First off, I tender my apologies for the typo in the thread title. I can't figure out how to correct it..."that ship has sailed."

We are in a seemingly endless, HOT, dry spring here in Zone 7b NW central NC. My daylilies, the vast majority of which are in pots because I rent and am hesitant to "break ground," are browning off and looking pitiful.

As I watered this evening, I noticed Autumn Minaret, which has yet to bloom since I purchased it in late 2019. It really stands out because it's all green and decidedly perky by comparison.

Does anyone else know of particularly drought-tolerant cultivars?

I've found that anything out of "Grey Witch" will grow happily in the driest, rockiest parts of my hill. Woodhenge has several, "Freaky People" and "Light as Air" are two, right off the top of my head.




Light as Air.


Freaky People.

We garden in high desert rocks and grit with occasional clay. We are absent through the winter, six months of no care, little to no water, hard cold and then cool weather with early annual grass going to seed before we get here. We water but not close to one inch a week, our rainfall last year was just over seven inches. Constant dry west winds add to our low moisture presence.

Judy Davisson cultivars thrive here. There is a triple fan of her MR BUTTERS on the LA right now with no bids and I can not recommend it highly enough. Carol Emmerich's cultivars do nicely as well, FEAR NOT is a good example. Some older ones are fabulous such as ED MURRAY, BUTTERED POPCORN, CHEROKEE CHIEF, or WISTERIA.

Other "growers" here would include HOTTER THAN THE FOURTH OF JULY, VIRTUE OF SELFISHNESS, and PRIMAL SCREAM.

I don't grow the latest LSD (tie-dyed) daylilies and my newer spider or unusual forms haven't been in the ground long enough to judge.

There are others of course.

Good luck!

Charley

There is at least one daylily hybridizer who grows daylilies in "water beds". The plants are in pots that effectively have access to water continuously. That would be like placing the pots on "saucers" with raised edges and watering the daylily pots from the bottom. He may use special potting mix; I'm not sure if that is required.

Goodness Maurice - that sounds like a recipe for a daylily that is never likely to experience the same conditions "in real life"! Any idea how this hybridizer's plants do in normal, variable garden conditions once they have been introduced?

I think almost any daylily would do fine under those conditions. I am sure there would be some that might rot, but judging by how my daylilies in the bog do, that is a great way to grow daylilies and not have to water them individually.

But Larry, most of us don't have a bog to grow daylilies. We can't begin to mimic those growing conditions for plants that have had this kind of nurturing!

@Robinjoy
Wendy, as far as I know they are fine when grown under typical garden conditions (at least fine as is typical of most hybridizer introductions).
Most hybridizers who have businesses producing and selling daylilies grow their plants under as close to optimum conditions as they can provide for their location (climate). They want to produce the most increase that they can as fast as they can. They want their seedlings to flower as soon as possible, etc.
The assumption is that a plant that does well under optimum conditions will also do well under less than optimum conditions. What that means in practice is that the assumption is that (for example) three different plants ranked 1, 2, 3 under optimum conditions will also rank 1, 2, 3 under less than optimum conditions. The assumption is not that a plant will have the same characteristics under less than optimum conditions as it does under optimum conditions. That would be very difficult to insure, if it is even possible - as plants have phenotypic plasticity - meaning their characteristics change depending on the environment the plant experiences.

Genetically the assumption is that there is no genotype X environment interaction.

The assumption is not necessarily the case.

To determine whether it is a safe assumption, the plants to be introduced would need to be grown in one or more test gardens which had less than optimum growing conditions (closer to typical garden growing conditions) before being actually introduced.

Note, no two gardens may have the same growing conditions for plants - so there is no set of conditions that a hybridizer could choose that would fit any buyer's growing conditions.

If you do not have saucers under the pots---get some. Get ones that are 2 inches larger than the bottom diameter of the pot: i.e.-an 8" pot would need a 10" saucer. When the saucer is dry--water until the saucer fills up. Then, do not water until the saucer is dry again. This conserves water, and makes the plants grow to their potential. And, letting the saucer dry between waterings keeps mosquitos from growing to their vicious adulthood.
One more suggestion: when you pot up the plants place a piece of weed-block over each of the holes. Use the more porous type rather than the heavy duty kind. This will keep the soil from washing out the bottom holes while letting the water in the saucer in.

Cultivars in pots - set into dishes or pans - works well for me here in Southern Ontario. Especially last season (2020). Both selected plants I had potted up myself, & plants purchased & left in the original pots, performed better than similar in normal situations in the ground. (We had a poor spring with late cold weather, etc. Many normal 'in-the-ground' plants did NOT perform well. (A significant number did NOT bloom normally at all.) ..... With the 'potted + trays' plants I experienced better rebloom with improved growth & blooming overall. (Dips only hereabouts as I don't work with Tets.) I had not practiced such controlled husbandry very much in previous seasons.

Keep in mind, the set-up encouraged much more awareness - and care - for these individual plants. Because they were in a purposefully selected & convenient garden location, they were observed & serviced better than their 'in-ground' neighbours. As Maurice points out above, such focused care leads to improved opportunities for pollinations, plant growth/expansion, & appearance/condition. Last season I had about 25+ such individual plants in their own pots/trays .... I'm working this way this season with fewer selections as it was so obviously more effective - AND convenient last season.

One last observation/experience ... my 2020 re-focus was initiated in part by a local member's presentation ... At one of our Ontario Daylily Society 'Hybridizers' Meetings' a member displayed a slide of a 'trough' he'd built from wood & plastic - a giant tray. Recall is 2x4 walls (Shallow walls) onto a piece of plywood base lined with a 'one-piece seamless' clear plastic film stapled into place. He kept his 'For Sale' potted plants in this in his driveway .... multiple pots .... as a convenient method for displaying sale plants with minimal care. By setting the trough to sit level, he accomplished one feeding, one watering for dozens of individual sale potted cultivars - always in ideal conditions. They were always sitting in a shallow film of 1/4 to 1/2 inch of enriched water .