breeder's daylilies and daffodils
I don't know about daylily breeders, but I have read about daffodil
breeders. They do compost most of the seedlings at first flowering.
Some plants are held over for further testing, then some of those are
chosen for naming. The ones not chosen to name are offered as mixed
seedlings. Note that they were selected as being perhaps worthy of
naming when they first flowered. The reasons they lost out vary:
perhaps they were good, but not distinct. Maybe they didn't multiply
quickly enough to be a commercial success. One famous breeder (I
think in Ireland) wrote about a wonderful daffodil that bloomed in a
fallow field a couple of years after the field had been cleared and
the bulbs sold as mixed seedlings. This potential prizewinner had
been missed in the final selection, and they would never have known
about it except that a small offset had been inadvertently left in
the field.
Diane Whitehead Victoria BC Canada
(who hybridizes rhododendrons and starts culling them from the
beginning - any with unhealthy-looking leaves are composted years
before they would have flowered)
