Daylilies: Clump Thread, 1 by virginiarose

virginiarose wrote:
Thanks everyone!

You are right Mike, it is good to know the micro-climates. My hot zone would be the back yard because the privacy fence holds in heat and humidity. My cool spot in under the Birch trees where the zone is a full 20° cooler and always a nice breeze. That is where the hostas are.

I purchased some dormants in the spring and they went into shock as soon as they got here, it was just too hot, they went into a summer dormancy and died all the way down to the dirt, then when it cooled off some sprouted and some were dead. lol. Most dormants are not happy here, but I think I should plant dormants in the fall so they get the cold spell and gradually heat up but in part sun instead of full sun, to me that would be a good way to acclimatize a dormant into a warmer zone. We shall see.

Evergreens are more successful up north if you plant them in the spring, they have all year to get roots down and acclimatize which helps them make it through the winter. blomma said she never had any trouble with evergreens and she lives in zone 4!

However, there are those who register their daylilys as semi-evergreen when they are not, they just want to sell to more people up north! Some just seem to label everything SEV. because they cross a dormant with an evergreen and you get this magical daylily that is good all over the US and that is not true.
Most of the time the plant takes after one parent or the other, I was wondering if SEV is something they made up for marketing purposes? I have PRINCESS DIANA which is supposed to be SEV but it acts like a dormant and gets smaller each year, I wonder if they put SEV on a dormant to get people in the south to try it?

Live and learn! I think it is worth it to try what you love, just do not pay a lot for it just in case. I do not believe the hybridnizer photos either, they are touched up and even photoshopped! They do not realize that we will not go back and buy their daylilies if they do not come true. The colors are so ridiculous I must insist on seeing it in a real garden, photographed by a real gardner.

I myself have decided not to plant anything else in the spring because it gets too hot too fast and I am stuck watering them everyday. If I plant things in the fall I do not have to water at all, as long as it is not too late in the fall. I noticed that a little plant tone or bone-meal helps get them roots down pretty fast, if you know what I mean. :) My problem is that I get board over the winter and start shopping, I am glad I did my shopping at Maryott's because he will gladly hold them till fall for me.

I have a clump of COMING ALIVE , my first free intro. from Maryott's. This daylily looks like it is on fire when the sun shines on it. It was registered as having two branches and mine has 4 but the bud count is small, no rebloom. Sorry for bad pic!