I have a problem and a favor to ask. I love rebloomers, and and try to get them when I can. When I buy, it's often a deciding factor. Here in the midsection of the country, dormants do fine (and southern plants often do fine) and it's usually very clear who is recurrent and who is a one-scape special. When I make crosses, I'm always interested in creating or sustaining rebloom in the offspring. Sometimes the crosses are made with the primary goal of adding the trait to a beautiful and promising non-rebloomer.

"So what's the problem?" you wonder. Rebloom isn't always noted in the registration details, especially in older cultivars. And in the north, the rebloom may not always show itself, so the hybridizer won't see it and won't list it. So when I'm scrutinizing the plant in the database, I may pass up buying some gorgeous material because it looks like it lacks rebloom, when in fact it might be recurrent here in East Tennessee.

So, the favor? If you notice reliable rebloom in a daylily in your garden and the registration details fail to note it, please add a comment to the plant listing in the database, noting rebloom and your zone. It's super-easy and just takes a minute. It's useful for the hybridizer and to all those desperate but discerning daylily-hungry buyers out there who are trying to figure out the unknowable. Is that really the color? REALLY? Do the scapes lean? What kind of branching are we looking at? And... does it rebloom (in milder zones than where it originated)? Your pictures and comments matter and are much appreciated!


Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo by Curt Hanson was bought for the glow- and shows itself to be a reliable rebloomer! This picture is from late July when its rebloom starts here.

That is gorgeous! I love Curt's description of the color: "szechwan curry orange apricot blend above orange throat"

I don't get a lot of rebloom here, and what few I do see rebloom on is listed in the stats. But I will be on the lookout

Things that rebloom for some, don't rebloom for others. I never buy based on rebloom, very few rebloom here in zone 5/6, they get froze off by that first fall frost.

Same here. I used to think I could get rebloom here, but I gave up on it.

Only a very old one, Arla, reblooms until frost for me.
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Arla')

I've had a couple, Graphic Heart and Discover the Stars both have rebloomed here in 6B.

Below are pictures of several rebloom daylilies available from O'Donal's Nursery in Gorham, Maine. I have been hybridizing daylilies for O'Donal's since 2010 when they purchased the rights to Barth Daylilies that began with my father, the Reverend Dr. Joseph N. Barth, in 1952 .Dr. Barth was a pioneer in the breeding of tetraploid daylilies.

In 1992 I created my first continuous blooming diploid seedling. Some 25 years later, while hybridizing for O'Donals, created COUNTY ROAD ENCORE,
my best continuous bloomer to date. Then, LEMON SQUEEZE ENCORE, a repeat blooming diploid. Earlier, also at O'Donal's, DAMARISCOTTA RIVER
GREAT PUMPKIN, my first large tetraploid repeat bloomer. Jeffrey O'Donal, the owner of O'Donal's (professional horticulturist), has also been
daylily hybridizing and has created reliable large tetraploid rebloomers. O'Donal's has a website.

Developing reliable reblooming daylilies for the north takes perseverance and great deal of patience. I suspect all the continuous and repeat blooming
daylilies at O'Donal's would likely also do well in Tennessee.

Please don't hesitate to contact me, or Jeffrey O'Donal, to learn more about the reblooming daylily program at O'Donal's.

Nicholas Barth
Newcastle, Maine

Those are beautiful, folks! Tina, does Helicopter rebloom as well? Rebloom for the north seems like a worthy goal, Nick.

So, I'm puzzled and at least a bit confused about the lack of northern rebloom. I get that late rebloom is thwarted by early frost. Then maybe the rebloom becomes next years "prebloom"? Evidently the continuous bloomers show themselves. But what about instant rebloom that runs almost concurrent with initial scapes? Do the plants just skip it? In clumps it's easy to miss that there is round 1 and round 2 of scapes since their blooms can overlap. Here, bloom and instant rebloom often happens in May, June and July and there's no more bloom action until next year. In the north, do the plants really only send up one set of scapes or is it possible that instant recurrence gets overlooked? Is the growing season so short that the DLs do well to muster the energy to put up only one set of scapes, except when they are very strongly recurrent (like Strawberry Alarm Clock, which Hanson lists as a rebloomer)? And what about all the Emmerich rebloomers? Greenhouse?

I see that my Bitsy clump currently has nicely branched, scapes but the foliage is grassy so it's hard to track whether it's rebloom or perhaps the delayed product of this year's increase. It's a newish plant, but a nice clump thanks to Shady Rest. It's so much easier to spot rebloom on a single or DF!

@MikeHuben, any thoughts? Your notes ("mileage may vary") have been instructive.

Those are very good questions, but I can't answer them.

I've sometimes attributed my lack of rebloom to the fact that I just plant them wherever I can find a spot. I rarely fertilize them, don't amend the soil, and the only time they got extra water was in 2012 when we had a drought.

I have had a lot of rebloom this year but all on new plants that came in from a greenhouse and were gigantic to start. They were blooming within a month of being planted and sent out new scapes three or four months later. Usually the season isn't long enough for that as things don't start blooming here until the end of June.

Vickie, even with almost no care, they bloom anyway! Low maintenance!

Interesting, Zoia. I've had similar experience with those greenhouse-grown leeks this year! Scapes up in record time and then rebloom sort of erratic, often delayed, like the plants needed to work on establishing new roots first. Angel on A Cloud just started reblooming. Several of these would normally have instantly rebloomed here. So in New England you would only get round 1, and I bet it's a combination of a shorter growing season and fewer reserves. Thinking about what they experience: not-leek reserves, later start in spring, more effort to regrow from the ground up after full dormancy, cooler summer (maybe), shorter growing season with earlier frost... They do well to put on a single show. But it will be interesting to see how rebloom evolves. I dream of the deep south getting 4 or 5 rounds, the midsection getting 3 and surely the north getting 2. And slower increase (with all that blooming) so we don't have to divide as often!


Angel On a Cloud at the end of August, first scape. Rebloom started Oct 9th, with darker purple because of cooler weather.

All,
There are many factors that can effect daylily reblooming in the north or elsewhere. The bottom line, however, relates to the genetics of the
particular daylily. Here in the north I have discovered that certain diploids and tetraploids have recessive reblooming genes that can be triggered by
warmer weather. These can produce repeat blooms, i.e. one or more new scapes are formed after the first set of scapes have finished blooming.
Several Barth Daylilies (available at O'Donal's Nursery in Gorham, Maine) have been repeat bloomers, including: HOPE HALL, SARAH SCALLY,
DAMARISCOTTA RIVER GREAT PUMPKIN, and FLYMAN. Continuous bloomers continue to throw scapes throughout the daylily growing season.
Good continuous bloomers are much more difficult to develop. Over many years I have worked with many so-called continuous bloomers which
have proved problematic in the north. A picture of HOPE Hall is attached below. Wonderful diploid daylily.

She's a beauty Nick! Would you consider adding a comment about her rebloom to help admirers and potential buyers?

Yes, that's a great point: the genetics. So many moving parts. So... some daylilies just won't rebloom under normal conditions. Not happening. Some of those may carry recessive rebloom genes. Rebloomers express those genes when conditions are favorable.

Is it more straightforward to work with dip genes for rebloom? And what aspects of dip genetics facilitates northern rebloom? Maybe dip plants tend to spend less energy putting up lighter scapes. We have so many robustly recurrent tet lines that seem to throw reblooming kids. What aspects of tets discourages northern rebloom?

@Hembrain Helicopter blooms here from early June till the frost and freezes hit, typically Oct/Nov. Here it is today, despite being rudely hacked in half this spring and transplanted to a new bed. Fewer scapes and some floppy ones at the edges. But next year it will be back to normal. A bouquet of scapes. Hope your half is thriving.

So rudely, Tina! Yes, my Helicopter is doing beautifully but light bloom and no extended blooming yet as it gets established.

That O'Donals nursery sounded cool.
But the website is not very good. Basically just a "come visit us in person" type of website, with no details at all of what they sell.
This is unfortunately the type of website I encountered frequently when I first started gardening. But I want to know exactly what products they have before I go out of my way to visit (and the prices!). No point wasting time traveling to then be disappointed. I do not have that kind of time to throw away. Not sure that many nurseries get that concept. Many are still 'Ye Olde' 20th century. I have never visited a nursery in my own state (MA) because we have the same problem here, and would now rather shop online instead even if the products are much smaller and more expensive.
Pity. Those reblooming daylilies looked .

I will add that those comments in the database really do make a difference. I ordered one old cultivar I never would have considered solely because of a detailed report in the database entry from someone in my zone.

. This is Ida's Smile. It has rebloomed at least three times in my Zone 5 garden. It started late June and is still blooming today with several more buds ready to bloom.

That is gorgeous, Missy!

Here in CANADIAN zone 5b , we do have reliable rebloomers . I always state in my registration list if it is . I have these 5 so far . Reblooming is a consistent factor If you have good growing weather . I have 2 year old seedlings that are reblooming this late in the year . Yes JACK Frost is coming along in a couple of weeks .
CANADIAN ORANGE CRUSH


CAUGHT YOU PEEKIN


DONNY VIRGIN


ANGEL SMILIN DOWN


PUTTING ON A SHOW

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