I live in a fog belt in California (The sun may not shine for 2 or 3 days in a row), and the summer temps rarely get above 75 degrees. Can I order daylilies from the midwest (cold winters and hot summers) or from Florida (hot all the time). Will then adapt to my dissimilar climate or am I better off buying from a local grower?

Do you have rust in your area?

I'm new to growing daylilies and don't know if there is rust in the area

Wel...rust is a big problem on daylilies, and some people up north dont like to order southern grown plants, as they might cary rust. The first freeze will kill however. Rust likes warm and damp. Anyway..... in general.....

In your area, I would think ordereing from anywhere in the country would work. Im guessing tho maybe dormant daylilies would be a bit of an issue in Zone 10. Ive never had a problem ordereing from different areas.

Are you checking out the Lily Auction? You actually have some great sellers right in your state.

Pam,

Thanks for the information.

Yes, I'm thinking at bidding on Lily Auction.

Careful Doug - daylilies are addicting, and so is the LA!!!!

I live in zone 4/5 - and have no problems ordering from all over. Rust is not as big of a problem here because even if I do get it, it will die off during our cold winters. Some plants survive, some don't - I just accept the losses, but I don't lose many daylilies, even when I pushing their zones. But I do lose some because of it. I have EV, SEV and Dormants. I will admit that last year, even most of my EV's went dormant - or froze- because it was so cold. I lost about a dozen, and yes, most were smaller or newer plants from 2012.

On the other hand, I don't know about going from cold zones to a warmer one. I believe some will survive, some won't. You may want to stick with more EV's & SEV's instead of dormants. There are at least some dormants that need the freezing temperatures of winter. Again, much of it may be trial and error.

But I am also not the best person to respond, hopefully some of those from warmer climates will chime in ~Jan

Jan - Thanks for sharing

I grow dormants in So Cal and have a different take on them in my zone 10b garden. My best increaser by far last year was a dormant but so was my worst (although it put on a spectacular show during bloom season) so I don't let foliage habit influence my purchase decisions too much if at all (I do, however, note if it is listed as a "hard dormant"). I order from around the country and have found that, although some cultivars may take a year to settle in, they all do acclimate (I believe that the vast majority of dl's that I have are from colder climates). The only issue I have had is that a handful of cultivars seem to detest the extreme heat (we can get 115-117 degrees in summer) but this has been on a cultivar to cultivar basis - not related to where I purchased the daylily from. Because you are in a fogbelt (you are so lucky!), that probably won't be an issue for you.

This year, the bulk of dl's came from northern growers as I am trying to lessen my chance of getting rust introduced. I make sure I take receipt in the early spring, also - just as they are breaking dormancy if they are dor's - and before the nurseries are getting in their dl's for the season. Also, I quarantine the new arrivals. So far, I have been lucky and there is no rust

Buy from Maryotts. Similar sorta climate and rust free! Not too far from you. They have a fabulous reputation!

https://daylilygarden.net/cgi-...

Rita,

I have bought from Maryott's and their daylilies arrived in great shape. I was looking at other growers because I saw verities of daylilies that I liked they Maryott did not have.

Unless you get a lot of winter there, (not sure of your climate) just be careful of rust.

Have fun with your new addiction Doug! You have lots on enabler buddies here!!

Enablers? Us?

Say it ain't so!

I have bought from Florida, Alabama, and North Carolina. I have never had a problem ordering from another region as long as the fans were in good shape. I live near Chicago. I have had very few daylilies die on me.

Welcome Lindalee.

Old Gardener, great to hear your comments about dormants! I have only a handful, mostly because participants on the old DG forum warned me against them years ago, thinking that they might not do well in a moderate climate. But the ones I have had for the last 5-6 years have bloomed and increased quite well! There were two other cultivars that I asked about, but shied away from, because they were considered ‘hard dormants.’ In other words, daylilies that need a period in the winter when their buds are not growing in order to prosper. Yet, it turns out that growers in the East Bay have had these two cultivars in their gardens for 7 and 10 years, respectively, and they’re doing just fine. However, I have no idea how well ‘hard dormant’ daylilies would perform in your extreme summer temps, though, I wonder if that isn’t a different issue. I only have a sketchy understanding about dormancy, but a key factor appears to be decreasing day length.

As for rust, I had 3 challenging growing seasons with that scourge. Since the San Francisco Bay Area doesn’t have a sustained freeze that could kill rust annually, I trashed about 25% of my daylilies – the ones with the worst outbreak – hoping that would be enough to contain the rust. When rust next began attacking cultivars that I was using for hybridizing, I questioned whether working with daylilies was worth the effort, even just as a hobby. Then a fluke of good luck occurred: the Bay Area had what’s called here a La Nina winter: a dry, relatively warm season in 2011/2012 with highs in the 60 degree F range, and lows just below freezing for a few early morning hours. The first decent rain didn't occur until the last week of March. Coupled with my only watering the daylilies just enough to keep them alive, the rust was killed, and I haven’t seen any sign of it for 1½ years. I wouldn’t wish this experience on anyone.

In my case, quarantining purchased plants from rust-belt areas wouldn’t work well on a lot that’s as small as mine, which moreover can have fairly high winds in the afternoon. Plus, Kirby seems a bit jealous of my attention to daylilies, and delights in rubbing up against them as he follows me around the garden. : ) I’m sure he inadvertently could spread rust spores. As could I, via a pant leg or shirt sleeve…

It’s not just a problem in my garden, but other growers in the Bay Area also have done battle with rust that was introduced from other parts of the US that don't have hard freezes immediately prior to shipping daylilies to California. So, Doug, take care!

Good luck with it! : ) Elizabete