AN ALL-AMERICAN SUCCESS STORY

WHAT'S NEW WITH BLACK EYED STELLA (PP#7909)

Black Eyed Stella, the daylily that wowed gardeners and plant professionals with its ability to bloom uninterrupted for months, celebrates its first anniversary in the market place this year. From Florida to California to New England, Black Eyed Stella has been welcomed for its near continuous blooming even in the hot, humid South. In fact, the warmer the climate the longer it blooms, with counts of flowers for over 275 days at test sites in Naples, Florida and Long Beach, California. Even in cold climates, Black Eyed Stella blooms for four months.

"When Jack first saw this hybrid, he knew by its growth habit and performance that he had a winner and we put all our energy behind it," says Jo Roberson, wife of hybridizer Jack Roberson. Dr. Roberson, Black Eyed Stella's hybridizer, spent ten years developing the plant. The Robersons, who own American Daylily & Perennials in Grain Valley, Missouri, worked diligently with horticulturists and gardeners throughout the country this first year measuring the patented Black Eyed Stella's success. "The reaction to Black Eyed Stella has been phenomenal. I had 300 phone calls from Sarasota one weekend because of a single newspaper article," says Jo.

Due to this overwhelming response, American Daylily and their licensed growers could not meet the demand in 1994. The Robersons had taken to heart the professional advice as to the appropriate numbers to have available for an All-American market, and pushed production accordingly. But the demand far exceeded the top end calculations. "Calls came from everywhere around the United States and several countries abroad!" says Jo.

AN ALL-AMERICAN DAYLILY

Black Eyed Stella is the first daylily ever to win the All-American Daylily Selection award. The All-American Daylily Selection Council was organized in 1989 to evaluate daylilies for their overall performance. According to Angelo Cerchione, Executive Director of the council headquartered in Deep Gap, North Carolina: "Since the turn of the century there have been 39,000 daylily cultivars registered; 13,000 are still in commercial circulation; of these only a small percentage are outstanding for long-term garden performance. Many have gorgeous blooms, but the average daylily stays in bloom only three weeks. However, few daylilies will bloom over and over again through the season, performing for 75% to 90% of the typical blooming season of perennials."

Black Eyed Stella may be the most outstanding and widely tested of these, blooming almost like an annual-almost continuously through the season. Reblooming daylilies flower in cycles. At one Midwest Botanic Garden where Black Eyed Stella was planted in the fall of ''93, it shows almost no lull when compared to other reblooming types; Black Eyed Stella always seems to have a bloom on it throughout the season.

"The two hottest selling daylilies in the world today are Stella de Oro and Black Eyed Stella," says Angelo Cerchione. "Conservative estimates put Stella de Oro's sales at thirty million during the 20 years it has been in commerce. But its value as a high-performance daylily became known largely through awkward happenstance and word-of-mouth endorsements. We think that this process can be accelerated through testing and the publicizing of those test results." Due to Black Eyed Stella's strong performance in a wider range of zones than most daylilies, including Stella de Oro, the projected market for its sales looks very bright. American Daylily and several of their licensed growers are aggressively striving to accommodate the public demand.

According to Skeetter McCorkle, of McCorkle Nurseries, a wholesale nursery in Dearing, Georgia, "Black Eyed Stella is the first daylily to bloom for us of the twenty varieties that we grow. It begins in mid-April and continues until frost."

McCorkle adds that Black Eyed Stella has "pretty well proven itself in broad scale testing, showing an adaptability to six climactic zones. Few plants have a range zone as broad as this, especially daylilies. This is one you can grow from Miami to Minneapolis." (Tests are currently being conducted in Canada and abroad to study its hardiness and performance in the other climates.)

SECOND YEAR IS BETTER THAN THE FIRST

All daylily plants need a year in the ground before they begin to reach their full potential. Gardeners planting Black Eyed Stella or any other daylily should remember not to judge it entirely on its first season, especially if it was planted in the spring. "It is the internal, first-year mission of a daylily to establish itself," notes Cerchione. "Therefore, it puts its energies into root development. The second year it concentrates on increasing its fans and on flower production." However, Black Eyed Stella is impressing first year growers and gardeners by multiplying very rapidly, especially if given a reasonable amount of water and fertilizer. At the Midwest botanic garden site, plants started from a single fan in August produced at least eight or ten fans when they came up the next spring.

Another thing gardeners should remember is that blossoms also look better and will be in greater abundance in the second year. "The color of the flower is best once the plant is established," says John Burke, New Products Coordinator for Hines Wholesale Nursery in Irvine, California. "You don't usually see the full color potential of Black Eyed Stella or any other daylily until it is well established."

GREAT FOR GROUND COVER AND POTS

While the growth habit of many daylilies is tall and lanky-because they are bred for spectacular show flowers and not landscaping-the nice compact growth of Black Eyed Stella makes it a good looking ground cover. The horticulturists at the Midwest display site find that gardeners who are looking for a landscape daylily find their bed of Black Eyed Stella particularly outstanding and showy for a long time.

In addition, the compact habit and handsome full growth makes it suitable for containers, either alone or mixed with other perennials and annuals. "It has a fairly small root system and puts out so many fans that it fills a container faster than other daylilies would," says Burke. With container or patio gardening so popular, Black Eyed Stella fits still another gardening "niche."

NOTES ON GENERAL CARE

Black Eyed Stella responds well to water and fertilizer, but needs nothing unusual or extra. Customers will find it both cold hardy and heat tolerant. Of the many daylily cultivars available, certainly it is easy to grow. Gardeners should plant it in full sun for best show.

Nurserymen should instruct customers that the first year is the most critical for the plant. Set plants out in fall in areas where this is possible and in spring in northern climates. Keep plants watered and fertilized in the first year and then sit back and enjoy the extra-long flowering show.

For further information call Jo Roberson, American Daylily & Perennials (800) 770-2777