Think you could sell a daylily that blooms continuously for up to 270 days?

That is rated excellent for growth in six hardiness zones?

That, as a hardy perennial, over-winters well as far north as Minnesota?

That keeps lush, dark-green foliage throughout the summer months -- even as far down as southern Florida?

And that is a close descendant of the most widely acclaimed daylily in recent history?

Well, you soon can do your salesman's best with 'Black eyed Stella,' the first-ever All-America designate by the All-America Daylily Selection Council.

Licensed growers of the patented plant will introduce it into the nation's retail market in 1994.

The showy cultivar blooms only at 14-to-22 inches tall and increases in fans 500 percent to 1,200 percent annually.

'Black Eyed Stella' (PP#7909) rose to the top among some 6,000 daylilies screened and tested by the All-America Daylily Selection Council (AADSC) over the past six years. It is the achievement of hybridizer Jack Roberson, and it is being introduced by American Daylily & Perennials, Inc., Grain Valley, Mo., which is owned by him and his wife, Jo.

The continuous bloom habit was the primary goal of Roberson's hybridizing. "I wanted a plant that had the basic blooming habit of its pod parent, 'Stella de Oro.' I also strived for a color breakthrough to separate it from the many yellow Stella look-a-likes out there," said Roberson. "I chose an 'eyed Stella' as my goal because blooms with dramatic color contrast have always been a favorite of both our catalog customers and garden visitors. I was fortunate in being able to imprint a dark-red eye on a glowing yellow bloom."

Roberson said it took many years of hybridizing and more than 3,000 hybrid crosses to develop 'Black Eyed Stella.'