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My name is Gayle Story, but several of the daylily people have known me in the past as Gayle Menges. I live in Danville, Illinois which is in Zone 5 and presents some challenges for hybridizing daylilies as we can have droughty weather in the summer and very cold windy winters with little snow cover. I cannot use much supplemental water ( only on new seedlings)as our well will not allow it.Nor do I use a lot of fertilizer, as I want to evaluate new seedlings at their "worst". If they can't thrive without a lot of help, then the average gardening person will not be successful in growing the new hybrids. I also do not use chemical insecticides but I do use chemical herbicides such as Treflan or Preen (saves the back!)
I have been breeding daylilies for over 20 years, but a divorce, and then my remarriage to my WONDERFUL husband Rick has resulted in a couple of moves, fortunately all within 15 miles. But in the process, some of my seedlings haven't reached bloom size as soon as I would like, so I have either just used them for breeding or decided not to introduce them. Most of the gentic material of my selected seedlings are from Salter, Stamile, Rice, Trimmer, Benz, Carpenter, and Hansen lines. I have been "out of the loop" for several years while putting my son through college and working as a Landscape Designer, since I could not take time off during the busy season to attend conventions and seminars as I once did. My wonderful husband allowed me to retire in 2004 from the landscaping business to concentrate on raising daylilies and taking care of our home and our elderly parents. Hopefully, I will be able to attend more daylily functions in the future!!
My hybridizong focus is on clear blue lavendar diploids, true red sunfast tets, patterned eyes in all ploidys,clear purples and just good "doers". Many of the daylilies bred from Zone 7 and south , while breathtakingly beautiful, do not perform nearly so well this far north as they do in areas with warmer weather and longer growing seasons. I do not grow many yellow daylilies and no golds as I just don't like them!! You will also find few spider forms here, although some of the variant forms show up occasionally, mostly in the smaller flowers. I am located 30 miles east of Champaign IL (GO ILLINI!), just off I74 and the garden is not hard to find. We love visitors!! I can be reached at:
Gayle Story
14041 E 2200 N Road
Danville, IL 61834
e-mail: natures_edge@comcast.net |
