Virtually every visitor to my Utah garden comments of this big, bold orange. A double fan to shipped anytime buyer chooses after April 15. Hybridizer's picture and description.

AZTEC RULER

(Benz) tet 28" M. Dor. (Jerusalem X Golden Herald)

When I first spied GOLDEN HERALD as a seedling, I searched for suitable foils. GOLDEN HERALD was the roundest, flattest and most heavily ruffled gold I had seen, but was not the deep intense shade of orange-gold I so love, and it was evergreen and badly damaged the first winter. There are lots of dormant orange golds, but nearly all are devoid of form and ruffling and most are difficult to use. Thus I became determined to use Don Stevens JERUSALEM, introduced way back in 1985. This older daylily still has few peers for color, ruffling and overall plant habit. Makes big blue-green dormant plants with 4-way branching and up to 30 buds. Only one small drawback…. JERUSALEM is nearly pod-sterile. After trying unsuccessfully to make this cross for 2 years in a row, I unpotted my big clump of JERUSALEM and cut nearly all the roots off every fan. Then I planted 2 dozen small fans in full shade, and voila…the next summer I harvested 50 seeds from a hard won cross of JERUSALEM X GOLD PERFECTION. When they bloomed, these seedlings exceeded my expectations in every way. I have selected 3 for possible introduction, and of these, AZTEC RULER is the largest in both flower and plant. First blooms are 6 inches in diameter, with petals 3.75 inches wide. This flower, though not quite as voluptuous as its pollen parent is a much deeper color, being a glowing saturated orange-gold, more intense in color than either parent. AZTEC RULER is even heavier in substance than GOLDEN HERALD, and most important it is a true blue-green, crown building northern DORMANT. Scapes are thick and strong, but only moderately well branched with 18-20 buds. Fertile both ways and used heavily here