Waterfall Ruffles

 Waterfall Ruffles

(SDLG# EHFHSMSE139)

2021 - Reeder - Diploid

Impressionist At Heart x Wabi Sabi

38" scape - 5" flower - 4 branches - 19 buds

Midseason - Dormant

Polychrome of cream with peach flush and pink midribs above chartreuse to golden throat.

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Waterfall Ruffles is a full sibling to Solar Spiral, and this demonstrates the extreme ends of the spectrum of seedlings that both parents can produce. Waterfall Ruffles is just stunning, a stunning flower and a stunning display in the garden. With the pale creamy-peach coloring and the profuse ruffles on the long, curled petals carried on tall, branched scapes with a lot of buds, along with a beautiful plant, Waterfall Ruffles was a revelation to me as to the breeding power of both Impressionist At Heart and Wabi Sabi.

Waterfall Ruffles was bred in 2014 and germinated in 2015. It went through the last two years of my rust resistance screening, rating A+ level resistance both years. The resistance to thrips is also very high and the flower always looks very good in the garden. Waterfall Ruffles shows excellent breeding value for both rust and thrips resistance, making it a valuable plant for the breeder interested in improving these traits in their lines while retaining fanciness in the flowers.

Gorgeous flower, gorgeous scapes, gorgeous foliage. The complete package...

Many of the things I have said about sibling Solar Spiral could also be said for Waterfall Ruffles. Both received numerous good traits from both parents, and importantly, the cross corrected the one major flaw of Wabi Sabi, so that both Waterfall Ruffles and Solar Spiral show strong scapes that, while tall, do not lean or fall over. I can't tell you how happy I was to see this the first year they flowered. I had hoped to correct that problem in Wabi Sabi with the cross to Impressionist At Heart, but you never know what will happen, and things can go wrong just as easily as they go right, especially when you don't have breeding data from untested seedlings. This is an instance where it went right.

The flower of Waterfall Ruffles is unusual and, some days, downright weird. Of course, Substantial Evidence is a grandparent, so one might expect some wonderful weirdness! While the flower is certainly not a normal flower, it doesn't do quite enough 'unusual' stuff, consistently enough, to meet the stringent requirements to be called an "unusual form". It is still not a normally-formed flower, by any stretch of the imagination, and most people would register it as an unusual form. It breeds fully unusual form seedlings when mated in that direction. The color of the flower is delightful. A combination of bone, bisque, cream, peach, pink and olive to chartreuse in the throat, the flower is a wonderful combination of tones that makes it really glow it the garden. The ruffles on the long curling petals and sepals are a delight and are always present. As a parent, Waterfall Ruffles can throw seedlings with tremendous ruffles. I can't tell you how much I love ruffles, and I can't tell you how much I love this plant, its flower, and what it can do in the seedling bed!

I occasionally see folding and pleating on Waterfall Ruffles flowers. Not enough to register is as a sculptural form, but it does happen and I have seen it occur in the seedlings, as well. I think Waterfall Ruffles could easily be used in lines breeding for pleated sculpting at the diploid level.

The plant of Waterfall Ruffles is stunning, with gorgeous foliage. The plant is a hardy dormant that shows excellent increase and vigor. Quick recovery after division is combined with a plant that doesn't quickly die out in the center and have to be divided and refreshed, meaning the gardener can leave it in place for several years, or, because of the quick recovery, divide it often for increase. Combined with the high rust resistance, you have a really good plant for the garden, and because of all these traits, it is also a stellar breeder for both plant and flower.

The flowers of Waterfall Ruffles hold up well to sun and heat, as well as rain, and still look good at sunset, as you see in this picture.

With excellent substance, owing to grandparent Substantial Evidence, Waterfall Ruffles is a great garden plant and passes this great substance to offspring, making for a great breeder, as well.

Waterfall Ruffles shows excellent fertility both ways, and is an excellent parent. I know that some people don't consider these cream polychrome types to be "fancy" and maybe look at them as "old fashioned", but the melon base is the most important factor in breeding clear, clean pastel anthocyanic colors such as pink or lavender, as well as purple, and all the anthocyanic colors are brighter and clearer on a light, diluted, melon base. Of course, I am biased, because the pale melons, near whites and palest yellows are some of my very favorite colors in daylilies, and to me they are the most important of all the colors, both for their ability to withstand sun and heat without heavy damage and because of their breeding ability in making the clearest, cleanest pinks and lavenders (my other favorite colors in daylilies). Every color benefits from a palest melon under color. Beyond that, these pale colors catch light in the garden better than any of the darker shades, and so can be used to accent other plants and to bring more light into the garden in the late evening, as the pale flowers catch and reflect declining evening light until near dark, and where the flowers hold up after dark, they will also capture moonlight, further extending the joy of the garden into the dark hours. Artificial lighting in the evening hours will do the same thing, and isn't dependent on the lunar cycle or the vagaries of the weather. Ruffled Waterfalls is an excellent breeder for producing beautiful colors, gorgeous forms, amazing plants and great resistance to thrips and rust.

Whether you grow Waterfall Ruffles as a garden plant or as a breeding plant (or both) it will bring much benefit and joy into your garden and your breeding program. The many fine qualities of the plant and the flower combine to make a plant that is a step ahead of many plants that might have a flower that superficially looks similar. I think Waterfall Ruffles sets a new standard for garden plants that combine gorgeous flowers with exceptional plant traits and high resistance to disease and pests.

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