at a 'cheap-o' price, this could indicate that it has been tissue-cultured. But often, these daylilies can be priced as expensively as the field grown divisions. This is why knowing your source is so important.
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