Daylily design help

You all got me excited about Oak Hill Daylilies, so I spent hours picking through their lists. Now their sale has started, and I'd like to order. Trouble is, I can't narrow down the list. I have 7 choices, and I'd like to get down to four, 3 to 5 of each.

The patch is now mainly yellows (pics 1,2) most of which I will put elsewhere, but keep a few. There is also a bicolor I like very much (pic 3). They are all Mid season bloomers, the bi-color goes a bit later. I'd like to vary it with more dark purples and pinks, and extend the bloom period.

The rest are my choices so far. I still have too many Mids, I think, and a couple are very similar. But which ones, in your opinion, are the more robust, and the more likely to make a nice grouping? And which ones are more beautiful in the pics than anyone has ever seen them in their own gardens? They're all fairly tall, especially the later ones, which I like.

I look forward to all opinions, suggestions, etc

Thanks!

I only have one from your group, Maxfield Parrish, and it is a very good grower and bloomer in my climate. One scape this year put out a whole bouquet. Check out this picture of it.

Wow, it is gorgeous!!! Everything I could hope for. OK, that's one definite, thanks!

Pam all of those look nice. Your bi-color one look like like Frans Hals to me. I have Peacock Maiden which I got last year. It did great this year.
Frans Hals
Peacock Maiden

Yes, they are similar, but my bi-color is more purply brown. The man who owned the property before was a daylily hybridizer until 1970. When DH bought it in 1979 there was a field full of them. That field has since gone wild, but not before DH moved his favorites into the gardens. I see Franz Hals in at least a couple of others we have, so it must have been used as a parent. Pic 3 is the purply one from last year.

Your Peacock Maiden is lovely, too, another must for me. I'm getting the feeling that it's going to be impossible to narrow my choices down. I may just have to get them all, and see for myself which ones excel in my garden.

I bet the purply one is Howdy (aka Magic Dawn). Here is a pic of mine.

Pam, You've been bitten by the daylily bug. :-) You sure have selected a beautiful bunch. They would all look great with yellows. Yellow is probably the easiest color to blend other colors with.

I'm a daylily addict, I would buy them all. Lol If I were you, I'd defiantly get, Maxfield Parrish. Look at Hemlady's picture, Wow! You and me both need that one. Lol Peacock Maiden is a great daylily. You'll love it! I bought mine from Bonnie last year. I bought Witch's Stick, this year to help extend the season. It's beautiful! I can't find a picture of it or Peacock Maiden.
Sorry, I can't help shorten your list. I'm a sucker for a pretty bloom. I'm excited, I just won Wolverine and Increased Complexity the other day from Bonnie on the LA.
Let us know who you decide on. I like your taste in daylilies.

I sure have been bitten! And I'm sure I have to order all of them. So far all you enablers are not helping me eliminate, lol. The ones you have are doing well, no failures or disappointments. So I'll just have to go ahead and try them all for myself.

Howdy is very similar to my oldie, but the color is more saturated and extends farther down. Also, I think Howdy's throat is more green. I see that it was,registered,in 1981, long after our hybridizer, John Savage, retired and moved to Florida. No one added daylilies to our garden until I came along, so no whites, no blues or darks, no tets, no re- or late bloomers. When I bought my first, Joan Senior, DH was incredulous. "Hmmph! Coals to Newcastle," he said. But he's come around, even picked out South Seas the last time we were at our favorite nursery.

Pam. Lol You'll never get help downsizing your order from a bunch of addicts. :-) We seem to help each other spend money. I have declared myself to be finished shopping at least 5 times this year. There is always some pretty flower, I need in my garden.

You and your DH both picked great daylilies. Joan Senior and South Seas are beautiful daylilies.

OK, it's done. I spoke to a woman at Oak Hill, I think it must have been Bonnie, who told me that all 7 are good, strong plants. So I ordered 3 of each. The ones that say they re-bloom all do so in their zone 5b garden, so they are likely to do it for me too. That should give me lots of late flowers, which I don't have now.

Now all I have to do is find room for all the yellows which are moving. I know where they're going, but it's filled with roots. I have to get a guy to come and dig a trench on either side of this big planter and fill it with some composted soil I have in a pile behind the garage. It's at the top of our driveway, which is pretty boring most do the time. The DL's will brighten it up for a few weeks in the summer.

Whoo-eeeeee! I'm excited!

Hmmmm... The pic didn't load. I'll try again.

Nope, it keeps looking like it's working, the little symbol keeps spinning, even though it looks like it's done. They must be doing some maintenance on the website again. Oh well, you get the idea anyway, right?

lol You go Pam!!! Im excited for you!! :) Still working on my order haha

Heres one of my favorites I got from her this spring, Wild Irish. When I went up in July to see her blooms I kept walking over to it to see what it was to add to my want list, lol silly me. I just love the blooms on it :)

Wild Irish is a cutie. Pam Joan senior and South Seas does well here. JS reblooms here, no such luck with SS.

Wild Irish reminds me of Maxfield Parrish but red instead of lavender. Nice.

Joan Senior hasn't re bloomed for me so far, this is the third summer. I moved her last fall, and she's been blooming well in spite of the move. She's never been in 100% full sun. Would that be a reason?

Maxfield Parrish is red not lavender. Is it showing lavender for you Pfg???

This is the description on the website:

Trimmer 1998 - 32" - 5.75" - M Tet Dor Fragrant - Dark Lavender w' Gold Edge

But I really chose it from the photo, which looks very much like the one you posted. Actually yours looks more pink... In any case, it's gorgeous, and I'm excited to have it. Even if it's more red I think it will mix well with the other colors. And like many other things I plant without having seen them growing, if it doesn't work there, I'll move it to a spot where it shines.

I would not describe it as dark lavender, no way. I don't know why they described it that way but you know daylilies can have different colors in different areas of the country. Soils tend to change colors. My soil causes some of the pinks to look more peachy.

Interesting... It does look pretty red in her picture. I see a lavender stripe, maybe. Anyway, no matter how it's described, it's beautiful and I know ll love it.

I think it's my first DL with teeth. For a while I was trying to stick with the old form, then gradually the tets crept in, now teeth... Next, I'll be buying eyes! OMG, how quickly we fall, lol!

Yes, I know what you mean. I mainly hybridize diploid spiders and ufo's but this year I had a toothy seedling bloom and now I am hooked on teeth. Here is a pic of it. It is Spiney Sea Urchin x Forestlake Ragamuffin.

Ooooh, how beautiful! How can anyone say no to that?!

Exactly, I got really excited about it when I saw it bloom.

lol hem dont get me started! I only pollinated with Jaws and Tal this year..I want a Tal with Teeth :D Great lookin Seedling!

Thanks badcat. I used a lot of its pollen this summer.

Pam, Congratulations! I can't wait to see your blooms next year. :-)
Eye's will catch you sooner or later. Lol There's also doubles.

Hemlady, Beautiful Seedling! I love the color and the teeth! Did you dust Rebekah's Gothic Spider with it?

No TD because the toothy seedling is a tet and RGS is a dip.

Sorry, to hear that. RGS would be awesome with teeth. I don't know of any toothy Diploids.

No I don't either. I do have a diploid seedling that has ruffles. Maybe next year I will dab some of its pollen on RGS.

Cindy, I love that pretty seedling.

Thanks Mike. It's a little top heavy with buds but this is first year bloom. Hopefully it will improve.

I've been very busy since last post. First, I had to get the yellow daylilies out of the bed in the main garden to make room for the ones I ordered. There's an area at the top of the driveway that has always been boring and messy. This spring, I added a large planter, which helped but looked a little lonely. So on Monday, I had 2 men come and dig trenches through solid roots and fill them with composted soil. Then they moved most of the yellow daylilies into the new beds. I think that area will be much more welcoming now, even when they're not blooming. And when they do, yellow is so cheerful. Now that I've started, I'm sure I'll get more ideas for that area-- I've already ordered some daffodils to put in front.

Then, I had them add composted soil to the old bed to replace the soil that went out with the daylilies. Yesterday, the new ones from Oak Hill arrived. They were a day late because of severe T storms throughout the area the afternoon before. The box was a little soggy, but the plants were in great condition. Although the website says they send 2 fan plants, most of these were 3 fans. They went on sale just before I ordered- 30% off- so no bonuses, but I think the extra fans were bonus enough.

I started planting right away of course, but couldn't finish before dark. Today I'll get more pics as soon as they're all in.

Pam, love the big pot and the rock garden art.I just saw this great idea that I must share. Let me know what you all think. http://www.gardengatenotes.com/2014/08/05/creative-cover-up/?utm_source=GardenGateNotes&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=8456

What a fabulous idea! I bet it looks even more amazing once the rope weathers. I wonder if it prevents frost damage? I don't use a lot of my clay pots any more because I'm tired of having to empty them and put them away for the winter.

I finally finished. Even though I took out many more plants than I was putting in, somehow the bed seemed way too small once I got serious about placement. I ended up taking out the last few yellows and slightly expanding the end of the long bed to make room for them.

It turned out that some of the clumps were separate fans. In some cases where there were extra fans, they were quite small or the roots were cut. In the end, I got 30 separate plants. Some were 2 or 3 fans with sizeable roots, some were smaller. The smallest ones I planted closer together. The larger ones got 12"-16" between them. Finally, I squeezed in 3 clumps of the NOID bi-color I already had. I kept imagining the looks of horror on the faces of some of you pros as I decreased the spacing more and more, lol. But the other bed is fully established, I don't want this to look empty by comparison

The earliest ones were the shortest, so they went to the front. The late bloomers were significantly taller- 34" and 38" so they went more to the back of the bed. I tried to stagger them so that overlapping bloom times are close together, but spread each type enough to look like a bigger clump. I also grouped the 3 darkest ones across the middle to make a statement. The planning was harder than the actual planting. Whew!

Then I took pics and made a map. I have a new drawing and coloring app that I had a little fun with later on. The perspective in that pic makes it look like the plants are crowded together toward the back of the bed, but the spacing is actually pretty even.

So that's it, finally done!

Pam, I can't wait to see what it look like in a couple years. You certainly had a plan and you executed it!! Kudos to you my LADY!!!!! The garden is looking great!!

Pam, Your bed looks great! Congratulations! No, looks of horror on my face. :-) I have been know to squeeze planting space from time to time. I also plant Allium and Narcissus in with my daylilies.

Thanks :-)

I do plant Daffys in the DL beds, but I hadn't thought of Alliums. Hmmm....

If you plant Sphaerocephalon (drumsticks) Allium, they bloom with your daylilies. I also plant the earlier blooming Alliums to deter critters nibbling my gardens in early Spring.

Camassia is another bulb that grows great with daylilies. They need to be planted in mass to look good.

Karen, my Camassia is in bloom with the EE daylilies.