Background history:

'North Wind Dancer' is a dormant diploid introduced in 2001 by Schaben.

It has earned the following AHS awards:
Stout Silver Medal: 2011
Award of Merit: 2007
Honorable Mention: 2004
L/W: 2007

This plant can be found in our Plant Database at:
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'North Wind Dancer') .

Please join in, if you own this plant! We would love to know more! I award an acorn for performance information posted to this thread.



Daylily (Hemerocallis 'North Wind Dancer')

One of my favorite daylilies. I got it directly from Gary Schaben when he introduced it in 2001 and I've been growing it since.

I don't remember it blooming last year and it hasn't yet this year. It may be getting too much shade from our next door neighbor's maple tree and/or it needs to be divided (or both). I hope it blooms this year.

Very beautiful daylily and I love it.

I haven't had it long and it hasn't bloomed for me yet. Can't wait to see it bloom in person!

NWD is referred to as North wind flopper... Gasp!! yes it flopps here in the Appalachian mountains!

I added it last year but haven't had any blooms yet. Hopefully I get blooms this year

Oh gosh, if it flops it is a goner in my garden. I had such high hopes for it:(

I just got it this spring, I'm hoping it will grow plant wise before it blooms. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it!

I've had my eye on this one for a long time and never got around to purchasing it.

Laura, I'd try just cutting any scapes off for the first year so all the energy goes into the fans. I know...it's hard to do but probably worth it. Now that I say that out loud...I need to go out and cut a few scapes from some newly purchased DL's that have small fans and really don't need to put energy into scapes.

The scapes on mine the first year it produced them they were leaning, I left one to bloom the next year when it was established they were fine. I knew they would be ok because I saw them in a display garden several different times before getting NWD and they looked great.

I love it! The blooms are gorgeous, and I generally get good bud counts on it. I have had to stake it after windy thunderstorms though.

NWD has been an absolutely fabulous plant here. It bloomed last year until Sep. 10th, reached 48", 6 over the registered height and had a bud count of 28 with 6 way branching. I don't average-I take a spent scape and count!. It does not lean here. It was planted in 2015 as a double fan and I just counted over a dozen so I consider it to be a good increaser. Definitely a keeper for me.

Nice to hear, @Raven! I have hope for NWD in my garden afterall, lol!

Glad that the "flopping issue" with this has already been disclosed. That causes quick expulsion from the garden here! If that bothers anyone they should avoid this, as it's in the genetics.

And that is what I love about these 'Daylily of the Day' threads! Pictures of blooms are pretty, but they don't tell the whole story

Mine is in the middle of the garden so time will tell.

I would think a peony hoop or a tomato cage early in the year would fix the flopping issue, and the leaves should get thick enough to cover it mostly

Just realized I never left a review of North Wind Dancer, so here goes. I received it free in a club trade in 2017. It blooms during the month of July in my 6b zone. It has not increased very much and the bud count is not as high as expected, maybe 12-15 buds.

Branching is 2-3 way.



It does have weak scapes and I am very disappointed in that. In 2020, the scapes almost touched the ground.


I am hoping it does better this year, because it is a beautiful bloom. But the scape issue has me thinking that if I need the space, this one will be leaving.

I planted NWD in the Spring of 2021, starting with 2 fans. No flowers that summer but I was up to 3 fans by Fall. This season, I had bloom from July 17 -August 13 with 17 flowers, making it a Late bloomer here. The flower is beautiful and I had no problems with leaning scapes. By Fall 2022, I was down to 2 fans again and NWD had contracted a slight case of rust. Still, I'm happy enough with the performance.

2023 update… an excellent year for North Wind Dancer. It bloomed from July 13-August 18, with at least 25 blooms. By October it was up to 8 fans, so a lot of growth this year. The scapes are strong, no leaning detected. It's in full sun here.