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This and That from AHS to Region 2 The Region 2 Symposium 2005Gunda Abajian: The Daylilies of Ledgewood GardensBy John Sheehan, Madison, WisconsinIfirst met Gunda and Tony Abajian this past ThanksgivingWeekend in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I was attendingthe event to get a first look at the 2005 Introductions of many of themost prolific daylily hybridizers in the country AS WELL AS tohave a chance to order the ones I “had to have” before most 2005catalogs had even been mailed out.After a long day of watching many long slide shows (the imageswere great; however, the chair seats grew harder by the hour), atleast 30 folks gathered in the hospitality room to discuss new introductions,renew old acquaintances and meet new people. I definitelyfit into this last category. After a bit, I was introduced toGunda and Tony. Both let me know right away that Gunda is thehybridizer while Tony is the capable, thoughtful, flexible spousewho willingly asks, “What do you want me to do next, Dear?”What a perfect team!After a short visit there, Gunda and I headed out the sliding deckdoor to escape the smoky, crowded room. The evening was beautiful,cold by North Carolina standards; the moon was full and thewaves were pounding the shore. We visited for perhaps 30 minutes.That is when I learned that Gunda and Tony lived for years inNew York State where they grew roses, rhododendrons, and azaleasand bred champion German Shepherds and Irish Setters. Hernew acquaintance, Grace Stamile, got Gunda hooked on daylilies.When Tony retired, he and Gunda moved to Deland, Florida in theheart of Daylily “Mecca.” They called their new home LedgewoodGardens.Gunda began to collect the newest plants with the best growthhabits and the prettiest faces. Only 5 years ago she began to makecrosses, looking at first for fancy, ruffled flowers; however, sincethen, has widened her horizons to work on producing tiny spiderswith bluish eyes as well as larger blossoms with complex eyes.Many of her blossoms show really bluish hues.Each year Gunda plants her seeds in trays of 74 compartmentseach. She then transplants about 5000 seedlings into 1 gallon potsand watches them take off. In the warm Florida sunshine, many willflower during the first season allowing Gunda to make decisions onwhether to continue on with seedlings or “toss them over the fence.”All of the Introductions and seedlings presented at the Symposiumcan be seen at her web site: http://ledgewoodgardens.com/Gunda’s first group of daylily slides included her 2005 Introductions.Her favorite was ULTIMATE FANTASY, a 7" show stopperwith 4 inch overlapping petals and 2 ¾ inch sepals. This standoutflower is vanilla-cream colored with heavy ruffles. The blossomopens early and presents itself very flat. The deep green throatcontrasts well against the dark raspberry eye attracting visitors allthe way across the garden. Its parents are (WISEST OF WIZARDSX a Kaskel Seedling).My favorite 2005 Abajian Introduction was LEDGEWOOD’SBLUE CRYSTAL. This flower, which is greater than 6 inches indiameter, has a violet-blue light background with a huge, blue layeredeye. White midribs are like a boulevard leading down into abright green throat. Three way branching and great fertility will bea plus for hybridizers. The fact that the pod parent was MortMorss’s very interesting plant, EXTRA TERRESTRIAL, with itsweb-patterned eye of red violet, will help to produce some fabulouskids. Unfortunately, my absolute all time favorite daylily introducedby Gunda was not shown in Cleveland. It was introduced in2004. Gunda describes it as the “bluest” daylily that she has seen.I hope that the image of this flower on the Ledgewood GardensWebsite approximates its real color. This beauty is called IN CA-HOOTS and has a very large, triangular, layered, bluish eye thatemanates from the deep green throat. Blue edged petals are outlinedin gentle, glittery, lemon yellow. These edges surround theheavily ruffled blue-edged petals. This wonderfully mysteriousflower has parents that are described as (Seedling x Seedling).Gunda Abajian’s seedlings show almost unlimited potential. Theyall have clean, non-muddy colors. They run the gamut of colorsand forms. Many have large, deep purple eyes that cover much ofthe petals (seedlings 4S33 & 4M26 & 4P36). 4S33 has only a smallbit of white color at the ends of the petals. These seedlings have ahigh percentage of Sabine Baur genes in them. Other seedlings arespider variants with either lovely, far-reaching bluish or yellowgreeneyes. (4K11 & 4D36) or some seedlings like 4H29, a cross ofEMPIRE RETURNS X J. T. DAVIS, has such deep bas relief ridgesthat a pencil point can be put into them.Gunda even has a series of seedlings with heavy stippling withvarious background colors varying from red to purple (4I11, 4J25and 4I6). There is no question (in MY mind) that Gunda’s mostLEDGEWOOD’S BLUE CRYSTAL,a 2005 introduction (Slide 4L22)Image: Ledgewood websitecontinued on page 19With exception of LEDGEWOODBLUE CRYSTAL, Gunda providedthe slides of these seedling images.Scanning was done by the editor.No color enhancement featureswere used on any of the images onthis page.LEDGEWOOD’S FIRECRACKER (Slide 3D36)Slide C23 (ULTIMATE FANTASY XJT DAVIS)Slide 3G33, Garden Name is “LargePansy Eye”Stippled Seedling comes from (sdl“Large Pansy Eye” X Stamile’s2002 GREEN MYSTIQUE)(Slide 4E15)AHS Region 2/Great Lakes NewsletterSpring-Summer 2005 Page 25