Daylily help

I would like to know more about Daylilies. My wife purchased the plant marked (origional) in picture below. It sat there for a couple of years, and finally it started to bloom in year two. I was very impressed w/ how it just continued to bloom all summer long w/ very little maintenance, or effort. I came to this forum, and learned how, and when to split them. So I split the origional into (slpit #1) in the picture below. Well I must say I was impressed w/ my efforts because split #1 bloomed all summer also. Well you guessed it I split again, and once again I was impressed. I split one more time this fall, and split #3 is already blooming. It appears that I may qualify to be called a beginner Daylily grower. I want to kick it up a notch. I am ready to build a Daylily garden. My question is where do I purchase different varieties of Daylilies? I want more color, Yellow is nice, but I want more colors. Please suggest where a good place to purchase Daylilies. I live in Hutto, Texas just outside of Austin. Please suggest varieties ect. Thanks in advance.

Glad to see your daylilies are doing so well. I cannot recommend varieties, but I will suggest that you ask around at local garden clubs, or daylily clubs. I was able to find several small daylily farms in my area. They are not listed in the phone book or on the internet, but they had lots of daylilies. Most of the daylilies were way out of my budget, but one place (within thirty miles) had a lot of $5.00 daylilies. They were not all yellow or orange ones either. I went back early in the year and the lady was selling a select patch of daylilies for only $2.00 each and they are beautiful to me. The newest ones are the expensive ones($150-$200) each. The older ones are very affordable and there are so many thousands out there to choose from, I am sure you could find several hundred you would love for under $25.00 almost anywhere. Don't write off the big box stores either, they often have some very popular daylilies for a reasonable price. However, they seldom look as good and the fans are not normally as large as you would get from a daylily farm.

I got started with 2 places online -- First Classy Groundcovers to get 24 of several different kinds for a big swath of the same color, and for individiual plants I went to Smokeys Daylilies -- and gor $2 fans of a BUNCH of kinds. I've left positive feedback for both and bought more DL from them for several years in a row. Here are a few of mine from last year.

Your daylily looks like it is probably Stella'd'oro and it blooms most of the summer as does Happy Returns, Rosy Returns and I am sure there are more ever bloomers. Most bloom for about 2 weeks to a month and some will rebloom so that you have a longer bloom season.

Seedfork, etnredclay, hemlady.....Thank you for the feedback.....hemlady wrote:"Stella'd'oro and it blooms most of the summer: Is that to mean most Daylilies do not bloom all summer?.......Does Stella'd'oro come in different colors?......... etnredclay......those are beautiful flowers. Do they bloom all summer? Maybe when I said I wanted to step it up a notch I really meant to say......are there other varieties that bloom all summer, and fall that are as easy to grow as Stella'd'oro? I am looking for something that is easy maintenance, and comes in a variety of colors. I am not interested in $100.00 Daylilies. I have found that pictured Daylilies, and Zinnia's are easy for me to grow. Those are Zinnia's in the front of the pictured bed. I started them in the greenhouse in IHORT plugs, and put them in the ground too early. It got cold, and stunted the growth. I have replacements almost ready.

No not all daylilies bloom all summer long. Stella De Oro is what you call a ever bloomer they have a longer bloom season. Hemlady mentioned some other ever bloomers for you. Happy Returns is a softer yellow than Stella De Oro. Rosy Returns is a pink ever bloomer. Earlybird Cardinal is a red ever bloomer. Those are the ones I can think of right off hand. Some daylilies will have a rebloom just not as long as Stella De Oro. Daylilies have different bloom times. There is early season and mid season and late. You can choose daylilies that bloom at different times to extend your season. They can become a addiction. Good Luck with your garden!

taylordaylily.....thank you. ...you and hemlady have sorta set me straight on what I would like to do. I assume the more I get into Daylilies the more involved I may become. I know that is what happened with tomato's. I started out growing hybrids that are easy to grow, and now I grow mostly heirlooms that take more time, and care. Tomato's are my passion, and I am trying to move to other plants that I don't eat.....just gaze at, and admire.

There is also a Black Eyed Stella and a Ruby Stella that have a long bloom time.

Hornstrider, I have never eaten them but daylilies are edible. In Japan or China (forget which one) they serve salads in the blooms and use the roots in soups and other dishes. I would not eat them unless you know no chemical's were ever used on them.
I have had my addiction to daylilies for about 5 years now. Mine started with Stella De Oro just like you are starting yours. There are so many that will catch your eye you will find yourself with a want list. lol! It is a fun and rewarding addiction.

Oh boy, another addict in the making!

Thanks all.........I have found a supplier named Hallson Gardens that has Ruby Stella, Rosy Returns in stock that sell for $12.00, and $9.00 each. The plants (fans?) are bare root. I am still searching for other varieties suggested. Can I order the plants (fans?), and put them in a pot until I have built a flower bed for them?....Are daylilies deer resistant? My son has a farm in Marble Falls Tx, and I maintain his tomato and veggie garden. We have a deer feeder 100 yards from the high fenced veggie garden. (sorry I hunt) We want to put in some flower beds around the house. I also build a Zinnia garden (25' X 25') that is not fenced because Zinnias are deer resistant.

I have had some problem with the deer eating bites out of my daylilies. Some people say they have no problems with the deer and daylilies, while others swear daylily blooms are a deer attractant. Don't forget that when you order online you will have to pay freight, and you might be surprised just how small your bare root plant will be when you receive it. If you can find a grower nearby, you can see the actual plant and they will dig it for you. I have been very tempted to order online, but so far I have enjoyed the trips to the daylily farms so much it makes it hard to resist the experience of actually seeing the plant, digging it out and taking it home with you and planting it all in one day.
I would suggest building the bed before ordering the plants, that way you can get an idea of how many plants you will need, some idea of the different heights of the plants, and if you have a better eye for design (I don't) it might even help with the color selection base on the other plants around it etc. I have never grown daylilies in pots, but I am sure they would do great under the right conditions.

Yes you can grow daylilies in pots. Just make sure they are watered well.
Try Smokey's daylily garden. They have great prices. You can check garden watchdog to see what other people have to say about a company before you order. It can save you money and your blood pressure.
I have deer and plenty of other critters in my yard. The deer have never eaten my daylilies. Rabbits and chipmunks eat the leaves of daylily in spring. It does not seem to bother my plants. Deer and other critters will eat true lilium to the ground. I do not even try to grow them anymore. Daylilies rock! They are easy care plants and not bothered by much.
I don't mind people who hunt. If you eat the meat it is no different than killing a cow to have a steak. I'm not a hunter myself. I do believe there is a need for people to hunt deer to keep populations in check. We killed off their predators.
Good Luck with your garden beds and daylily addiction!

taylordaylily, Seedfork......thank you so very much for the quick replies. Are there any Daylilies growers in the Austin, Texas area? I would love to see a Daylilie farm.............Heck we have 50 acres in Marble Falls......I just might start one. Actually I plowed up a 2 acre field last July (hot, hot), and hand planted 700 Zinnia seeds. Only about 10% survived. The 10% that survived were beautiful, but the grasshopper were really bad last year, and ate the other 90%...........it was a stupid idea in the first place...........too hot in July to do anything in Texas.....really

Here are the DL I bought at end of season sales last Fall and meant to get in the ground... and looking close, some from the year before THAT.... they bloomed their heads off, even this crowded. But the pots I separated were a 100x better... DL like Iris, will tolerate a LOT of abuse. Then you pamper a little, divide, fertilize, whisper to them, and they bloom like mad.

I planted DL on a bank 7 years ago. For one thing and another, I abaondoned the bank. When I came back to it last year, cleared off 12 feet tall briars and pine tree volunteers, underneath, blooming merrily away, were DL. I cleared everything, lifted in early spring, replanted in good soil, and WOW they bloomed!

Oakes Gardens is a good place also.

Hornstrider, you may find this link of use to you

http://www.austindaylily.org/

A source for everblooming day lilies

http://www.sepersnursery.com/Retail/Happy_Ever_Appster_Daylily_Retail.htm
society
and some general info
http://www.texasgardener.com/pastissues/marapr08/Daylily.html

http://www.daylilies.org/ (this is American hemerocallis society)

Hornstrider, you can also find some inexpensive ones at the lily auction. Yes auction!! daylily.com/cgi-bin/auction.cgi
Mike

Thanks all for the great suggestions.........DG Rocks!!

http://www.homesteadfarms.com/

You should see about joining a local dl club because they can give you lots of info, maybe some starts of plants, and help you know how to get started in your area.

Endless Heart...aka Earlybird Cardinal
Entrapment....Etnredclay, this look like the third flower you have pictured.
http://www.plantspotters.com/site/daylily500/
Apricot Sparkles....blooms almost none stop
Ruby Stella....that was mentioned by Hemlady. Got this one from her!
Rosy Returns
I bought some more long bloomers last season. Looking forward to see what happen this season.

Love that Entrapment.

I agree, that's lovely!!!

Nice blooms Mike! Thanks I didn't know earlybird cardinal had another name. Learn something new everyday.
My only daylily to bloom so far this year had been a dark red noid . Going to try to get my camera back. Hope to post a pic of it and see if anybody can id it for me.

MikeB, good eye, that is Entrapment.

Taylordaylily, Endless Heart is the registered name with the AHS. It took a while for me to figure that out when I couldn't find "EB" in the database.

Another tidbit about "EH". It was registered in 2004 and released in 2009.

Interesting! I wonder why they waited so long to release it. Very nice pic. of it! Thanks!

I don't know anything about registering daylilies, but I do recall reading somewhere that the names can be reserved(registered) before the plant is even created. Is that correct? I guess with so many plants being registered the names are getting in short supply.

see... this is EXACTLY HOW IT STARTS.... I like ditch lilies... no maintenance, just carefree growin in a country roadside... and then i am told they will take over my garden and to look for less aggressive cultivars, and more colors... and it never really occured to me they came in colors besides orange... so like you i divided up some daylilies from a fellow DG'er and planted them and was shocked when they bloomed withing a few weeks of transplant and were spreading by the end of that summer! i thought "heyyyyy... i can do these...and well!" and so now... if you look at my "want list".... um... well it's full. and i tried to get rid of some that i thought I didn't want so bad, but then i see this thread, so i look up fragrant returns, which i don't see...but not to worry, i just added like 10 more daylily to my want list.
-___-
Hi. My name is Kelly and I'm a hemeroholic.

Seedfork, Not sure about the rules of registering daylily names. They sure do come up with some strange name's.

Welcome Kelly! We are all hemeroholic's! LOL!
I have a want list that is so long I would not even have the yard to hold all of them. LOL! It's a fun and beautiful addiction. I have Fragrant Returns I bought at Lowe's and have never been able to find it listed either.

Perhaps the AHS does not recognize naturally occurring "sports", which is what Fragrant Returns is....

Found this info on another website:
Fragrant Treasure and Fragrant Returns have the SAME patent number - PP#08140.
It appears that Fragrant Returns is just a marketing name to take advantage of the popular "Returns" series of plants.

This message was edited May 26, 2013 5:43 PM

Seedfork, Thank You! Great detective work!

Haha!!! Ok, well now I know what to look for! Lowe's only had Stella's and NOID plain pink asiatics today. I am so bummed. So over lowes and big box stores. Tired of getting crappy half dead plants that everyone else has. I can't tell you how many times I have thought, "I better check with so and so before I buy these" because usually everyone already has them, and plenty to share! They sell Sao many plants that don't belong in our zone here as perennials and also sell little bitty things that will spread like wildfire for sooo much money! Ughhh! Sorry, I literally was there earlier to exchange plants. Despite them telling me on the phone that I just needed the card I paid for them with I was told something completely different when I got there. Save all your receipts people!!!

You used to be able to reserve a name but I am not sure you can do that any more. I have reserved names before but that was many years ago. There are a lot of good sellers on the lily auction. I personally would not buy plants from any of the big stores unless I saw them in bloom. Tags often get mixed up.

Kelly welcome to the daylily addict forum. LOL!!
All the stuff I have bought from the bigbox (not knowing any better at the time) did not bloom true to name. As Hemlady said, "I personally would not buy plants from any of the big stores unless I saw them in bloom"). I agree!!

Read more: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1312913/#ixzz2UW3evJeQ

LOL.... we ARE all hemeroholics! ^_^ and ENABLERS as well !! Because all these threads do is FEED my DL addiction! :) But the blooms are beautiful, and it is neat to enjoy even other's blooms during the season. Maybe it is reassuring to know we are not the only one with this 'disease'............ I added about 50 DLs to my yard last year, and I have enjoyed them SOOO much! They are just getting into full swing, and it has been so nice to have more than just a half dozen blooming. I obviously need to add a few more of the everblooming though. I have happy returns and it has been cheerfully blooming for probably a week and a half.... but that Entrapment looks like one I would enjoy along with several of the others. I planted a couple more of the everbloomers - but I can't remember the names, and I know that at least one of those is one of the ones that didn't make it.

Hornstrider , welcome to the wonderful world of DLs............... I am a newbie but there are so many knowledgeable people on this forum they will guide you in the right direction and effectively enable your addiction! :) I live in So Arkansas - and it is hot here too, I can't even IMAGINE trying to plant ANYTHING in JULY!!! Even if you water like mad, the ground temps get so hot that not much will survive. I have a friend who doesn't plant ANYTHING after May 31 until fall because she says it just won't live for her.

By the way, I had over 50 pots on my porch for several months last summer. They were not in direct sun all day - and they got watered every day as well but everything flourished in the pots. Then I transplanted them in the fall - actually lost a couple after transplant sometime during the winter. I just thought they were dormant variaties.....but they never came back, but most thrived and are blooming or covered with scrapes. In South Texas, I would think they would need at least some shade in the hot afternoons in pots in order for them to keep adequate water...........the pots just dry out too fast.

I have purchased some DLs from Blue Ridge DLs, purchased several from a DL garden in Ms that was going out of business, and I have traded with other DL friends for a few. I would never have been able to add so many at one time if I had not caught that farm going out of business.... a friend happened to tell me about it.

Welcome..... and enjoy your new hobby!

hornstrider . . .

Here is another great place to buy DLs
Johnson Daylily Garden
ALL HUGE, NICE, HEALTHY PLANTS

All that I got had AT LEAST 2 fans, and I received two awesome DL Gift Plants. Super nice guy to deal with too

AND
GilberthWild.com
has a GREAT SALE going on now on DLs. I have always been very happy with my purchases from them
http://www.gilberthwild.com/DAYLILIES/products/18/

Glad to hear someone is happy with Wilds. I understand they had a huge flood several years ago and a lot of daylilys were moved...so to speak. I did get an Ed Murray from them, but it came with nutsedge too....Thank goodness I have been able to get rid of it!

I prefer Bob Selman's lilys and he always sends huge healthy fans. 4 of the gift lilys he sent the 23rd of May actually have scapes and buds! I usually share with my daughter in CT and she said several I sent her also have scapes and buds.

Here is what I received in May from him. I also bought 4 from Curvin, Cedar Shingles; Apache Uprising; White House Lady & Andrew Christian, but his were smaller.

1st pic is of the gifts
Tennyson; All the King's Men; Canadian Blues; Volusian Pirate; Courts of Europe; Council Fire & Shimmering Elegance.

2nd are my purchases:TALL ones: Desiree, Jazz After Five; Heavenly Dragon Fire; Isabel Maraffi: Sweedish Nightingale; Maxfield Parrish; Twilight Secrets; High Roller and Peacock Maiden.



This message was edited Jun 14, 2013 7:10 PM