Background history:

'Mascara Snake' is a semi-evergreen introduced in 2002 by Bachman.

It has earned the following AHS awards:
Honorable Mention: 2005
ESF: 2009
HOS: 2018

This plant can be found in our Plant Database at:
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Mascara Snake') .

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 'Mascara Snake')

Editing my original post to add pics and more.

The one thing that sticks out about Mascara Snake for me is that the scapes do not hold up the blooms. In my garden it gets almost full sun except in the very early morning, so I don't think it is a location issue. I wanted something tall and majestic in the fence corner, but a mass of leaners is what I got. I will be getting rid of this one because I will not stake a daylily. The fence is about 4 feet tall, so MS probably does reach about 5 feet tall.


I received this plant in 2015 in a club sale and it has really multiplied fast. When I tried to divide the plant in 2019, oh my, I could not separate the roots at all. All I could do was chop into it to divide it. There had to be about 20 fans. The roots and fans reminded me of Stella de Oro in how small and tightly packed they were.

It is a late bloomer, which for me is between mid-July and mid-August and was one of the main reasons I wanted this in my garden. I haven't seen rust on it.

These next two pictures kind of show branching which is at least 3-way and well spaced, and probably a bud count of around 20.



I had to look up what a few of the awards were for, so here is that info: Mascara Snake won Honorable Mention in 2005 (nominated by the hybridizer and must receive 15 votes in no less that 4 regions-voted on by garden judges), the Eugene S. Foster Award in 2009 for most outstanding late-bloomer, and the Harriet Olsen Spider award in 2018 for most outstanding spider. I can understand the ESF and HOS awards, but I am curious as to whether the plants that the garden judges saw were staked when they voted on this one for HM.

Mascara Snake is a perfect example of why just a picture of a bloom doesn't tell the whole story. It reminds me of my disappointment in North Wind Dancer, which is also a leaner, but received the Stout Silver Medal award in 2011, which surprises me now that I have grown it for myself.

Okay, I guess it is obvious that I really hate leaners, lol, so I will stop here.

I'm a fan of Mascara Snake. It's been a good performer for me. It went from 4 fans to 7 fans to 12 fans it's first full three years for me. I regularly see fans over 50" tall, and I often get 22-27 buds on a scape.

I've seen people unhappy with this plant because the scapes will lie down on you. I staked the taller scapes from the start, not knowing that was unusual, but that's the habit I got into with iris and other tall plants that are susceptible to high winds, especially when they have multiple blooms. So I never had that problem.

The petals and sepals are skinny and long, and the color is a rich deep red. So I like it. Works great in my garden. Blooms a little later than most of my plants. It starts around the end of July and often makes it to September for me. I keep VL Fred's Red near my Mascara Snake. Between the two of them, it's a great blast of red color for close to two months when most of your scapes are ready to be cut down.




A not so well staked Mascara Snake with Fred's Red and an Olallie VL seedling or two

I have had Mascara Snake for at least 7 years. It has multiplied very well. One of my last blooms in the garden starting around mid Aug, when it reblooms for me it will last until October. I have seen its blooms hit by the first frost. The bloom does have a tendency to lean over, it would benefit with steaking which I do not do. I have never used it for hybridizing.

This was the 1st year for Mascara Snake for me. With it's very narrow petals, it has a different look from other daylilies I have. It bloomed well, although it looked like it was dying after it finished blooming. Hope to see it in the spring, I would hate to lose it. Scapes did not reach their full height in their 1st year, so probably did not fall over as they are capable.

I am going to add this to my want list. I do not recall seeing this on Bachman's website. But, now that he retired, I will look elsewhere:)