Michael Bouman's Daylilies and Seeds
Michael Bouman and Karen Berry
624 Hidden Lake Drive
St. Peters, MO 63376
(636) 284-7745
Contact
Photos at Flickr.com, user boumanm
Blog: Creating Interest
About Daylily Lay
Daylily Lay is the name of a gardening passion. It's a whimsical name, lest I take myself too seriously. In Bob Dylan's Lay Lady, Lay there's a "big brass bed." Here, there's a big grass bed. My wife Karen Berry helps with the daylilies and manages extensive plantings of many other things to attract birds, butterflies, and bees.
The primary joy of this property is the small lake and the waterfowl who use it year-round.
Karen and I grow 800 varieties of daylilies and have realized that is hundreds too many! We want to provide the plants with plenty of space between them. Space promotes enjoyment. Crowding promotes anxiety. Early on summer mornings, I'm out there crossing one daylily with another in the hope of producing special new ones.
My seedling starter beds are in the forground in ten strips going down the slope to the lake. After three seasons the "keepers" from each crop of 2000 are moved to another bed and the rest are removed to make room for another crop. There are always about 6000 seedlings on the slope.
I register my best hybrids with the American Daylily Society (ADS). Plants are available only by mail via internet sales or through my donations to garden clubs. I do not operate a nursery, and there are no direct sales. Visitors are welcome during bloom season. Mornings are the best time to enjoy the gardens. Please call ahead.
I enjoy giving talks to garden clubs anywhere in North America.
A one-page profile of me appeared in Missouri Gardener in the July/August issue, 2017. I was featured in the Spring 2018 issue of The Daylily Journal.
Ordering Information
Please contact me before sending an order, as supplies are limited. I ship USPS Priority Mail. Postage cost is $10 plus $3 for each additional plant.
2019 Introductions
I Like You and I Love You
(Hoochie Coochie Man X (Soul of Fire x Glory in Red))
Tetraploid 6.5”, 29”, Semi-evergreen, Midseason, Rebloom, 3 branches,
12 buds, fertile both ways. Ruffled bright red self with a green throat and a slight
hint of a white picotee. A friend of the family chose this daylily as an anniversary gift
for her husband and she chose the name as well. I am holding the remainder of the plant
for increase for another year or two. It is my largest bright red daylily.
Melanie Leigh
(Rock Solid X Bridgeton Finesse) Tetraploid 5”, 27”, Dormant, Early, 2 branches,
17 buds, fertile both ways. Cream with an oversize medium violet eyezone and a gnarly double edge
of cream and violet above a gold to olive throat. Vigorous, fine grower,
and a scape factory when in clump strength. Named for a former voice student of my late wife Sandra and a long-time
friend of the family.
$75 double
fan
Constant Stranger
(Rings of Wonder X Aliens in the Garden) Tetraploid 5”, 24”, Dormant, Midseason, 5 branches,
25 buds, fertile both ways. It all comes down to consistency when you try
to breed for patterns in my climate. This one is good! Deep reddish purple with lavender midribs and a
consistent multi-colored patterned eye. Vigorous and dependable plants.
The name is snatched from a Joni Mitchell song.
$75 double fan
Dad's Dress Whites
(Frostbite Falls X (Sherry Lane Carr x Moment in the Sun))
Tetraploid, 5”, 29”, Evergreen, Mid-Late, 6 branches,
34 buds, fertile both ways. Crisp, vigorous, consistent, dependable near white with a fancy gold edge
and a general infusion of green. Named in honor of naval service personnel like my father, who served in
North Africa in World War II. He broke his leg in a traffic accident and was hospitalized for 18 months
before being honorably discharged as a disabled veteran. $75 double fan
Bicycle Built for Blues
(Vertical Horizon X Blue Beetle) Tetraploid
5”, 36”, Dormant, Midseason, 4 branches,
24 buds, fertile both ways. Creamy orchid pink with a startling dark blue eyezone outlined in magenta.
The throat is a medley of citrus colors beginning with burnt orange blending to lemon and ending with lime.
There’s some dark veining and a thin double picotee of magenta and blue. $100 double
fan
Button Bay
(Precious Candy X Texas Blue Eyes) Tetraploid
4.5”, 28”, Semi-evergreen, Early Midseason, 3 branches,
12 buds, fertile both ways. Cream lavender with a medium violet eye that covers almost the
entire face of the flower, 3.5 inches! Burnt orange to green throat. Ruffled double edge. Since this
is not a large flower, I have barely explored the potential to transmit that oversize eye to succeeding
generations. Consistent form and perfect morning opening suggest its value in breeding for
oversize and “blue” eyes. $75 double
fan
Background Check
((Reach for the Sky x Nick of Time) X (Arnold's Daughter x Blue Desire)) Tetraploid
7”, 30”, Dormant, Midseason, 2 branches,
14 buds, fertile both ways. Medium purple with a variable patterned lavender eyezone above a
yellow to green throat. Something may emerge in a background check...a shadow from the past, a
failure of respect, a lie,
a wardrobe error.
Who is without those shadows, and years later, what do they weigh? I owe this one to seeds from Dan Robarts.
$75 double
fan
Receding Memory
(Bridgeton Finesse X Precious Candy) Tetraploid
5”, 35”, Dormant, Midseason, 4-5 branches,
27 buds, fertile both ways. Cream pink with lavender eye and ruffled edge of lavender and yellow
above a green throat, the entire face “veiled” in a greenish hue. Cream midribs. Beautiful
plant habit and
sturdy plants with very attractive flowers distinguished by the mysterious veil.
Depending on the weather, the ruffled edge shows cream yellow “claws” and the veil
varies, too. $75 double
fan
Clamdigger Blues
(Footprints in the Sand X Pleasing to the Eye) Tetraploid
5.5”, 34”, Semi-evergreen, Midseason, Rebloom, 3 branches,
20 buds, fertile both ways. Beach sand white with a sandy lavender eyezone and a hemstitched two-color
edge above a yellow to green throat. Makes a nice clump and overall impression.
Clamdiggers were a fashion hit when my sister and I were in our mid-teens back in 1960.
I wore them once or twice and never again. $75 double
fanThe Library at Daylily Lay
From time to time I write about daylilies or daylily people. The Library at Daylily Lay is a download area for PDF files of the pieces I have saved.