The first scapes of 2014 have appeared. Last year, Butterscotch Ruffles bloomed on March 15, and was still sending up new scapes when I dug it up to divide it in late August.

John

Not the prettiest daylily in the bed, but certainly the most prolific, both in terms of bloom quantity and rate of multiplication.

That is such a wonderful sight, new scapes, I am so looking forward to that !

John, good for you!!

Might have to look at that one for here. My first scapes are usually first week of May. Dunno about this year with the unusually high number of cold days. Be exciting to see what happens now, though.

lovemyhouse said:Might have to look at that one for here. My first scapes are usually first week of May. Dunno about this year with the unusually high number of cold days. Be exciting to see what happens now, though.

As I mentioned, Butterscotch Ruffles isn't the prettiest, but it is prolific. A couple of scapes last year had bud counts in the 40+ range. And it multiplies like rabbits.

Of course, it also has a certain sentimental value - I knew Wilbur Harling (its hybridizer) and his wife back in the 70s. Wilbur and the late Bill Munson were good friends, and the Harlings lived only a few blocks from the Munson family.

More reasons to have it, then.

I have spotted a scape in the garden and it's on FERN STONE which is always one of the first to bloom here. I've only had it 3 years but the person I got it from has had it since introduction and he says it was always the first for him also. The scapes are just emerging so it will bloom in about 4-5 weeks (maybe 6) if we don't keep getting cold weather here and it gets frozen off.

It bloomed on March 25th in 2012 (which is the norm for FERN) so that puts us about a month and a half behind in bloom season again; it may be closer to 2 months behind but we shall see.

Michele, Fern Stone is a nice red flower. Does it rebloom for you?

Yes it does rebloom for me, usually twice.

"Happy Returns" bloomed about 9 days ago and is now taking a break. It was from a big box store and had really skimpy leaves so I was really surprised to see it put out such a large flower for such a tiny plant.

"Catherine Woodbury" ($2. from the local Dollar General) is getting ready to bloom.

None of my expensive plants look like they are ready to do anything just yet.

I have two scapes coming up now. The first is in the garden on TET. PEPPERMINT DELIGHT, and the second is on IRISH CROWN, a 2014 intro by Bill Waldrop that I'm growing in a pot. So I'm starting to dart around looking for little emerging scapes now! My TET PEPPERMINT DELIGHT is usually one of my first to bloom in the garden each year.

Three scapes appeared at about the same time, and all of them about two months ahead of last years first scapes

Little Trooper, Little Liza Jane, and my garden stalwart, Monica Mead. Little Trooper managed one FFO before the remaining buds aborted (too cold!), but looks like soon I will see Monica (and I expect she will be her flawless full form - just wish I liked the color better), and Little Liza is still working more on her scape than her buds but has been a great rebloomer here.

Will I ever see a garden f-u-l-l of blooming daylilies?! My first two years saw a few here, one there, then another ... I'm soooo jealous of gardens that just have _tons_ of open blooms. On the other hand, I really appreciate each one as it comes when there are fewer to start with.

Tina, your jealously will be short lived once yours take off this season. Your main issue is lack of rain in CA during the growing season. Try and incorporate some rain barrels to supplement the lack thereof. I saw a CA home a few years ago on HGTV that didn't have any gutters and the yard was design to collect the run off and collect it in a large above ground storage tank. It was quiet an elaborate system. I will see if I can find a clip of that show.

Forget scapes my plants are finally thawed. Literally. I went out yesterday morning to try and clean some of them up and they were frozen solid. It got up to the mid 50's yesterday so I could do a little work yesterday afternoon.

There are a couple that I keep an eye on because they are typically the first ones to scape. JEDI TEQUILA SUNRISE among them.

Starting to see more and more little scapes emerging! YEA!!!