Martin Kamensky "A Jewel of SMDS" Kathy Rinke June 23, 2008 A visit to the gardens of Martin Kamensky has inspired me. My husband Fred and I visited the garden of Martin Kamensky of Shelby Twp., on Sunday, June 23, 2008. Such a gracious host, Martin had cookies and beverages waiting for his guest, and freely shared his years of experience. Though early in the season, one of Martin's goals is early bloomers, so there were some beautiful blooms in his garden. As soon as we stepped out of the car, our attention was drawn to a beautiful clump of a 4" lemon yellow self that reached 32". We love yellows and have lots of them, but nothing in our garden has the combination of color, height and bloom size of this attention getter. Martin told us that it was his : BY THE GOLDEN RULE (Kamensky, 2005) 23” - 4” EERe ext. dormant fragrant (STELLA D'ORO x BEAUTY TO BEHOLD) x JUDGE ORR "Lemon Yellow self has all segments recurved and petals slightly ruffled. It is very fragrant and extra early that starts to bloom early June in our garden and reblooms in July and September. It has four-way branching and up to 30 buds. It is the longest blooming daylily in our garden. Fertile both ways but not easy to set seed and slow to increase." When Martin says a plant reblooms, you can believe that it will rebloom in the north. He has very strict standards, and northern rebloom is one of his top priorities. BY THE GOLDEN RULE is definitely worth any wait needed for it to clump up. Martin showed us registered plants and seedlings that were in bloom, and at the same time had scapes that were just starting. Many of his registered cultivars bloom early and then rebloom twice ! In our area, it isn't often that you see reds and burgundies blooming in early June, but Martin has them. He uses E. Winniford's LITTLE ROSY CLOUD in much of his work which results in rebloom and great scaping. Martin has also been working with larger flowers, SHY PIROUETTE, has 7" pink blossoms with a large burgundy eye on 26" scapes that dance in the wind. SHY PIROUETTE is a unusual form - cascade. It begins to bloom in late June and has one rebloom when established, it's fertile both ways. She would be a beautiful addition to any garden. While Martin has been working so successfully towards rebloom cultivars, he also has been creating some in a larger size and is adding spiders and unusual forms to his program. Martin Kamensky now has 61 registered cultivars, and is definitely a "Jewel" of SMDS and the Daylily World. _ |
| ______________________________________________________ Nature’s Delights Martin and Lydia Kamensky We have daylilies blooming from mid May until frost in October. Extra early cultivars are first to bloom; early cultivars bloom in June. Peak blooming season in our garden is mid July. Late cultivars bloom late August and September. Rebloomers are the last ones to bloom. We are happy to have visitors, but please call before you come. Our efforts in hybridizing have been in the pursuit of hardy northern rebloomers. Some cultivars that we introduced are the result of three to four generations of hybridizing from the original STELLA DE ORO. We are getting some wonderful rebloom in melons, pinks, lavenders and eyed daylilies. Recently we added spiders and unusual forms to our program. - Martin Kamensky Click to Email Martin |
| SMILE FOR ME (Kamensky, 2006) This is a pale peach beauty with a rose eye and green throat seems to always smile when I look at it. Blossoms are round, slightly ruffled and recurved. It starts to bloom in our garden late june and reblooms in July and September. It has two-way branching and a bud count of up to 12. It is fertile both ways and increase is moderate. 19" - 3.5" E Re Dor Dip Pale Peach Blend with Rose Eye above Green Throat (Ottawa Bride x sdlg) |
| RASPBERRY PUNCH (Kamensky, 2006) Slightly ruffled and recurved rose with double stenciled, burgundy eye, lighter midribs and yellow throat. Starts to bloom late June and has two reblooms, one in July and second in Setember. It has a moderate increase, is fertile both ways, two-way branching with a bud count of 10 20" - 3.75" E Re Dor Dip Rose Blend with Burgundy Eye above Yellow Throat (Rosy Returns x sdlg) |
| SILENT ANGEL (Kamensky, 2005) Lovely pale peach diamond dusted bitone with yellow throat. The blossoms are delicately ruffled and slightly recurved. The scapes have a budcount of up to 12. It begins to bloom mid June, reblooms in July and in September. It is fertile both ways and increase is moderate. 22" - 4" E Re Dor Dip Pale Peach Polychrome above Yellow Throat [Chippewa Bride x (Grecian Pearl x Forsyth Lemon Bounty)] |
| Pristine Gold (Kamensky, 2005) Round, gold self with wide segments that are fully recurved, ruffled and overlapped. It starts blooming late June, reblooms in July and September. Her scapes have three way branching with a bud count of up to 16. It increased rapidly and is fertile both ways 26" - 3.5" E Re Dor Dip Gold Self (Len Ty x sdlg) |
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