Cultivar Name: Korean Rosy Skies
Seedling Number: HFKRC7
Bloom Diameter: 5"
Scape Height: 59"
Branches: 5
Bud Count: 25
Bloom Season: Mid-late
Rebloom:
Color/Description: Warm coral pink with lighter midribs above gold to white throat.
Ploidy: Tetraploid
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Foliage: Dormant
Pod Parent: Hemerocallis fulva 'Korean'
Pollen Parent: Rosy Complexion
Year Bred: 2017
Rust Resistance: Unknown (bred after my rust resistance testing ended. Pod parent is highly resistant and produces a high percentage of resistant seedlings)
Fertile: Yes, very fertile both ways
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Comments: Korean Rosy Skies is a cultivar I am particularly proud of for several reasons. First and foremost, it is an F1 seedling from the Korean form of H. fulva (Seoul, South Korea, Apps accession 1984), and it is very difficult to get a pink flower in the F1 seedlings of any of the orange fulva clones. I made hundreds of crosses with the Korean fulva (and raised thousands of seedlings) before I got the first true pink flowered seedling. I have never again gotten flowers at this level of pink from any other crosses with fulva Korean. Secondly, the scapes are very tall, and third, they are very well branched, showing that gorgeous antler or tree-like branching, with lots of buds. Fourth, it is very fertile both ways, setting tons of pods, if you feel inclined to make them. To me, Korean Rosy Skies is the best F1 seedling from fulva Korean that I have introduced to date, and one of the best seedlings I have ever produced from fulva Korean. I can't stress how rare it is to get this tone of pink out of the F1 seedlings, and anyone who has been making crosses with any of the orange fulva clones will know that I am not exaggerating! Korean Rosy Skies is a real breakthrough cultivar, because you can use it to bring in all the good traits from the species parent without compromising the fancy, non-species colors you want to produce in your seedling beds.
Korean Rosy Skies is not only strongly fertile, but it also produces exceptional seedlings, and when bred to other fancy colored plants you see gorgeous pinks, purples, lavenders and melons in the seedlings. The pollen parent of Korean Rosy Skies is John and Anette Rice's wonderfully colored cultivar Rosy Complexion. I have used Rosy Complexion quite a bit and it produces beautiful pink coloring in many of its seedlings. Rosy Complexion is a melon-based flower (lycopene), and so Korean Rosy Skies carries the lycopene (melon) pigmentation mutation as a heterozygote, and can pass it to its seedlings, especially when Korean Rosy Skies is crossed with melon based flowers as seen in the best colored types of near-white, pink, purple, lavender, etc. In addition to the beautiful pink pigmentation of Korean Rosy Skies, its heterozygosity for lycopene is another reason it is such a valuable breeder. Even though many of my F1 seedlings from fulva Korean carry lycopene, the particular combination of lycopene heterozygosity and gorgeous pink anthocyanic pigmentation in Korean Rosy Skies is why it is such an incredibly useful breeder from great coloring.
As if the great flower and tall, antler-branched scapes wasn't enough, Korean Rosy Skies also shows a beautiful plant with excellent vigor and fast increase that recovers quickly from division. The foliage shows a beautiful arching form and a nice medium green tone. I have already mentioned the tall scapes with tree-like branching and good bud counts. The plant is clump forming, but in established clumps you can see some short rhizomatous growth around the clump. It is nothing like what we see in a fulva clone, and Korean Rosy Skies will not show invasive behavior, but the genes for rhizomatous growth will be present in a heterozygous state. For those who want to breed against rhizomatous growth (me included) when Korean Rosy Skies is crossed back to other fancy clump forming cultivars, the majority of the seedlings are fully clump forming. For those who want to make rhizomatous plants though, Korean Rosy Skies offers a rare opportunity to produce seedlings with homozygous rhizomatous growth genes and gorgeous pink coloring. When I selfed Korean Rosy Skies, I saw a few seedling with full rhizomatous growth combined with bright pink flowers. This opens the door to creating rhizomatous selections with bright, modern flower colors - something that should be of great interest in landscapes, reclamation and form permaculture uses.
Korean Rosy Skies was bred after I had completed my rust resistance screening, so I have not tested Korean Rosy Skies for rust resistance and don't know its resistance or susceptibility level to rust. However, fulva Korean is both exceptionally resistant and an exceptionally good breeder for rust resistance showing excellent breeding value for the trait, so I would be extremely surprised if Korean Rosy Skies turned out to be very susceptible. Rosy Complexion (pollen parent) is also moderately resistant to rust (B level), which further suggests Korean Rosy Skies will show some level of rust resistance above average susceptibility. Thrips resistance is moderate, better than fulva Korean. Flowering in the mid-late season also helps with thrips issues, as thrips tend to be less active in the later season garden (at least in my garden). Do note in the images below that the flower buds are clean and don't show enations from thrips feeding activity, and the flowers, even where there are several in an image, aren't mangled or heavily spotted.
I just can't say enough good things about this cultivar. I am very proud of Korean Rosy Skies, both for the difficulty of the achievement in producing it, and for its potential in breeding, bringing much-needed species genetics into the tetraploid level without compromising flower coloring, as well as its contribution to tall programs. I am very happy to bring it to the daylily community. Korean Rosy Skies is named for the beautiful sunsets often seen in South Korea, and especially in Seoul. Just google the term 'Korean Rosy Skies' and you will see many references to this aerial phenomena. Check out the many images below showing the flower, the scapes and the plant in the garden.
