Michele Rogers began her daylily journey shortly after graduating from high school, while working for the late Robert Ellison of Rockford, Illinois. During that time, she learned the ins and outs of daylily hybridizing from Bob while completing college.

After college, Michele married her husband, Anthony, and began both her family and her career as a high school science teacher at Stillman Valley High School. She has now taught there for 24 years. Michele lives on a small 10-acre farm surrounded by cornfields in Stillman Valley, a rural town in northern Illinois, USDA Zone 5b. She and Anthony have two children, Braden and Alyse. Braden is in his second year of college, and Alyse will graduate from eighth grade this year. Their family also raises and rides Quarter Horses, and the children raise dairy goats to show through 4-H and FFA.

Michele began actively hybridizing daylilies in 2020 and introduced her first cultivars in 2024. She continues to work with Bob Ellison’s beautiful ruffled diploids, with a goal of developing strong patterns and edges, and she also enjoys working with tetraploids known for their dramatic edges.

Her garden, named in memory of Bob Ellison, honors the mentor who first shared his knowledge and passion for daylilies with her. Michele hybridizes under the name Ellison Daylilies by Michele Rogers. Though she considers herself a small-scale hybridizer, daylilies have become a meaningful and peaceful part of her life—especially during the summer months when school is out and she can reconnect with nature. She is excited to share more of her journey with fellow daylily enthusiasts.