My criteria for buying a daylily that's new to me?

1. Does it catch my eye (for whatever reason).
2. Is it evergreen (here in central Florida, that's important).
3. If it's S.Ev or Dormant, I want to see it thriving in a Florida garden.

I don't have a problem making a decision. After redecorating our home and updating our kitchen .... decisions aren't the issue.

With daylilies, I want the flowers and the plants to be in sync--if the plant has 7" blooms, it should be more than 30" tall. That kind of thing. Also it HAS TO BE EVERGREEN!!!! I live in a warm area that is protected by water close on both sides. So far this year, the lowest temp has been 49 degrees. I can walk out to the boxes and look at the plants and applaud the evergreens and make rude noises at the less than evergreens. I get surprised sometime with the plants I get. Some are actually evergreen from hybriziders who aren't know for evergreens. I try not to purchase plants that don't have specific parents, as when they are registered as seedling x seedling. That tells me nothing.

As an example: BIG RED WAGON. Lovely daylily! It's parentage is ((Scarlet Lace x sdlg) x (Scarlet Lace x sdlg) x Complementary Colors). Looking at the named dayliles, SL has 2 evergreen and one SEV parents. Complementary Colors had the same. That should be ok, right? Well, everyone of those confounded seedlings had to be dormants, because that plant is highly dormant in my garden. It's in the front box. That box is different from all the others because we dug beneath the box and then lined it with fabric. I'm using it as my "hospital" for plants that don't thrive else where in my garden. It's on the south side and gets adequate water from the sprinkler system. If it won't grow here, throw it out!! Forget how much it cost!!! We'll see what happens. One of the growers told me to just over fertilize those plants that are SEV and DOR. Well, I will do that. Can't fathom what will happen.

I do look for dl that bloom really early, have rebloom, or bloom really late to extend the season more. When I started out I didn't think much about that. The other thing I have learned is to look for multiple photos of a bloom on different sites. The photo you fall in love with of a particular bloom may not be what it actually looks like for most people. So disappointing to buy something and then find that it didn't look at all like the pic showed. I don't spend a lot of money on a dl because there are so many beautiful ones that perform well for less than ten bucks, the few I spent larger amounts on--did not impress me anymore than the $5 ones.

Last summer I had a couple that had petals broken off almost every day due to wind. I culled those, it just took nearly nothing to break them and I don't do all that work just to see them ruined so quickly-they only last a day anyway!

If possible it is good to also visit gardens in your area. Many daylilies look different in person. I have seen some that are better than I expected and others that are a disappointment. I didn't mention rebloom but that is a great bonus plus ones that have proliferations are an added bonus.

I also look at the database for the Awards that a daylily has won.

Lots of good suggestions here, balance in the plant is something I had not given much consideration to. Blooms that don't fall apart in the wind, never thought of proliferations as a buying point. Now I am beginning to really understand why so many people just look for the pretty face, but then regret it later. I may need to learn to use spreadsheets just to order daylilies.

seedfork, I think that picture of Candy Gram is just out of focus a little bit. It's description says it is a crepe, which adds to the effect of making it look splotchy in that photo. Marietta's Garden has a good picture of it. I think you will like it when it blooms in your garden.

Arlene, You mentioned height to bloom ratio and that is also something I have to have. I got Handsome Ross Carter (14" tall, 6" bloom) as a gift, had it for five years, and never liked anything about it except its pretty face. My daughter loved it so now she has the whole clump. It was kind of sad removing the tag from the garden, taking it off my map, and making a note in my spreadsheet that I don't have it anymore. But it was the start of culling those others that I just don't like anymore and have since gotten rid of a few other clumps.

seedfork, that is a good idea to use spreadsheets when ordering. When I have listed a daylily that I like because of its pretty face, I then start the process of assessing its other traits and pit it up against other daylilies. If it says it is very fragrant, it will stay on my list.

blue23rose
It appears you are not the only one that did not like the short version of Handsome Ross Carter.
It would be interesting to know how the seedlings turned out.
http://billsdaylilycorner.blog...

I'm not crazy about short daylilies either. I am more picky now what I buy.

Very interesting, seedfork! Thanks for the link

short is ok for me but not if the blooms are down in the foliage or willy nilly all over in height. I don't like that.

Ok, it seems I need to develop a "core" set of traits for my daylily purchases, otherwise, without a detailed spreadsheet I will become hopelessly lost in a overpowering list of choices. But I don't need to be restricted to just one set of "core" traits. for example:
1) Short Scapes, but stout: Blooms in bright colors: Bloom no larger than 4 inches: Evergreen:Rust Resistant:Early: Rebloom
2)Tall scapes, over 36 inches: White blooms: Bloom size at least 6 inches: Evergreen:Rust resistant:Late: Rebloom
3) Medium scapes,26-30 inches: Stout Scapes: Evergreen: Rust resistant:Mid Season: Bright colors: Any form
Maybe develop five or six such trait lists, then refer back to it, and balance out the type of plants in in list. Of course the above samples are just examples, and not real choices but just typing that out I developed a better sense of what I want. I want an assortment of colors, heights, and forms, but I want stout scapes on rust resistant plants over a long blooming season, and of course they all have to have pretty faces. Maybe that is a plan.

Seedfork said: "I want an assortment of colors, heights, and forms...." That is pretty much how I do it. When I grew daylilies a few years ago, I found I enjoyed the UFs and Spider types the most though I liked them all. When I decided to approach growing them again, I made the choice to stick to UF/spider forms (knowing how bonus systems work, I figured bagels would show up anyway ). I don't want lots and lots of look alikes and there are many I like that don't make the wish list because I already have one or have one too similar that's already on the list. I also set a minimum/maximum height range. Because they aren't commonly grown here and I'm unable to see them in person, I select from internet photos. I try to look at a lot of different photos. If it makes it to the wish list, then I borrow a net photo until it blooms for me. So far the blooms have matched those borrowed photos to an uncanny degree. So that seems to be working. For now, I don't have preferences for evergreen vs. dormants or diploid vs. tetraploid. Early through late season plants seem to appearing along a bell curve for now, but I'm also keeping records of real time bloom. After I've grown a few for a longer period, I'll sort those areas out.

I only grow for pleasure, no hybridizing for me. I started out by just picking daylilies that had pretty faces and colors I enjoyed. Never really took anything else in to consideration. I would always buy reasonably priced ($5-15) named daylilies and NO seedlings Over the years I progressed in my preferred "wants" in a daylily. I don't always stick to it however when buying, but I sure try.... My spending budget has increased over the years, but I keep the cost no more than $50.00. And that is a rarity, It has to be love at first sight for me to go that high....

#1- Opens well. If it is a named variety I always look up as many photos of it as I can to see how it does.

Hardiness and vigor. I have only lost one daylily over the years (only due to my dog digging it up in winter). Otherwise, I have never lost another. I grow ev, sev, and dor without many problems. As long as I can retrieve feedback on its hardiness/vigor, how it opens and what color consistency it has, I am willing to try it out.

Clean color- No more blotchy, muddy looking flowers if I can help it. Again, I look up lots of photos. Sometimes colors vary and I try to stick with ones that show a consistent color.

Scapes that sit well above foliage, and do not have overly crowded buds. Having nice branching and bud count is looked for too.

Flowers that don't melt too much after a hot day.

Flower pattern ( if it has one) and form consistency is important to me too.

I also keep an eye out for later blooming ones if I can find them. I need to add more of these into my garden.

I still start with the pretty faces and form, then go from there. I started buying more seedlings over the years. Those are a guessing game on how they will behave, but it is fun to watch them age and progress. This year I am trying to limit my seedling purchases because the ones I buy are getting way too pricey for my budget.... I will start putting that money into reliable hardy cultivars instead.

My tastes and wants always seem to progress over the years. But this is how I roll

I hope people will continue to respond with their methods of choosing daylilies. I think there are some great guides here for many of us just getting into making selections. Avoiding mistakes early could pay off big further down the road.

Yes, I wish I had been a more wise in the beginning of my collecting. It could have saved some mega bucks.

Amy, you have made some wonderful points, not only for beginners but for all collectors.

Color is what first draws my attention. But if there is one thing I've learned the hard way over the years is that I want an actual DAYlily. Not a minute lily, or an hour lily, but the whole DAY-lily. If a daylily fades out, melts or slicks over, to me it is a waste of space and money. I am always searching for the Sunfast (holds its substance) Colorfast (holds 75% of its original color until late evening) daylily. When you eliminate all those that don't have those two criteria it really narrows the field. Because even if it has all the other attributes that people are describing who cares if it's a bleached out gloopy mess by evening.......Maryl

Good point Maryl. I imagine in the warmer zones that is a problem. It isn't too much of a problem in my zone.

I tried a search for Sunfast daylilies, an did not have much luck. Then I was looking a this site,
http://www.sandysplants.com/in... it said that daylilies that are color fast on hot humid days are called "heat and humidity tolerant" at least on their site. So I selected "all" did control+ "F" typed in "heat" and brought up all the ones that were listed as "heat and humidity tolerant". I am going to try searches like that more often on sites. I would personally love it if vendors would all list "rust resistant" and "heat and humidity tolerant" , and other similar traits, would make finding choices much easier.
Edited to add the site.

My first experience with daylilies was quite like yours Seed. An online friend gave me several named daylilies, I was on ebay also, setting $7 as my max and hoping that I could get Moonlit Masquerade for that amt of money. If it was purple I was on it like a june bug. I had 130 cultivars in 6 months. By the time I stopped it was 1300. I loved purples, pastels, hot colors, all of it except for brown, can't stand it. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING making brown daylilies and then registering??!!
The Munsons were hybridized by Mr.Bill Munson, and there were a group of us that would be emailing during the night asking if you found Amber Lamp yet? To add onto this the UFs and spiders started reckoning into the game.
I don't hybridize but I would love a yard full of very large UFs swirling and twirling above the foliage.
I am not looking at catologues but I have eyed Shari Davissons cvs. Some have these cool Munson watermarks.
After all the smoke clears I still go back to my favorite, Cameroon Night.


I like tall spidery ufs, velvety texture, big green throats. I like hose in hose doubles but the other not so much, don't like smalls but adore minis.

If a daylily is sunfast/colorfast then many southern hybridizers are beginning to make note of it when they describe their hybrids. After all it is a selling point and that's what they would like to do - sell their daylilies. .......... Some southern daylily hybridizers grow their daylilies under a shade cloth so their access to that information may be limited. Northerners are blessed with a milder sun and their daylilies usually retain their substance and clarity of color much longer then those same daylilies subjected to our summer inferno. When I'm interested in the merits of a specific daylily I will ask about it if it's what I consider costly (as well as checking the database here for pictures)......Maryl