Background history:

'Michael Bennett' is a dormant introduced in 2005 by Brooker-G.

It has earned the following AHS awards:
Honorable Mention: 2008

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

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 'Michael Bennett')

Brand new this Spring, planted in May. I was ( am!) very excited to add MB as I think it is a beautiful Daylily. It did pretty well for a first year plant, producing 7 pretty flowers.

Michael Bennett is a beautiful flower that has value for breeding purposes. However, it needs to be crossed with daylilies that have a long scape because it's scape is woefully short for the size of the flower. It was registered with a scape of 26", but it has never in over five years achieved that height. It's average for me has been closer to 18", with some years going just over a foot. It grows well here in USDA Zone 7a/b, and has increased from two fans to six in the past four years. Flower color from year to year is very consistent in depth and hue. In hybridizing it can be used either way. When crossed with full forms it goes to the full side. When crossed with narrows: vice-versa. It has been used more for UF breeding.

It might need colder winter temps to reach its registered height. In my Zone 5 garden, the scape height is 24 to 26 inches. I have yet to breed with it, so thanks Greg for the tips. All of the photos are good representations of what it looks like in my garden. It is a moderate increaser. It has gone from a double fan to 6 fans in 2.5 years. Bud count ranges from 8 to 10 per scape. It would probably be more if I had it planted in full sun. Very nice plant and the color does not fade, as it gets afternoon sun.

David

Sscape said:Michael Bennett is a beautiful flower that has value for breeding purposes. However, it needs to be crossed with daylilies that have a long scape because it's scape is woefully short for the size of the flower. It was registered with a scape of 26", but it has never in over five years achieved that height. It's average for me has been closer to 18", with some years going just over a foot. It grows well here in USDA Zone 7a/b, and has increased from two fans to six in the past four years. Flower color from year to year is very consistent in depth and hue. In hybridizing it can be used either way. When crossed with full forms it goes to the full side. When crossed with narrows: vice-versa. It has been used more for UF breeding.

I think I am growing one of your seeds right now (Cameroons Twister x Michael Bennett). Hopefully a nice flower will appear next year.
I just wanted to say that I am very grateful for your seeds. You have to be the absolute most generous seller on the LA, hands down.
As you were so generous, I shared your seeds with multiple people in different countries, so your creations are now growing round the world.
Just thought you might want to know. And thanks again.

As for the original Michael Bennet, that plant looks amazing!

Edited in Jan 2023 to add the seedling is shown here:
https://garden.org/lists/item/...

My first year for Michael Bennett. I have it planted next to Jerry Hyatt and sometimes get them confused. Michael Bennett is shorter however but a beautiful plant. A pic from this past year.

2022…A better year for MB. Blooming from July 4-25, I had 14 flowers, twice as many as last year. Unfortunately, the tag got lost so I couldn't check if it had grown to more than 3 fans in the Fall.

I can say that Michael Bennett is capable of producing seedlings much nicer than the original.
I just thought it was too short, for one thing, but it was a nice plant that was very hardy here, and it clumped up quickly.

I think these seedlings were from White Eyes Pink Dragon x Michael Bennett

2023 update…MB bloomed from July 6-23 with only 9 blooms. It remains at three fans, so it's not taking off. One problem is that it is too close to a clump of Sammy Russell, which is a very vigorous plant. I'll probably dig up half of SR next spring for the annual club sale to give Michael Bennett some breathing room. It is super short but it's also in front, so that doesn't matter so much.

Michael Bennett has always reliably rebloomed for us here in East Tennessee, so the bloom season is decently long; last year it started June 6th and extended to the end of July. Pod and pollen fertile. Here are some of the many faces:




Some days MB is a darker garnet.




I forgive it for blooming down in the foliage. In a clump it puts on such a great show.




Check out the wide branching (mid-June)!