What daylilies do you have in your garden that you don't think get the credit they deserve? There are no rules regarding what measures you must judge by, it is open-ended, but please share WHY you love it so. (and PICTURES if you can!...)


I will kick-start this with a single example for now:

Tuscawilla Tigress




Anytime I see Tuscawilla Tigress available on a plant list, it is always super cheap, which belies the quality of this particular daylily. It establishes itself wonderfully, has super strong scapes, and the blooms are bright and command attention. It blooms for a LONG time... about 5-6 weeks, I believe. Although not registered as such, it is a bud-builder in my garden, too! What isn't to love?

I never see anyone hybridize with this or really do anything with this wonderful plant, but I don't think I would ever give it away. It is definitely an under-rated plant, in my opinion.

Crimson Pirate is always on my underrated list. It also is always cheap, because it multiplies so well and is an older one I guess. I have just recently read that Crimson Pirate spreads by runners in some gardens (that would be a negative) but if it does in my garden I have not noticed it and the runners would have had to have been short. I have had many small clumps of Crimson Pirate (very photogenic by the way) and I have never had a problem with it being invasive, the new fans have always been close to the clump.
It has been around a long time, but it doesn't even have a rust rating in the database, It gets no respect! It is rust resistant in my garden, it is a bud builder in my garden, it reblooms, it blooms from early to late. It sends up lots of scapes also and is fertile both ways. It does earn a couple of prominent spots in my garden.

@DogsNDaylilies

This is a seedling from Tuscawilla Tigress--love it!

@Scatterbrain ...beautiful! You may have perfected the one thing I feel can be improved on with Tuscawilla Tigress... The shape. I love your seedling's recurved, bagel shape with the ruffled edges--very nice! It looks like it retains (or even improves on?) Tusc's good petal substance. How are the scapes? Plant height? Bloom size?

Thank you for sharing your Tuscawilla Tigress seedling pictures! I have been trying to hybridize with it like crazy the last couple of years, but due to lack of space, all of those seeds are still in my fridge at the moment.

While I like Tuscawilla Tigress, it is a big plant and hence I moved it to a public garden. It was just too dominating.

@DogsnDaylilies--Thank you for your lovely comments but I can't take the credit for this, the seed came from LA years ago and is TT X Unknown.

Great substance on the petals, large blooms but haven't measured them, tall scapes (30inch/76cm)and stands up very well to torrential rain and wind.

FFE this year so will see how it gets on but I like it very much.

Lovely rich shaded russet orange/brick red here. Sorry I don't know the other parent for you.

I agree about Tuscawilla Tigress, a great underused daylily. I think because it is rather a plainer shape, the seedling really is a nice looking flower.
Mine are probably My Melinda & Bahama Butterscotch. I especially am fond of Bahama Butterscotch, but both are really good multipliers & bloom for such a long time in my garden. My problem is I can't seem to give them away, & can't bring myself to compost them. I have a "clump" of My Melinda that is about 4' x 6', & needs to be divided, Bahama Butterscotch is almost as big.

I think a very underrated on is WATCHYL DREAMING PURPLE.It is a purple with a beautiful green throat and is very sunfast for a dark one.

I give a vote for Chicago Sunrise--masses of flowers and scapes, doesn't mind bad weather or partial shade, fertile both ways, makes my elderly housebound neighbour happy when it flowers and she can see it.

Even though I am not fond of bright yellow or gold I would miss seeing it if it wasn't here.

hillbilly said:I think a very underrated on is WATCHYL DREAMING PURPLE.It is a purple with a beautiful green throat and is very sunfast for a dark one.

WATCHYL DREAMING PURPLE is lovely! It reminds me of Regal Finale, which may be another underrated daylily. WATCHYL DREAMING PURPLE is four inches taller than Regal Finale and blooms somewhat earlier.

Here is Regal Finale:

I would really love seeing any of these added to the Daylily of the Day feature,if they haven't already been featured. Today is the last day to add to the 8th Poll:
The thread "8th Daylily of the Day Poll (Closed)" in Daylilies forum

I can't address whether 'Coral Crab' is/was underrated. As a 1954 introduction it is considered an 'older' variety and I'm not sure it's ever judged against newer daylilies. However, old or not, for me it's equally, and sometimes more, appealing as a cultivar. Personal taste always enters into that equation, I think. However, as a reliable and rewarding garden plant it can be assessed very favorably without regard to personal taste. Today, 08/13, it has it's last bloom open. It has been in continuous bloom since 06/02. That includes a round of rebloom scapes which overlapped the first round of scapes. This thread just seemed an appropriate one to make those comments about it. For my part is has passed the test of time.

This one never fails to bloom over 100 days. It is still blooming here now and puts up new scapes all season. It has bloomed over 120 days quite a few years .

Camden Gold Dollar
Yancey-C. 1982

kidfishing said:This one never fails to bloom over 100 days. It is still blooming here now and puts up new scapes all season. It has bloomed over 120 days quite a few years .

Camden Gold Dollar
Yancey-C. 1982

Are you using this with the small flowered daylilies as a parent? I see it's not a large bloom and none of its registered offspring are large either according to the reg stats. Over 100 days of bloom is impressive. The database shows several other clumps in the photos that strongly resemble yours in terms of structure, placement and quantity of blooms. Sounds like an outstanding performer.

Camden Gold Dollar is consistently the best performing Daylily out of 900 named varieties we grow. It out does Stella.

Another clump of Camden Gold Dollar


I am using it but find it pod difficult. I have put lots of pollen on but only 4 pods with few seeds were produced. I will have try it for a pollen parent.

I have used Tuscawilla Tigress and crossed it with Tupac Amaru. This is the FFO.

Is there a nursery that sells Watchyl Dreaming Purple? I'm a newbie and have checked Google with no results.

@ThelmaRobinson,

http://www.cheryldaylilies.com...

Hi, Thelma! Welcome to the website!
Unfortunately, this isn't the correct thread for finding daylilies, there is a different thread in the daylilies forum for that. I did happen to do a quick search and find a place that appears to sell the one you want, though, so I will Tree-Mail you.

(Whoops, looks like I just cross-posted with Larry! It appears we both got the same results, though.)