Background history:

'Dorothy and Toto' is a semi-evergreen introduced in 2003 by Herrington-K..

It has earned the following AHS awards:
Stout Silver Medal: 2015
Award of Merit: 2012
Honorable Mention: 2009
IM: 2009
GD: 2012

This plant can be found in our Plant Database at:
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Dorothy and Toto') .

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 'Dorothy and Toto')

Performance varies year to year. Blooms here, at best, just at top of foliage. It clearly would prefer a milder climate. Pictures are not uploading.

mantisOH said: Performance varies year to year. It clearly would prefer a milder climate.

On the other hand, I've had Dorothy & Toto in my zone 3 gardens for several years and it does great here! It has very nice branching, so when there are multiple flowers blooming at the same time they don't tend to crowd each other.
And (unlike its pod parent, Night Embers) it actually doubles 100% of the time.

It's also fragrant - always a plus for my gardens. I have added so many fragrant blooms to my gardens, family and friends tells me my yard always "smells like a garden" even though the specifics of what may be blooming in any given month or on any one day is constantly changing ... yet the accumulated fragrances always lend a 'garden smell.'

Dorothy and Toto has also multiplied very well (not often the case in zone 3) - I will be dividing it this coming spring. It does not just 'survive' here, it THRIVES. This is reliable, fragrant and prolific ... and yes, gorgeous. Definitely a keeper.

It's made a wonderful clump here in SW VA. I've grown it for years and have been able to share it with friends as well as sell extra divisions several times. It is also a sentimental favorite, as I first met the hybridizer, Katiesue Herrington, and her husband, Tim, in the fall of 2009. What we didn't know at the time, was that Katisue had a virulent yet undetected cancer that would prove fatal several months later. When it won the Stout Medal a couple of years later, I was onstage when Tim tearfully accepted the award in Katisue's memory. There were very few dry eyes to be found in the house that night.Like many daylilies growing here, this brings fond memories of daylily friends when it blooms.

Well it's still in the $30 range at 20 years old, it's somewhat hard to find, and when you do find it it's frequently sold out, and all that makes me wonder if it is slow to increase. I love doubles though and it has a cute name and a pretty face, I'd love to try it here in my zone 6 garden southwest MO but have never took the plunge I guess.

I have D and T coming this Spring, believe it or not for $8, I jumped on it at that price. Julie, a beautiful story. Super sad…her creations live on. I'm looking forward to seeing Dorothy and Toto in action in my own yard ( and also to being cancer free myself, God willing).

2022 update. I am cancer free now myself and also had a tiny bit of action on Dorothy and Toto this summer. DT was planted in May 2022. One of the first to bloom this year, it popped out two blooms, one on June 12 and one on June 16. That was the end of flowering for 2022. I'm curious to see how it does here.

2023 update…so far, basically standing still, DAT was still at 2 fans and produced 2 blooms. Not impressive so far. Seems like a very slow grower.