Does anyone struggle w getting some to grow/perform even though it seems they do fine for others? I have tried Big Kiss 3 times and I have had North Wind Dancer for 4 years and it is smaller now than when I planted it. I have tried moving it once. The database is full of lovely pics of these in OTHER people's gardens But I guess it isn't' mean to be for me!

Indian Giver is one that does not like me, another I can't remember the name, but a late blooming apricot color is what I am remembering. I don't think it is my zone, I see so many people who loved these, but just don't do well for me. Both i tried at least 3 times. Prickly Sensation is another, I am down to 1 fan, this is the 2nd time I tried it, and tried different spots. Big Kiss is doing ok for me, blooms nicely, but has not multiplied much.
Edited to add, Final Touch is the one I could not remember, and came to me at last!

Oh yes, I have two on my list that just refuse to grow. 'Brer Rabbits Baby' and 'Orchid Corsage'.
Edited to add:
I knew there was one more in the back of my mind and I could not think of it...'Smoky Mountain Autumn' just will not do anything here. I still have a few scattered fans but the are pathetic.

I have them too! Quoting Hemingway isn't doing anything. It's an SEV and my garden is rated by Mother Nature as being for EV's only. But I've gotten rid of most of the plants that just sit and mope. I usually send them north.

When I have a few that do not come back after our cold winters, they do not get a second chance here after all there are thousands of registered cultivars available to replace them and it is nice to see how something else will like my garden.

that is true, but I wanted Big Kiss for the name, a memory garden for my little poodle

My mom has Indian Giver and it doesn't do anything for her, but does great for me. We are only one hour apart in distance.

I just find it so odd.

I've got several that don't do much & every year I wonder why I have them. One is Gentle Shepherd. It rarely blooms for me and when it does will only have a handful of flowers. I've had it for years!

Little Fat Dazzler is 2 fans & refuses to add any more. The NOID next to it is about to overrun it.

I have found that some marginal cultivars can survive & (somewhat) thrive in my garden IF I buy them as a clump of 4+ fans. Prickly Sensation I got as a BOGO and I swear that is the only reason it is still alive. Fiji took years to get up to a clump but now does well. If you really want a particular cultivar try buying 2-3 double fans and planting them very close together. That seems to give them a better chance of at least surviving long enough to acclimate.

I'm on my third try for Lavender Blue Baby. ( as in, have bought the plant three times).This Spring I planted in a new location with plenty of sun...crossing my fingers!

Kansas City Kicker has been barely hanging in there, with the same two fans for four years. I get two or three flowers a summer.

Another one that should do great and doesn't is Spacecoast Sea Shells. That's another one I've had for three years and it hasn't grown at all and only puts out a few sparse blooms.

On the flip side, I've had Adorable Tiger for a few years and it didn't increase at all. But this Spring it went from four fans to thirty five! We live in hope and sometimes it's justified.

From four fans to thirty five? That Tiger was roaring!!

As someone else put it, Adorable Tiger decided to have kittens 🐱

Ive tried King Crab over and over, Heavenly United we Stand, gosh, so many really. I solved that problem once I realized dormants just were not going to grow here. Well, for more than a year. I ended up with a couple this year I accidently ordered so Im going to be saving pollen big time in case the plant wont come back.

well Pam that makes sense at least that you figured out it is dormants. I have found no pattern here really. Like I said one won't do well for me, but does great for my mom one hour away. Sometimes I have had a plant struggle for a couple of years and moved it over a few feet/yards and it took off. Beats me! It is frustrating to see things you want to grow though and not be able to, whatever the reasons are.

Now I have had that happen, a plant struggle for a few years, move it 3 feet away in same sun etc, and it takes off. Crazy

It's funny to find this thread, as it what I've been asking myself. Now...first things first...I must admit that, from necessity, almost all of my daylilies are in pots.

I lost 9 (maybe 8?) over the winter, and quite a few others dwindled to one fan, some from full clumps. One that's still hanging on there with one fan is Indian Giver, noted above. The others include Prairie Blue Eyes (gone), Arnold's Daughter (gone), Druid's Chant (gone), Mauna Loa (gone, I think), Star Over Oz (gone), and Tigger (gone).

Chamonix was one that seemed gone, but then I dumped the pot out. In a 3 gal pot, I'd planted two smallish size plants: Chamonix and Ida's Magic. The pot, watered a couple of days ago, was bone dry today. It was also FULL of Ida's Magic roots. Two Chamonix plants were still in there, barely, without much crown and just a few roots. They've been liberated and repotted on their own, and dear Ida now has her own, much larger pot.

This all surprised me, as I figured my losses were due to rot during our warm, wet non-winter. Now I think the losses all just dried out and croaked. That said, several were in their own pots, while others were in pots with companions like Ida's Magic that did just fine, even increased significantly.

My takeaway? I need to get my daylilies into the ground by early fall, somehow. Either that, or I need to switch back to straight potting soil from a soil/soil conditioner mix, or use more soil in the mix.

I'm curious to see if the two tiny almost-gone Chamonix plants pull through! It's a beauty, and the one I'm most bummed about, after Mauna Loa.

Usually its just in passing, but many many many times you will read on here....I used to grow...so and so.
I think revolving plants is not uncommon, or so I tell myself. Pricey tho if your brave enough to think about it...Im not, as witness by more ordering.

gardenglory said:I think revolving plants is not uncommon, or so I tell myself. Pricey tho if your brave enough to think about it...Im not, as witness by more ordering.

At first, when I think of losing 9 (8?!), I freak out. Then I remember that it's 9 out of 354 added over a two season period...and then I don't feel so bad.

Add to that the fact that I hadn't spent over $50 on a single cultivar until this year, and I'm 100% okay! What's scary is that I'm hovering around 470 total. In pots. In my tiny rented yard. 😬😬😬

P.S. I've already ordered and received (beautiful) replacements of Arnold's Daughter, Indian Giver and Stargate Portal from @twixanddud. I guess I can't survive without trying these purples again!

I like to change things up sometimes and just grow something new. So when *I* say I used to grow a particular plant, I in no way imply that I no longer grow it due to it being difficult to grow or having a fault. I do get rid of those of course, but sometimes I get rid of perfectly nice ones that do fine for me. I sell them on craigs list or whatever.

I understand that I grow a couple hundred and am bound to lose one once in a while due to moles, deer, or whatever; but in general just perplexed at those handful I pamper and keep for several years that do nothing for seemingly no reason.

The most I've ever paid for one is $40, and it died right away The nursery I bought it from replaced it for free in my next order and it lived several years after that but never really impressed me. That was Concrete Empire. The blooms were pretty, but it didn't live up to the stats for me, bloomed in the foliage somewhat and had a low bud count. Ironically I have also parted with some that multiplied too fast and I got tired of always dividing them, some that had so many buds they blooms were crowded and couldn't open fully...... well us humans are fickle aren't we

I'm seeking clarification of your comment regarding cultivar losses to "moles" .... Blame applied to moles surfaces here & elsewhere frequently & needs to be clarified & confirmed - or corrected - based upon my experience & readings. There is confusion about these two DIFFERENT mammals that gardeners encounter ... Moles and Voles .

Moles are subterranean dwellers - sub-surface diggers - tunnels-makers (Which sometimes results in linear soil ridges being pushed up while they dig along searching for their prey).. Moles are essentially carnivorous feeding on insects + insect larvae + earthworms & similar. To my understanding they do not eat vegetation - except perhaps incidentally. I believe the only way that moles damage daylilies is if by accidentally dislodging or heaving a seedling or small daylily clump as they routinely search beneath any plants - via their tunneling - for earthworms, insect larvae, etc. .... Moles have no particular interest in the plants. They do not eat them. They do not use them for nesting. Moles have evolved as hunters of the earth's soils and generally are searching, by digging - tunneling - just below the soil surface in any area that they inhabit.

Voles are BOTH surface searchers & subterranean dwellers & are essentially herbivores - BUT may take advantage of insects sometimes opportunistically. Voles are often referred to as 'Field Mice'. They travel the surface of the earth in pastures, in gardens, in some lawns (Especially under the snow in winter) in search of seeds & edible plant materials. Voles eat daylily leaves & crowns & roots ....

Three personal negative experiences with voles. All only during winter & usually UNDER snow-cover. (My thinking is that there are a myriad of plant-food items/sources available to voles in the other 3 seasons that daylilies are NOT often selected as one of their preferred food sources). During winters, daylily gardens are a vole's 'root-cellar'; their 'salad bar' ...

(1) Lined out seedlings. Entire row of seedlings eaten down to the crown with some being dug out & the crown & roots eaten. (2) Clumps in the garden. Tunnels made under the plants to allow access to the roots & sometimes crown which are eaten. Sometimes entirely. Sometimes leaving enough plant to allow regeneration the following spring. (3) Potted daylilies. Same as (2) Sometimes accessed from th soil-top (Dig downward) & sometimes chewing thru the side or bottom to get into the pot to eat (Usually total loss.) .

Most gardeners have often encountered - actually witnessed - have seen - voles. Very few gardeners have ever encountered or seen an actual mole, as they do not move about on the surface of the soil readily - preferring their subsurface environment. BOTH are similarly sized & coloured - give or take. Both are found in similar garden areas. Cartoons often depict the mole's 'linear ridges' in gardens & lawns. Voles on the other hand tend to create on-the-surface pathways - almost tunnel-like in higher grasses or very soft surfaces AND do go underground via small holes in such pathways to access their living areas, their dens beneath the soil surface.

Should anyone have confirmed evidence of a mole actually eating a daylily plant or root, I suggest they reexamine their findings & locate the guilty critter. My money is on a vole - NOT a mole.

I think voles take advantage of the mole tunnels to forage under ground. Thus, if someone loses a daylily that happens to be on top of that mole run, the mole gets blamed for the daylily dying, when really it is the vole.

I have a tale of two daylilies that died in the same 4-foot area of my 125-foot long garden row.

1) 'Lace Cookies' is an evergreen tet that I had for about 6-7 years and was growing into a nice clump. In 2018 it only came back as a few fans and eventually died completely.

2) 'Small World Green Hornet' is a dormant dip that I received in 2017 and planted in front of 'Lace Cookies'. It did not come back in 2018.

From several feet away, I was looking at the area where these two daylilies died and noticed that this is a low area in the flower bed. Not much, but maybe enough to not drain well. Maybe that could explain why some daylilies do better when they are moved just a few feet away from where they are struggling.

As a side note, I also planted Echinacea 'Pow Wow Wild Berry' in this same area in 2015. I have pictures of it from 2017, but nothing after that since it dwindled and died. Might be just a good spot to put some pavers as a walk-through area.