Phenotype:
Remontant
Remontant (reblooming) traits fall across a range of sizes and multiple family lines within my program, with some lines not being related or even similar - i.e., Vorlon Revelation - a large plant with unusual form flowers and tall scapes - vs - short daylilies for borders or containers such as Substantial Glow or Early Symphony. This section does not represent a single family line, but all the areas where rebloom has been significant or is available from heterozygous sources within my over all diploid program.
Vorlon Revelation shows reliable rebloom here in my zone 6 garden and its offspring show many reblooming individuals.
While Frans Hals rarely reblooms, I have seen it do so occasionally, but Soul of the South is a reliable rebloomer here and so are many of the seedlings deriving from crossing the two. Some also include Endless Heart in the ancestry, and many of these show repeated rebloom.
This seedling from Navajo Princess x Substantial Evidence has shown rebloom every year since it first flowered. Some of its siblings show rebloom as well, but this one has been the most reliable. It is also one of the so-called "hard dormant" types, showing strong senescence of foliage, resting buds through winter and late emergence in the spring. I think this one will be very useful for breeding northern reblooming types.
Now registered as 'Flamingos On Ice', this is another one that reliably reblooms here and that has produced a significant number of seedlings that do so too. In addition to the interesting possibilities with color and form, this one is an excellent breeder for rebloom on medium height scapes.
The seedling above is now registered as Phoenician Royalty. It is an excellent plant and flower, but it is also a strong rebloomer, showing remontant behavior here every year. I have also seen several seedlings from Phoenician Royalty that have consistently rebloomed here. An excellent breeder for rebloom on large plants with tall scapes! The two seedlings in the slide below have been consistent rebloomers, amongst their many other good traits.
My 2018 introduction Ziggy Played Guitar has been very popular. In addition to the high disease resistance and stunning flower, it is a consistent rebloomer, and has been here since its first year of flower in 2011. I have numerous reblooming seedlings from Ziggy.
Substantial Evidence rarely reblooms for me, but it consistently throws reblooming seedlings, a trait it has shown here and for many other people who have worked with it. Richard Norris has introduced rebloomers from this family line, and his 'Ashwood Wray of Sunshine' is a strong rebloomer. I have produced numerous reblooming seedlings from working with Substantial Evidence.
Knowing Substantial Evidence carried reblooming genes, I crossed it with Stella De Oro. I got surprisingly good results that resulted in three introductions - Substantial Glow, Substantial Returns and Substantial Substance. All three show rebloom here, and excellent performance with flat, open flowers in bright colors. All three are breeding interesting flowers and reblooming traits.
2019 introduction Wabi Sabi is a Substantial Evidence seedling that has shown consistent rebloom here in my garden. Another Substantial Evidence seedling that shows wonderfully weird flowers and reliable rebloom, I have multiple seedlings from it that show remontant behavior.
This wonderful seedlings is from reliably reblooming Early Sympathy x Wabi Sabi. It has rebloomed every year since first flower.
I intentionally bred for reblooming traits early on in my diploid program, looking for more understanding of how the traits work for future breeding application. The four introductions in the slide above all show rebloom and involve plants of known breeding value for rebloom, even in colder, northern climates.
Those reblooming introductions above are all producing their own reblooming offspring.
While they almost never rebloom, the seedlings in the slide above are very important in my opinion. Extremely high rust resistance through all five years of screening and the highest thrip resistance I have ever found in any early flowering diploid. With Early & Often as one parent, these seedlings do throw reblooming seedlings, which is just one more good trait for which they show breeding value.
These are F2 seedlings from mating the F1 seedlings with each other - sibling matings. This was to test for rust and thrip resistance variables, and to see the recessive traits such as reblooming and dark scapes re-emerge. Several showed strong rebloom. Rust resistance and thrip resistance has been very high in these seedlings.
The seedlings above are the cross of Darrel Apps' reblooming Endless Heart x the (Early & Often x Army of Darkness) sdlgs. Lots of rebloom amongst these seedlings.
The clump above and the individual flower picture below are from the same seedling (Substantial Evidence x Kaleidoscopic Intrigue), which sometimes shows this really strong patterning. An evergreen that is hardy, if not vigorous, here in my zone 6 garden, it was extremely rust resistant through all five years of my screening program, and it also shows reliable rebloom here every year.
I crossed the (Substantial Evidence x Kaleidoscopic Intrigue) sdlg with the (Early & Often x Army of Darkness) sdlgs in 2016. I saw the first flowers on those seedlings in 2018. Below are couple that I especially liked. Several of these rebloomed in 2018. Thrip resistance was good in these as well. Most were early-early and early flowering.
Reblooming is a complex phenotype that seems to involve many genes. Rebloom seems to be much easier to achieve in warm-winter climates. Typically, the higher the USDA zone number the more things will rebloom, while the lower the USDA zone number the fewer things that will rebloom. What reblooms in my zone 6 garden may not rebloom in someone else's zone 5 or 4 garden. That is one reason I made an effort early on to bring in things that were known to show rebloom in zones colder than mine. However, to know if plants from my breeding program will rebloom consistently in colder climates, I will need to hear from people growing them there. Rebloom is an important trait to me at both the diploid and tetraploid level, but it is not something I can focus on exclusively. As more and more reblooming plants are made final selections amongst my base plants, I will be able to give this trait more focus, and I am always considering it, often crossing it into lines without it wherever I can.
