Substance Of Sunlight

Cultivar Name: Substance Of Sunlight

Seedling Number: FHSE 229

Bloom Diameter: 5”

Scape Height: 31”

Branches: 3

Bud Count: 15

Bloom Season: MID-LATE

Rebloom: No

Color/Description: Bright yellow, fading through the day to pale cream with glowing golden throat.

Ploidy: Dip

Bloom Habit: Diurnal

Foliage: Dorm

Fragrance: UNK

Pod Parent: Frans Hals

Pollen Parent: Substantial Evidence

Year Bred: 2013

Rust Resistance: A+/3 years

Fertile: Both ways

For a complete list of my available daylilies and pricing, click here.

Comments: This cross produced a ton of good seedlings. It was hard not to introduce a dozen or so. I have held myself back to just a couple. Substance Of Light is my last introduction from this cross. From the first year it flowered, the seedling that would become Substance Of Light has stood out with its consistency year after year. It has looked good and given a good show each year since first flower in my garden. The flower substance is strong. The flower holds up well in weather extremes. The plant is low growing with nice branches, scapes between 28" to 35", averaging around 31". Rust resistance was very strong through the last three years of my rust resistance screening program. The plant is very hardy, fertile and shows good growth, establishing quickly after division. 

The color starts off bright yellow. As the day goes on the color fades and reveals lighter tones, without the flower substance degenerating. The color it becomes each day can vary. Depending on the weather and location, the flower can fade down to pale yellow, creamy yellow, almost melon-looking to even near-white on a few rare occasions. It is always significantly lighter by the end of the day, regardless of the exact color that is accentuated by the fading of yellow coloring. Substantial Evidence does something like this, of course, but doesn't get as light in tone, at least in my garden. 

Since early childhood, I have loved daylilies with flowers that are yellow in the day and then fade into very pale yellow to cream to near-white in the late afternoon to late evening, but also retain their substance so that the flower looks intact, healthy and not melted. Substance Of Sunlight is a great example of that combination, showing excellent substance even as the flower fades into a beautiful, pastel version of its morning look. Beautiful for the garden and a great breeder for rust resistance, vigor, flower substance and open, sculptural flower form.

Lightening in the afternoon, the yellow throat is starting to stand out from the petal color.

Afternoon, hybridizing garden, 2023.

Mid-morning, 2022.

Bright yellow, as in the registry photo (top of page).

Note that in the morning the throat is not distinguishable from the petal color. It is just a solid yellow flower with a little pigment richness in the range of the midrib on petals and sepals in this part of the day.

2019, seedling bed, early evening.

It actually did look this pale that day. I rarely see it this near-white in the late evening, but it does happen. Note that here, near sunset and with this much pigment reduction, the flower texture is still excellent, and so the flowers are still a beautiful display right up to dark.

Late afternoon, 2021. 

Sometimes I see this peachy-yellow shading. This photo is from mid-afternoon on a cloudy day. It has faded from a darker tone to this medium value at this time in the photo. 

Late afternoon, 2023.

This is the most typical look in the evening, which is very bright and eye-catching through till sunset. 

2022, line out garden, Plant details - plant and scape, late afternoon.

Note how peach its color looks in this photo. That happens occasionally, and I have produced melon-based seedlings from Substance of Sunlight, but it is more often yellow.

2022, late afternoon. Plant detail - scapes

Peach-looking phase.

2021, late afternoon.

This close-up shows the flower in better detail and you can see the yellow coloring is still present in these flowers, while they have taken on a decidedly peachy shading, as well. In part, the lighting this day is probably enhancing the peach effect in the photos, but it was visibly present on this day and I have seen this effect a few times.

2022, near sunset, final cream-phase, on a very clean, clear cream day. 

You can see that the texture and substance are still in good shape here at the end of the day, and the pigment-lightening effect, after the beautiful bright coloring of the earlier day, make this one nice throughout the day.