Plant Delights catalog has some ginormous, theoretically fragrant ones. They also are theoretically attractive to hummingbirds. I've never seen a hummingbird near my ditch lilies.

I (and my friend) have seen hummingbirds go after our daylilies - at least the yellow ones. I believe I read somewhere that they are considered to be an alternate food source for hummers.

We occassionally get hummers on the daylilies, also the nocturnal moths that look like hummers are attracted to them. Not sure what those moths are called.

Polymerous I love the big yellow flowers. Hudson Valley and Osterized would be enjoyed here. They would blend right in with Sears Tower, Look Here Mary and company.

Kim I have seen those moths at night. O believe I have a pic that I took a couple yrs ago.

Phoenix Moths???????

My most fragrant is Double Classic.

I know with 300 daylilies that I have some fragrant ones but at the moment I can't recall which ones.

I'm amazed that any daylilies stay open late enough for the moths to come to them. Mine are usually all furled up by the time it's dark. We have huge hummingbird moths here that love my ginger flowers and cannas. Will have to watch the daylilies this summer to see if they come to them.

I'm positive that I have a daylily that isn't yellow that has a great fragrance. I just can't remember which one it is right now! I'll have to do a sniff test when they are blooming again.

For what it is worth, I used Hyperion as a pollen parent a few times, to see if it passed along the fragrance, and a couple of its kids smelled even better than it did. The seedlings weren't anything great, but the fragrance was wonderful.

If I had dl's that had a great fragrance, but the blooms were not that great, I believe I would still keep them! I love the fragrance and am looking for some that I don't have to put my nose in to smell.

Cindy, when you figure out which ones they are, please let us know

It just hit me. Congo Coral is one of mine that smells really good. I think there was one planted next to it that smelled good too. I'll have to find my pictures to see if have one of them together.

I kept the seedlings that smelled good, but didn't move them to Idaho. I'll get them later though, since we still own the house they are at in Utah. I'll use them for hybridizing again, and see if I can get a better bloom to go with the great fragrance. I know that one of the seedlings was a soft double yellow, and the other was pinkish, but the blooms were nothing special. Gives me something to work with though, just for fun.

I went back on my notes on my seedling of uncertain heritage. There are several possibilities for the ancestry, but the most likely pairing has 'Shimmering Elegance' as one parent. 'Shimmering Elegance' is fragrant, but I booted it from the garden because the flowers did not open as well as I would like, and the foliage was prone to leaf streak.



mystery seedling; fragrant


I have mixed feelings about this seedling, but thus far I have kept it; partly because it blooms M when the earlier daylilies are winding down, partly because the blooms are fragrant, partly because of the color (which is somewhat variable depending on the weather - and the picture looks clearer than I recall the bloom actually being). It has a lot of faults, though; it doesn't open as well as I would like, it is somewhat top branched, and the substance is thin towards the tepal edges.

It does suggest, however, that you can hybridize your own fragrant seedlings; you just need to have a care in choosing a fragrant parent with good plant traits, or else carefully select the non-fragrant parent to correct or compensate for the faults of the fragrant one.

Those are both pretty shades of pink

I first saw 'Shimmering Elegance' on a regional tour, and was suckered in by the heavy diamond dusting. (At least, that is how I recall it. I have a huge weakness for diamond dusting. ) I honestly can't recall if it was fragrant or not, though it is registered as such. It didn't get to stay many years in my garden because of the leaf streak and opening issues. (I am no more willing to tolerate leaf streak prone daylilies than I am rust susceptible daylilies.) I do recall that it was one of the few daylilies on that tour that I jotted down notes for as a "must get", so I am sure that I liked the flower form and color (as well as the diamond dusting) - at least in that garden.

Advance party has a beautiful rose scent, I can smell it from about 6 ft away.

Hemerocallis citrina has a strong and pleasing perfume. The hybrids are wimps compared to it.

Precious Beginnings is the most fragrant in my garden. It smells just like GARDENIAS. I do not know of any other daylily that smells like that.
Next most fragrant by far is: Splendid Touch.

Janet Benz is fragrant.






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