Pages - AHS Region 2

correct: James Marsh, Robert Griesbach, Brother Charles Reckamp,
Orville Fay, Hubert Fischer, and Nate Rudolf, and another person
with the last name of Goodnuff (spelling may not be correct.)
Question: “As a landscape hybridizer, what were your goals”
Al’s answers:
1. Environmentally tolerant. That is, they grow well with lack
of water and fertilizer.
2. Good self dead headers.
3. Large flowers.
4. Color and size that can be seen well from a distance.
5. Colors that look good under street lights at night.
6. Grow like a hedge.
7. Quantity as well as Quality.
To get the thousands of plants needed for the landscaper’s splash
of color, he opened his own tissue culture lab in Howell, with Karen
Bovio as technician. Seedling selections were made by the customer
before being sent to the tissue culture lab for increase. Plants
were then field grown to bloom stage and checked for uniformity.
The results can be seen today by the thousands of unregistered
plants that were marketed under such names as Citron, Telegraph
Lavender, Birmingham Yellow, Goldner’s Bouquet, and are growing
today in municipal gardens, along roadsides and in highway medians.
His retail outlet was on southbound Telegraph Road, just north
of 12 Mile Road, where Wendy’s restaurant is today. He, then,
bought a greenhouse in Pontiac, which still carries his name. He
hosted an Annual Open Garden event at his house with tents,
Goldner’s still unregistered
daylilies with the garden names
“Dean Corey” (left) and
“Orange Clown” (below).
culture next to the original and would point out the differences and
defects from the original, the correct DBD. He would split crowns
vertically, 4 to 8 ways, to increase the number of fans true to form
more quickly.
Margaret Dixon, his secretary, was important and very instrumental
in registering Al Goldner’s daylilies that possessed collection
and show success possibilities. She pointed out the crosses
and did the AHS registration workup. After her death, registration
workup was continued by Harris Olson and then by Hal Rice.
One very significant problem for daylily collectors, growers, and
connoisseurs is the fact that Al never kept any photographic or
written records of the unregistered daylilies that were important to
his hybridizing goals. This I have tried to do, and after nearly 10
years of interviews and research, I now share my findings with you
as an ongoing and incomplete worksheet. Of the 60 on the list, we
grow over 40 varieties here in the Historic Daylily Garden. I have
taken the liberty to add a few non-Goldner daylilies that were important
to his hybridizing goals, for example: H. ‘Margaret Dixon’
(Knocke 1989) and H. ‘Rander’s Pride’ (Libis 1957) that is in the
parentage of H. ‘Sears Tower’. Sometimes Al used the same name
for two or more different daylilies, and these are noted in the list.
Editor’s note:
Many of the 2002 AHS National Convention visitors expressed
their desire to know more about Goldner’s beautiful daylily
creations in the tour and open gardens in the Detroit area, and they
wanted to know more about Al Goldner and his hybridizing
achievements.
All images: LaVere Webster.
Goldner Daylilies
REGISTERED and Unregistered
An incomplete but ongoing WORKSHEET
compiled by LaVere Webster of Rochester Hills, Michigan
Legend:
UPPER CASE: Registered with AHS.
Lower Case: Unregistered daylily garden names.
# Symbol: Indicates the order of registration with AHS.
+ Symbol: Goldner daylilies grown at the Historic Daylily
Garden, 1160 South Blvd. W., Rochester Hills,
Michigan.
refreshments, and seedling daylilies for sale. Three mature clumps
for $10 would fill the trunk of any buyer’s car. The most often ask
question was, “What kind of fertilizer do you use” Al’s answer:
“27/3/3, the same as for grass.”
Al was past president of the first local Daylily-Hosta Society,
and he served as president of the Michigan Nurseryman’s Association
(1962) and the Metropolitan Detroit Landscape Association
(1965-1966).
The DBD story (H. ‘Dance Ballerina Dance’ by Peck, 1976) must
be shared. Virginia Peck refused to sell it to anyone and only gave
it to friends who promised never to sell it or give it to someone who
would sell it. When Virginia gave a piece of DBD to a Region 2
auction, three Detroit area hybridizers pooled their money and
bought it for $350, or was it $500 or $550 Nobody remembers for
sure. But, it was a lot of money. Goldner planted it in his garden,
and the other plant owners, Howard Hite and Fred Knocke, were
free to use the pollen. Al sent a few fans of DBD to tissue culture,
but it turned out to be unsuccessful upon bloom. He grew tissue
AHS Region 2/Great Lakes Newsletter
#5+ADELINE GOLDNER (Goldner ‘87) 36" MLa 8.5" Golden Yellow
self, gr/gold th Dor Tet Ext (Adeline was Al’s Mother) Crispate,
“semi-Spider” Al’s words.
+AG Red (Goldner, Unregistered) 30 MLa 7 tall red showy.
Alice Burlingame (Goldner, Unregistered) (Free Press Writer).
Alice Weigand (Goldner, Unregistered)
#8+AMELIA MUSSER (Goldner ‘89) 30 L 7" lemon yellow blend w
light midribs Dip.
Arthur Malone (Goldner, Unregistered) 36" La 6" light Peach (creamy
pink) & Yellow blend heavy texture & branching, wide petals, gr to
chart th, rose-pink halo.
#1 ASWAN (Goldner " ‘79) 20 MLa 6” chartreuse self dor.
#9+ AUGUST CHEER (Goldner ‘90) 30 L 5 Pink/dk rose w purple on
tips, bright Y th to 1/2 of petal length.
Baby Smiles (Goldner, Unregistered)
+Bangkok Red (Goldner, Unregistered) 36/38" L 6" bright Red w chart
th, light edges & tips.
Fall 2005 - Winter 2006 Page 19