Background history:

'Crimson Pirate' is a dormant diploid introduced in 1951 by Sass-H.E..

It has earned the following AHS awards:
Honorable Mention: 1955

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

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.



Also, please consider adding a Plant Performance Report to the database! Thank you!

Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Crimson Pirate')

I obtained Crimson Pirate in a plant swap many years ago and was the very first daylilies I obtained. It has been a consistent bloomer for me; and it is one of my favorite 'red' daylilies. It is absolutely the best daylily that I have growing here!

I picked this one up from a big box store in bagged form early last year and potted it up. When it bloomed, it revealed its stunning red face and was true to what it was named on the bag label.
So far, the only complaint is that it seems to be a bit shorter scape than the listed 30". I will attribute this to being in a pot, and being a first year plant. Last fall, I removed it from the nursery pot, and gave it a home in one of my foundation beds. It seems to like it current location and cant wait to see its Crimson face this season.

Crimson Pirate is quite a bit shorter for me than 30" too, more like 24", but a heavy bloomer & multiplier. Often reblooms, although not every year & just sparsely. Still, it blooms for a long time. Easy to set pods too.

I obtained this plant at least 10 years ago. I have split and transplanted many times. It never fails to bloom even in a drought year. It grows to about 30" here in Ontario Canada zone 5. It is one that will always be in my garden. Love it.

I obtained Crimson Pirate from Walmart a few years ago. It was one of those dry bagged plants with a few roots. It is the most prolific daylily in my garden. It has increased from three fans to at least 18. It is a mid to late bloomer for me. It blooms for a long time, but I do not get rebloom. I plan to move it this spring as my taste has changed a bit. I like a bit more fancy looking face.

I've had Crimson Pirate for quite a while, not sure when I bought it. It has grown very well for me and I've had to split it a number of times now. It seems to be a bud builder for me and blooms a very long time often having blooms late into September and more than once into October. It sets pods like crazy and I'm always breaking them off. I've not measured but I think it's shorter than 30" for me too.

I have written about this cultivar before. I think this plant is so successful that it is in almost everyone's garden, yet still somehow never seems to get the attention it deserves. As can be seen in this thread it is a great performer from Canada to the southern states of the U.S.
Here in southeast Alabama it is a terrific little performer. Multiplies well and puts on a show for a long time with lots of scapes and buds, plus as mentioned in some other posts, it is a bud builder here in my garden. I have divided it many times over the past three or four years and it never misses a beat.
Here is the plant today, it is already showing 15 scapes on it. The only other plant in the garden right now with more scapes is Siloam Double Classic, with 16 scapes.

Crimson Pirate is the easiest daylily to grow. It multiplies extremely well and is a bud builder. It's fans are thin and grassy with the flower being spider-like. The first flowers on mine start out red, but by the time it stops blooming the flower color is brick red. This is because Crimson Pirate stays in bloom for so long in the Texas heat. The only problem I have is that it can not be placed too close to any other daylily. It sends runners up and starts new clumps next to itself. May your day be blessed!

I am going to have to pay more attention, I have never noticed mine spreading by runners. Right now I have several clumps and they are all nice neat clumps, I'll see what they look like by the end of the season.

This One is new to my garden and hasn't bloomed yet, it is still quite small. I will update when I have more info.

On January 7, 2017, I bought a bag of 3 roots of "Final Touch" cultivar from Walmart for $5. When these later started to bloom, it became obvious that 2 of the 3 roots were Crimson Pirate.

I now have so many fans in the pot, I can't count them. They need to be transplanted into the ground as they have quickly outgrown the medium-large sized nursery pot. It has multiplied rapidly in a short period of time. This one will be going into the ground instead of a raised bed to accommodate it's fast growth. In fact, I will probably have to divide it first before planting into the ground. Ha! What a daylily!!!

At first I was disappointed that I did not get 3 roots of Final Touch, but after Crimson Pirate began blooming, I became rather delighted to have gotten 2 different cultivars instead of just one in the bag.

I truly love the red blooms. (Red is one of my favorite bloom colors!) I recorded a bud count of 7, but later had to do a double-take because it actually produced more than 7 on that first scape. (I didn't record the total, but I think it was 10 buds/blooms total on that scape.) So it must indeed be a bud builder.

It began blooming for me on April 2, 2017. In the photos, you can see another scape with larger buds that was actually Final Touch. You can look at the buds and the leaves and see the difference in these two cultivars. Crimson Pirate has thinner leaves that when clumped look "grassy". The buds are smaller and thinner because Crimson Pirate has smaller blooms.

Stats (which was originally listed as Final Touch) were later determined to be Crimson Pirate:


Crimson Pirate (with Final Touch also in the same pot):




Bloom photos:

Becky-- Just give it lots of space around. It will send up little rhizomes/ runners and start new clumps next to itself. Each clump gives me one or two clumps every year. Nice to give away. If you ever move a clump. Do not plant another daylily in its place. Now I can not be certain but I think I received daylilies from a commercial daylily grower that had to have parts of Crimson Pirate in it. I have it in areas I never planted it and too far to have spread on its own. Next to itself it has spread here more than Flore Pleno/Kwanso ever did. It might become a pot daylily until I can figure something out. I wish all daylilies performed like Crimson Pirate.

May you be blessed with a wonderful day!

Edited to say each clump (not plant) gives me one or two clumps every year.

I have had 'Crimson Pirate' in several different clumps and have never noticed it spread by rhizomes. I am going to have to check them all out.

Sharon - I tipped you an acorn for your advice (which is also good for anyone who grows this cultivar to know).

I had thought about the incredibly fast growth on this plant in just 6 months and it did remind me of a more invasive species daylily like Ditchlily/ Kwanso. I have an empty in-ground large round bucket that I may plant my clump in. This area is away from all my other daylilies and near shrubs and trees, yet it gets full sun for half of the day. After reading your post, I think the in-ground tub will become it's new home. Thanks for your advice!

Also, neither of it's parents have any parentage listed.

And it is listed as dormant. I have yet to see this plant go dormant, so I suspect it may not be a dormant at all.

Perhaps this cultivar is more fast growing (perhaps invasive?) in warmer climates. I am in zone 9b/10a and it grew from the moment I took it out of the bag and planted it. We had a mild Winter this year, so it never slowed down once it's roots hit the soil in the pot.

@Seedfork

This is one of my clumps of Crimson Pirate this spring April 2017.
The main clump sent up the clump to the upper right.


When I dig the side clumps up to give away, there is a small underground attachment to the main clump.

If I am not mistaken some older varieties of daylilies spread easier than newer daylilies.

May you be blessed with a wonderful week!

I know my 'Crimson Pirate' multiples like a rabbit, I just have never noticed any new "clumps" popping up away from it like that. Just saying that I need to be more observant. Any chance that could be a seedling? Have you ever checked to see if the runners are connected to the "mother" plant.
I have had some plants that do that, just never have had any of my 'Crimson Pirate' clumps do it...at least I have never noticed it.

beckygardener said:
I truly love the red blooms. (Red is one of my favorite bloom colors!) I recorded a bud count of 7, but later had to do a double-take because it actually produced more than 7 on that first scape. (I didn't record the total, but I think it was 10 buds/blooms total on that scape.) So it must indeed be a bud builder.

It began blooming for me on April 2, 2017. In the photos, you can see another scape with larger buds that was actually Final Touch. You can look at the buds and the leaves and see the difference in these two cultivars. Crimson Pirate has thinner leaves that when clumped look "grassy". The buds are smaller and thinner because Crimson Pirate has smaller blooms.

Crimson Pirate usually has up to 30 buds on it. It also increases well.As far as I know, or have heard, it is not a bud builder. It just has a blooms that keep on coming. Mine bloom from June into late August here in my zone 6A garden. A mature clump is awesome. You won't be disappointed. Enjoy.

My Crimson Pirate

It is a bud builder in my garden.

It is a bud builder in my garden, too! The database has it listed as a budbuilder.

May everyone be blessed with a wonderful day!