Background history:

'Pocket Change' is a semi-evergreen diploid introduced in 1985 by Clarence Crochet. Clarence did his hybridizing at Crochet Daylily Garden in Prairieville, Louisiana. He passed away in 2014.

Pocket Change is an early to mid-season bloomer. It has earned the Honorable Mention: 1993 AHS award. It has 1 registered child: http://garden.org/plants/paren...

This plant can be found in the ATP Plant Database at:
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Pocket Change') .

Please join in, if you own this plant! We would love to know more! I award an acorn for performance information posted to this thread.





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Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Pocket Change')

This is a good daylily, puts a nice spot of colour in the perennial border. I have several beautiful seedlings from PC also. Does great in Manitoba.

It grew here on the Gulf coast for one season and then died. I know that it was hybridized in Louisiana but Prairieville is about 104 miles north of me. I expect there were dormants in its lineage for it not to have survived here.

judydu2
I am in zone 8b, and out of a dozen or so daylilies I ordered one of them (Jason Mark) has barely survived. I blamed myself for planting it during one of the hottest weeks of the year and in full sun with no shade. I do see it is a dormant, but I had never placed that much emphasis on dormancy as being the reason it did so poorly being I have so many other dormants that seem to be doing well (most of them are no older than 2 years old though).
Have you found that almost any daylily with dormancy in its lineage cannot survive there? I have seen other posts by members even further south saying that plants with any dormancy in their heritage will not survive there. Yet, I keep reading references that some dormants do fine down south? I love reading your posts because you are a southern grower and have such a great selection of plants, so I respect your experience and would appreciate as any feedback and the actual experiences you have had with other dormant plants than have not survived or have done poorly in your garden.

Thank you, Larry. You are most kind. I am the southern-most daylily grower in the state of Louisiana and actually, my growing conditions are more in line with Tampa, FL. I can count on one hand the number of dormants that have survived over the years. 'Grey Witch' (Reed, 1999) is one, but acts as an evergreen here. 'Willow' (Russell, 1960) has also done very well. It dies back to the ground but has not failed to emerge again. There are a couple of other dormants that have done well, but I can't recall at the moment which ones.

Sadly, even semi-evergreens may be iffy here. If they lean more to the dormant side, they will generally die (some die quickly, others dwindle or they may even last longer than two years), but I don't know unless I try to grow them and this is where the trickiness come in. If they lean more toward the evergreen side, they will generally be just fine, but it's a true gamble... I've lost many, many semi-evergreens.

When I first started with daylilies almost twenty years ago, I didn't pay attention to dormancy, either. The trial and error method has been costly but I eventually learned that growing conditions here are too extreme for daylilies that must have a rest period. Dormant daylilies will usually live one season, maybe two, but I can almost always count on them either disappearing entirely or struggle with dwindling to the point of death because they are in a constant state of growth. Because of this, dormants do not get the rest they need. It is not the fault of the cultivar. It's my fault for trying to grow a plant that is not suited for here. I stopped trying to grow dormants years ago or they are treated as throw-away plants.

It's my understanding that some cultivars go dormant because of temperature drops. Others go dormant because of shortened daylight hours. I would suggest that those dormants that respond to shortened days would have a better chance at survival in your zone that those that are temperature sensitive. I wish I could give you a few suggestions, but since I avoid all dormants if I can, I am less than useless in that department.

There is a school of thought that embraces adding dormants to evergreen lines. This may be a dandy idea, but I probably don't have the amount of time left on earth to see how well that would work out for me.

In summary, trying to grow dormant daylilies has been an abysmal failure for me.

I grow this and have had it for years. The white is very pronounced. It grows well, increases fast and blooms alot. It is pretty planted with cream or white next to it as it compliments the edging. It is about 18 inches tall for me. It doesn't mind being moved. (some dl sulk) The blooms are always perfect, no splotchiness or trouble opening or anything like that, even w our cool mornings. I also grew it for awhile in partial shade and it did great.
It has a rich velvety color and texture.
I would not want to part with it.

Seedfork said:
I am in zone 8b, and out of a dozen or so daylilies I ordered one of them (Jason Mark) has barely survived. I blamed myself for planting it during one of the hottest weeks of the year and in full sun with no shade. I do see it is a dormant, but I had never placed that much emphasis on dormancy as being the reason it did so poorly

Jason Mark (Crochet, 1989) height 25in (64cm), bloom 4in (10.2cm), season EM, Rebloom, Dormant, Diploid, Pastel cream buff with purple eyezone and diamond dusted gold band above dark green throat. (Siloam Fairy Tale × sdlg)

Crochet hybridized in Prairieville, Louisiana both 'Pocket Change' and 'Jason Mark'. zone 8b south of Baton Rouge. Is its weather likely to be cooler in winter?
I think I would stick to your original thought of not placing emphasis on its "dormancy" for doing poorly.

Am I doing something wrong? When I click on the photos at the top of the page it takes me to 'Pocket Change' and shows Crochet as the hybridizer. But, when I do a search by hybridizer (84 results), the list does not include 'Pocket Change'.

@Seedfork
Double check again, Larry. I got a list of 84 cultivars using 'Crochet' as the hybridizer and search point. 'Jason Mark' was in that alphabetical list just above 'Jeune Tom'. Since we both got 84 results, it's going to be a strange thing if there are differences in what is showing up. That shouldn't happen until April 1 and no telling what Dave or Jon might do then.

@Donald, read my post again. It was 'Pocket Change' that is missing from the list.

Looks like we have a glitch in the database. Pocket Change isn't showing up for me either when I do a search by hybridizer. I'll let Dave know.

Thanks, Larry, for catching that!

Seedfork said:Am I doing something wrong? When I click on the photos at the top of the page it takes me to 'Pocket Change' and shows Crochet as the hybridizer. But, when I do a search by hybridizer (84 results), the list does not include 'Pocket Change'.

Thanks, I fixed this.

I am late to this thread. Sorry Becky, I have been very busy of late.

'Pocket Change' was planted in my zone 4b garden in 2009 when I knew next to nothing about daylilies, dormancy or plant specifics. I purchased the plant at Oaks. From that time to now, 'Pocket Change' has bloomed and increased in fan size each summer. It blooms early to mid summer. Last summer, the plant bloomed for 4 weeks. No rebloom. The flower changes color for me. At the beginning of its bloom season the flowers are a solid deep brick-red color. As it continues to bloom the color lightens a bit., and a thin white halo develops around the petals. Flower size is approx. 4 1/2". 'Pocket Change' has no problems enduring long, sometimes bitter cold, snowy Winters here in Vermont.

In June of 2020, I bought two plants of Pocket Change from Oakes Daylilies during one of their sales. I did not note the number of fans I received, but Oakes usually sends plants of about 4-5 fans each, so that is probably what I got. I put the two plants together in a large pot since I knew the plant would be short. I put the pot near my front walk. I thought it would make a pretty picture as visitors approached the door, and I was right.

Pocket Change bloomed the next summer, and I was delighted with the lovely dark red blooms edged with cream. I've always thought that this picture of its first bloom is one of the best daylily photos I've taken.

Pocket Change continued to bloom that season. It did show some rust, but it was not what I would call a severe case. Still, I ended up cutting it back near the end of the summer.

Over the next season, Pocket Change did not bloom as profusely, and I realized it was feeling crowded in the pot. In November of 2022 I planted Pocket Change in my red-and-white bed. Roses and Snow had not reappeared, so there was a prime spot open in the front of the bed. Pocket Change really took off when planted in the bed. The next summer (2023), it bloomed beautifully and the scapes were taller.

The plant is a bit rusty, but I've had worse. Its blooms are beautiful in the front of a bed. I intend to keep Pocket Change.