What are your earliest daylilies? I can't wait for the parade to begin!

The earliest I have here are species, Hemerocallis minor and Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus (syn. flava).

My earliest were Bitsy and Royal Eventide.

My earliest are Judge Orr and Brunette - usually starting at the end of April (peak bloom is at the end of June here - in normal years).

Here are the ones that bloomed before Stella de Oro for me last year. I've added several that are supposed to bloom before Stella that should bloom for me this year, so I may have a longer list by the end of the month. Of course, it's been really cold here so I'm thinking the whole daylily season will start later here. Hopefully I'm wrong, but I don't think so.

Early Bird (VT), Dip, Olallie Unreg, May15
Gold Dust, Dip, Yeld, May 25
Bitsy, Dip, Warner, May 25
Cheerful Thought, Tet, Burkey, May 26
Earlybird Orangeade, Tet, Skinner, June 3
04-019-05 BES x Gold Dust, Dip, Seedling, June 3
04-019-04 BES x Gold Dust, Dip, Seedling, June 5
Earlybird Sunshine, Tet, Skinner, June 6
04-019-03 BES x Gold Dust, Dip, Seedling June 9

caitlinsgarden,
I would recommend some caution in getting some very early daylilies, and make sure that they are cold morning opening and early morning openers. A lot of the time the very early ones do bloom early, but many of them take a while before turning out a decent looking bloom. Finding daylilies that bloom very early may not be too hard to find, but finding ones that bloom very early, and open up with the first blooms looking fantastic are much harder to find.
Looking at your zone, I would not have any idea what plants to recommend being I am down in zone 8B.

Dan Trimmer just gave me one of his daylilies that blooms (in FL) in February. It's called Spice Market and one of it's parents is Orange Blossom Trail. I'm looking forward to seeing it next year. I have one daylily that always tries to bloom in October, so my season will be stretched to the max!!

My earliest bloomer is Dumortieri, a species daylily I think. It is in bloom now in my garden, just barely starting. Late this year. The next is Fernstone. Dumortieri always opens and looks OK, but it is a very plain yellow daylily. The 1st couple of blooms on Fernstone can be splotchy, not pretty, but start looking much better soon.

My earliest are Black Eyed Stella, Endless Heart and Bitsy in no particular order.

Wow! I really like Brunette and Endless Heart as a contrast to the early yellows.

I just noticed these 2 Daylily blooming yesterday. I couldn't believe it. My SDB Iris are just starting to bloom.

I think this one is Ming Toy. Let me know your thoughts.

Could this one be Little Boy Bob?


Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

#1 Red Magic ?

Thanks Sharon. I don't recall ever buying that one but it could have come with some NOID Daylily that I got.

The Red Magic I have has lighter midriff, and I feel a little darker red. Bur mine came from a box store years ago, so mine could be wrong.

Zone 5B/5A in Connecticut:
Elizabeth (bloomed 5/19 this year)
Orangeade
Me First
Dumortieri

Zone 6a here in central Ohio:

Gracilis
Judge Orr
another early yellow (can't remember right now)
H. dumortieri
Gold Dust (or similar)
H. minor
Early Redtop

Except the last, these are all yellow and trumpet-shaped with only the segment tips flared. Cold weather opening or discoloration are not issues.

They are growing in different locations on our property. The exact order of first flower open might change if they were switched around in these microclimates.

FFO on the earliest is usually around May 5th but was delayed at least 10 days this year because of our prolonged cold spring.

Pat

When I'm looking through this thread most of the mentioned plants are yellow - more or less. So I'd like to ask another question:
What are your earliest NON-yellow cultivars?
Mine are the following - all start usually around end of May/beginning of June:
Before, Early Alibi, Early Days, Flying Early, In Strawberry Time, Taffeta Mist, Pixie Parasol, Tigereye Spider, Tutankhamun, Vernal Tutone, When Robins Sing

The Tribble With Blue opened today. First Daylily in the yard this year.

These two always vie for "First Bloom" title:
Isle Of Wight




Tigerland





Violet Moon and Bowtie Affair vie for third or fourth to bloom:
Violet Moon



Bowtie Affair

Hi Sue @Nightlily ,

I already mentioned First Redtop (Saxton ?) which doesn't seem to be registered. It's a short, small-flowered red self which has a fulvous cast. It's not especially showy. I just grow it for historic collection purposes.

In Strawberry Time that you mentioned is my earliest "pretty" flower. I like it a lot. It will rebloom with better care than it has had in recent years in our field.

Tutankhamun that you mentioned is midseason here, and that's how it's registered. Makes me wonder why it would be early over there.

I've been buying some additional extra-early "pretty" ones this year, including 'Before'. Looking forward to those next spring!

Pat

Edit: A couple other extra-earlies I forgot:

Flavina - a small bright lemon flower on 24" scapes. Super cheerful color! It would be lovely with Iris but I don't have it near them here. There's a good pic in the DB by O'Bannon.

Saratoga Springtime- the only EE large flower here. 6" orange with a red eye. The database shows a clump with scapes above the foliage. Mine doesn't succeed in that very well. It's completely reliable though, and I always enjoy seeing it.