...well I got swayed first I have to say, by the tall-bearded irises but on reading more into them, discovered they need cold winters to do well. Living on the east coast of Australia certainly the winters aren't especially cold. Forget the bearded irises then.

Read into the daylilies ---- and discovering like everyone here that while there are also (like the irises), so many varieties to choose from; what to start with? I am narrowing the field down before I order; adding favourites to my page and deleting some as I compare with the others as I go. Will tread cautiously to try a half-dozen first up and see how well they prosper this time next year. Seems so long to wait though now.

Something interesting I thought I would pass on, and wondering how many had heard of daylilies being used in a culinary manner?
http://www.daylily.com.au/news... where the reference to culinary applications are noted in the final three paragraphs.

Carole
If you're like most of us, that half dozen becomes a gross at some point. Don't worry- we'll "help"! We call it enabling
I am a frequent daylily taste tester. I munch on them fresh from the garden since we are organic gardeners....

@Carolem, check out our friends here. The thread "Daylilies of the Antipodes" in Daylilies forum
You will have great ideas and new friends.

Go to Charlotte's Daylily Diary: http://daylilydiary.com/ She has the most extensive list of Daylily growers/sellers of any site. Scroll down the initial page to find the six different ones she lists for Australia (+one for NZ). If you contact any of these people they can help you narrow your choices to the plants that do best in your area.

to the forum. I will agree with @ShakespearesGarden comment about becoming a gross. When this happens we call you a Hemerohaulic. To which, there is no known cure. Only the obsessive thirst that must be quenched with more and more CVs.

Ask Ginny @Legalily , she'll confirm...

it's true... Ginny is the most enabled of us right now...

thanks everyone; Diana, Mike, Greg and Stan, each of you for your messages and links too. @Sscape I have saved the daylilydiary to enjoy reading; and @Hazelcrestmikeb have put a watch-thread on Daylilies of the Antipodes. I can feel a sweet obsession coming on .... Look forward to learning from you when more of the heatwaves of summer have passed; I'll be ordering. (41°C for today's temp).

Carole, you have joined a great group of daylily addicts

carolem said:...well I got swayed first I have to say, by the tall-bearded irises but on reading more into them, discovered they need cold winters to do well. Living on the east coast of Australia certainly the winters aren't especially cold. Forget the bearded irises then.

Read into the daylilies ---- and discovering like everyone here that while there are also (like the irises), so many varieties to choose from; what to start with? I am narrowing the field down before I order; adding favourites to my page and deleting some as I compare with the others as I go. Will tread cautiously to try a half-dozen first up and see how well they prosper this time next year. Seems so long to wait though now.

Welcome, @carolem

When you decide on a nursery, check back in on this thread and ask members to suggest good, reliable varieties from their list and your favorites. Check the databases here for "real world" images posted by members.

Meanwhile, it would help if you added some climate information to your profile so that better suggestions could be made. A USDA zone rating would be a good place to start, but that's only part of the story. Because daylilies enjoy warm nights and humidity over 60% for best flowering performance, a description of your typical summer weather would be beneficial.

I'm guessing you must be fairly tropical if TB iris don't do well. I'm in Zone 9a, and they do fine here.

Thanks @touchofsky for your welcome; it does seem like a great support network happening right here.

Ken, @CaliFlowers thanks also for your welcome and advice. I certainly will go over my intended order and favourites when it gets closer to February end at least; after the heat subsides some. I will be able to think more clearly then !

Living mid-east coast of Australia, in a temperate climate rather than a tropical one, though humidity levels are reasonable, currently 57% though it can be 90% at other times. Rainfall even though forecast often of late, hasn't been reliable. Just a trickle here and a trickle there when Weatherzone shows rain over several hours. One thing you can bet on, is plenty of sunshine!

Autumn is my favourite time of year; I can handle that; so it would be lovely to have some Autumnal flowering daylilies too; while the Camellias (Sasanquas) are flowering; that would be a plus!

ooops. I posted this in the wrong forum. Guess I will leave it anyway.

We are lucky to not have temperatures as high as 40C (104F) which even other coastal parts of Aus further from the equator are getting. But between 9am and 4pm it was over 30 deg C (86F) which is common nowadays. No rain around so must water.
At 4pm today:
unreg'd Maleny Eyecatcher - in part shade all day
but cf, in a pot, poor thing until I put it in a trough of water
eaten by grasshoppers ULTIMATE PERFECTION
in part shade under pine trees CHINESE SPIRIT
no shade at all and lots of 33 deg temps for PINK TRANQUILITY

@bron good on Pink Tranquility for surviving the heat and no protection; we need survivors in our gardens.

It did reach 45° here; tough times on the garden, birds and ME. I LONG for Autumn - that lovely l.o.n.g. drawn out crisper nights and cooler mornings and bright sunny days when you enjoy stepping out and playing in the gardens again in earnest.

You can do some tall beardeds there, my parents have a few of my discards (my parents are in Mannering Park)....having said that I have a high mortality rate with them in Sydney. Older types tend to fair better.

@Protoavis thanks for that; yes I'm almost 20kms from M.P., and I do have just a few dwarf-beardeds' that I will order and trial here. Decided to go shorter because of the frequency of strong winds .... Pacer; Vasqua; Neon Blues and Midday Blues.

Glad to have you aboard @carolem even though it seems my friends @GaNinFl and @ShakespearesGarden here seem to be throwing me under the bus as an enabler and hemeroholic Just because I added over 160 last year and have 66 ordered for spring is peanuts compared to SOME of the hemeroholics Enjoy the ride and we'll help when we can. Bron and Glen have awesome blooms on the Antipodes thread and great information for your area. And I do love my new NGA friends even if they pick on me PS this can be addictive

Ginny

Ginny and lots of

back at you guys.