Thanks Kim, Jill, and Jan!

i am so grateful for the enabling how about a trivia question for all you fine sleuths, to help nudge me fast-forward toward a purchase i would not be able to resist?!

---> What is diploid, very miniature in leaf as well as proportionate in flower/scape, highly and beautifully patterned/textured, likely bi-reverse-multi color, evergreen, and well-below-introduction-priced?

.... only 67,894 more hybrids, and so many sites, to search through to find my dream daylily start

Tina, you didn't tell me you have an IG!!!!!

Glad you joined us! What a nice introduction! You have lived all over! I envy that. I have only lived within Ohio, and almost all of that within 10 miles of where I was born.

Pretty dog! I used to work in printing, and we did a magazine on Italian Greyhounds. They are so elegant!

Fun reading!

I am glad that you finally got over the big box stores. Heck those that work there, do they really help? Get ye to a garden grower/backyard gardener/plantsperson!!!

and

Welcome to daylilies! The obsessive collector's plant!

And since you are in a hot area and on limited watering, have you heard of supersorb yet?

When I plant daylilies to be in their garden spots, I add (already absorbed) supersorb at the bottom of the large hole. A cupful at least. If a large clump, sometimes 2. It is a polymer that looks like gel, from crystals.

Ask if you would like more info.

BB

Welcome indeed, Tina! Where in northern California do you live? I live in Bakersfield at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, and we have scorching summers here with absolutely no rain from April usually through October. And we really have to watch the water, too, especially since our Lake Isabella dam up the Kern River from us is leaking plus they've discovered an active earthquake fault underneath it. So the max they are now allowing in the lake is 24% capacity. But daylilies do really well here with mulch -- and also irises, since they mostly bloom in the spring and can do well with drought conditions in the summer.

We all seem to be addicts here, and there are really knowledgeable people here who give really terrific advice too -- absolutely invaluable! And we have hybridizers who share pictures of their wonderful seedlings with us. And they really encourage the rest of is to try it too -- fantastic!

And if you haven't gotten to the Lily Auction yet, just wait till you see it! I go nuts every time I get in it, and several members here sell daylilies and seeds there. This is such a wonderful place, and we have an incredible database that we are all working on posting pictures for -- and you receive acorns for posting in the database -- and I could just go on and on and on...

So I know you will enjoy yourself here!

I can help with The first part of your question. There are two types of daylilies: diploids and tetraploids. I can't remember the number of chromosomes diploid daylilies have (is it 22?), and many of the modern hybrids now have double the amount of chromosomes -- and they are not fertile with each other. So you have to cross dips with dips and tets with tets. However, some of the hybridizers now treat diploid daylilies to convert them to tetraploids -- very tricky and can be somewhat dangerous to the person handling the colchicine, from what I've heard -- and sometimes tet conversions revert back to dips... Many of the beautiful swaying spiders and UF's are diploids, but most of the incredible edges (pie crust, chicken fat, teeth and tendrils) are usually on the tets.

And as to the very end of your question, the introduction prices of daylilies will probably shock you, and I recommend you get into some of the hybridizers' websites to learn what they are. (That's why we love the Lily Auction so much!). Why don't you check out Water Mill Gardens and Floyd Cove Daylilies for starters...

Is all this confusing enough for you?

Also, check into Bill Maryott's garden. He is in California. I have not bought or grown his things, but He gets rave reviews. Also, Gold Coast daylilies is in California. One of the most famous hybridizers, Pat Stamile, moved to California a few years ago. Not sure he is selling yet, but I would love to see what he is up to!

Hi Tina !

Watch out for these people here, they will not encourage moderation with daylilies ! I have found that my first time blooming daylilies are doing very well in our extreme heat and even reblooming for me ! I grew them from seed sent to me by Margaret my Canadian daylily loving enabler friend.

I have a Maryotts order arriving tomorrow

Glad you have joined us

Tina, so glad you have joined us!! Linda did a great job starting her first daylily seeds, growing the babies and getting them to bloom and now rebloom. She can hardly wait to get the next exciting crosses that I will be sending her this fall.

You are all so wonderful to share helpful hints and good cheer. Each one of you sparked another line of thought in me, so i'll follow up with tree mails so as not to snarl up the introduction thread, but suffice it to say ... what an awesome group to have found!! T-h-a-n-k-s!

chalyse said: how about a trivia question for all you fine sleuths, to help nudge me fast-forward toward a purchase i would not be able to resist?!

---> What is diploid, very miniature in leaf as well as proportionate in flower/scape, highly and beautifully patterned/textured, likely bi-reverse-multi color, evergreen, and well-below-introduction-priced?

Is that all one question in your search for the perfect DL? ALL DLs are perfect, didn't you know?

chalyse said:You are all so wonderful to share helpful hints and good cheer. Each one of you sparked another line of thought in me, so i'll follow up with tree mails so as not to snarl up the introduction thread, but suffice it to say ... what an awesome group to have found!! T-h-a-n-k-s!

Told ja!

LOL ... but aren't s-o-m-e daylilies just a tad more perfect than others, or how would we fit all 70K into our flower beds?!

yups, that's the must-haves of my holy grail daylily, and the terrific pointers here have already helped me whittle and re-populate my excel list of 'real' DLs (non big box! yay!) to fit into my small budget for next year. though i can't become a hybridizer (no room! mini-me!), i am hunting for s-o-m-e few things to experiment with - just for our own viewing pleasure. must still be a frustrated kitchen-sink-mad-scientist from my childhood days ... and i'm ready to take it to the back yard! .. but... one has to start s-o-m-e-where

you called it right - what an awesome group

Excuse me Margaret, what was that you said ??????

quietyard said:Excuse me Margaret, what was that you said ??????

chalyse said:d the terrific pointers here have already helped me whittle and re-populate my excel list of 'real' DLs (non big box! yay!) to fit into my small budget for next year.

Hold on a minute... just becuase they come from a big box store doens't mean there's anything wrong with them, as long as they're labeled correctly.

My Lowes/HD Daylilies include:
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Minstrel Boy')
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Spanish Glow')
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Big Time Happy')
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Merlot Rouge')
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Mini Pearl')


to name a few... all wonderful performers, a beauty in my yard, and totally different from the Stella D or the plain janes in the neighbors yards

I was just at Lowe's the other day and was checking out their daylilies. Most of the daylilies they had I either already have or have seen pics of them. I can tell you that I checked several and not all of them had the right tags in the right pots. It was easy to see the mistakes because they were blooming. I saw a Pardon Me sign in a Daring Deception pot and several others mislabeled. That's really too bad for those customers that wouldn't know the difference. Of those that were blooming they seemed right on as far as bloom. Only thing is, they are probably tissue cultured.

Ok, why don't we have all 70 something thousand plants???? Let it be said and you may quote me "If I had the money to buy them and the space to grow them and the help to tend them, I'd have all 70 something thousand of them!"

Oh yes, welcome to our wonderful world of daylilies, animals, friends, loved ones, and anything that grows, place to share our loves!!!