I have decided that I would like to make fragrance one of the focuses of my fledgling hybridizing efforts. I have several daylilies that are listed as fragrant but they don't seem very fragrant to me. At best, I would say they have a "slight sweet" fragrance. Then again, I have some that are NOT listed as fragrant that have the same slight sweet fragrance.

I am hoping some of you have daylilies in your garden that you can recommend from personal experience as being fragrant...whether or not they are registered as such. Of course, I prefer purple daylilies, but if it is a very fragrant flower I might consider other colors. Older and newer cultivar suggestions welcome. I am actually thinking some of the better fragrances might be from older cultivars

Anyway, any suggestions welcome and appreciated.

I noticed when I was weeding around some new daylily acquisitions the other day that there was a lovely scent emanating from somewhere. I followed my nose and it was 'Heavenly Harmony'.

From other threads about fragrance I want to say that many of the older, yellow daylilies tend to be fragrant. Specifically, I remember someone said Hudson Valley and I can attest to Ebony Circle, Gold Helmet, Quit Fussing and Siloam Mama. Early Fragrance is a melon daylily that is fragrant. And I believe Jim's Pick is also fragrant (a bitone?).

I'm trying this year to make a point of sniffing each cultivar to see if it is fragrant. The problem is the flowers can be fragrant at different times during the day. And I usually use bug spray outside so that's pretty much all I can smell! I did pretty well recording which early daylilies were fragrant but now that I'm in midseason and so many cultivars are opening I'm not really keeping up.

But even the most fragrant daylilies typically need the right conditions (heat & humidity) to make the scent travel. Most you have to stick your nose in to smell (often leading to a yellow nose!).

Amber, I am breeding for fragrance as well. I have a bed of a variety of different colored, fragrant daylilies grouped together. The scent is noticeable without sticking your nose into a bloom... But for purple and fragrant, I have:

Ocean Spirit- has to be one of my favorites this year... Really eye catching in its small clumps.


Lavender Stardust


Chosen Love- not blooming yet...

Edge Ahead


Paul Aucoin

Hyperion is always wonderful smelling! Probably the most fragrant one I have so I pop it in various places just for the smell alone! I can also attest to Limonero Squeeze, Mystic Image, Rock Lobster, Big Smile, Blueberry Dream, Curb Appeal, New Paradigm, Open Door, Stardust Dragon. The most fragrant of these are Hyperion and New Paradigm in my experience. Those I can smell without getting real close. Some more than others.

There must be something wrong with my nose. I just went out and stuck my big schnoz into Ocean Spirit and was able to get some fragrance-- maybe...
It is that way for most fragrant DLs and me. I'm just missing out on that dimension of enjoyment, I guess.

Amber and Diana, you will just have to hybridize a big smelly DL for me!

Lol Jill, we can call one Big Smelly just for you.

I went and smelled OS to be certain, and it does have a reasonable fragrance for me...hmmm... Wonder why the difference?

And I'll want one too

'Odds Bodkins'. It's the only one I have that permeates the air. Nice fragrance and a good performer as well.

I believe Elena said it best. Time of day for scent can be different esp. for nocturnals. Humidity plays a big role. You could be smelling at the wrong time or the outside conditions are wrong.

May tomorrow be a joy filled day!

'Odds Bodkins' is the only daylily I grow that has a strong, pleasant scent.

Thank you for the suggestions everyone. Could someone explain to how temperature and humidity affect fragrance...not the science, just the general pattern. For instance, are they more fragrant early in the day or later? Does higher humidity make them more or less fragrant?

Advance party Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Advance Party')
It is an older cultivar, and smells like a rose to me. Except, in March, I lost my smell and taste due to a severe sinus infection with influenza. I can't smell anything anymore, but I can now taste the 5 tongue senses. But a lot tastes bland unless one of those tongue senses isn't in what I'm eating.

The problem with fragrance is that you have to have a young back to keep on bending over all the time. But it is hard to match Hemerocallis citrina as a smeller.

I have Citrina for the first year so anxious to smell it

Mine aren't so fragrant, I always have to put my nose on them.
But sometimes in the hottest hour of the day when I'm in the garden I can smell a subtle scent all over.

If the neighbours aren't washing something. Many women here wash EVERYTHING several times a day, so I started to say that the gardens here are the only ones in the world smelling of detergents.

Chester Cyclone is very fragrant. It is an older yellow spider type
that curls. I keep it mostly for the fragrance, but it is a nice one
otherwise. The air is filled with scent a few feet away in all
directions, so you don't have to stick your nose in to smell it.

Just out of curiosity I did a nose experiment with Ocean Spirit today. One rather faulty but expansive nose on one flower yielded the following results: Early this morning there was fragrance! Late afternoon, no more fragrance that I could easily detect.

Here is the "test subject"

Thank you so much everyone. Keep the recommendations and the nose testing coming

@mistyfog it would figure that a yellow spider would be the really fragrant one. I like fat, round purple daylilies, but my hubby likes yellows and spiders and has been begging me to let him get some

Amber, that flower would work for both, you for the
fragrance, and hubby for the yellow spider type.

There are so many fragrant seedlings here now, it
can sometimes be overwhelming, but I love it anyway.