Background history:

'El Desperado' is a dormant tetraploid introduced in 1991 by Patrick Stamile. See Patrick (and wife, Grace's) website for information about the daylilies they grow in Arroyo Grande, CA: http://www.distinctly.on.ca/st...

For more information about Patrick (and Grace), read Char's thread: The thread "ATP Series: The Daylilies of Patrick and Grace Stamile" in Daylilies forum

El Desperado is a late season extended bloomer. It shows Rust Susceptibility rating of 2.5. It has earned the following AHS awards: Award of Merit: 2000, Honorable Mention: 1997, JC: 1992, DCS: 2001, and PC: 2000. It is both pod and pollen fertile with currently 88 registered children: http://garden.org/plants/paren...

This plant can be found in the NGA Plant Database at:
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'El Desperado') .

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.





Photo of Daylily (Hemerocallis 'El Desperado') uploaded by shive1

Also, please consider adding a "Local Report" to the NGA Plant Database! Thank you!

Daylily (Hemerocallis 'El Desperado')

Grown this one in our school front garden for several years. Always blooms well and provides a great color.
We have divided several times and it never pouts afterward like some daylilies do.



Also grow its child
Desperado Love which has a larger softer colored bloom

Have had El Desperado for several years it has been slow to increase, but it blooms great.

El Desperado grows very well in Zone 5. Increases well and consistently blooms well. Tends to bloom on the later side of mid-season for me. I have had it for 5 years.

El Desperado is always one of my best budded cultivars. It increases very well here.

I have owned El Desperado for about 3-4 years now. It consistently blooms around July 15.

It too has been slow to increase, but it may have been a bit stunted because for several years, I planted all of my plants in chicken wire cages dues to big problems with voles. Last fall I removed them all out of the cages and many were root bound in the cages. Hoping that their new found freedom will help with growth.

I have 6-8 El Desperado seedlings that I started this spring.

My El Desperado does very well for me here in zone 3. I love the colour and it blooms reliably for me early August. His partner in my garden is Bela Lugosi and I think they contrast nicely with each other. This spring I see an appreciable increase on El Desperado so am looking forward to more blooms this year!

I rec'd my EL DESPERADO Back in 2004 & it dose very well here for me ,, Blooms are very Showy, everyone That visits my gardens Usually tags it as one that they like to have . I Have Shared many fans of this one .

I have had this one since 2007 my first year at this house. It has increased very well for me and always blooms well for me. It starts blooming mid June here at my house in zone 5b and blooms into July. People always love this one. I often have multiple blooms at the same time which is very appealing to the eye! This is one of those older ones that has remained popular for good reason.

7/03/15

El Desperado is one of my favorite daylilies. In my garden since '09, I think it is the perfect color combination. It is hardy, increases at a moderate rate, is mid to late blooming and has a high bud count for me . The blooms are just above the foliage and the 28" registered. It will always have a place in my garden.

El Desperado is a real show stopper. Power house bloomer and multiplies VERY well here in my zone 5a garden. Easy to set pods.

I no longer have El Desparado but when I did it was a great performer and bloomer. It also increased well in my zone. I could not get it to set pods but I see others have. The only reason I don't have it anymore was scapes were not tall enough to suit me.

Here I am giving another report on a daylily that my daughter owns . El Desperado is one of the first daylilies that she bought and it has done fabulously in her garden. It has clumped up well and is always covered in bloom. It sails through our winters and does well in her clay soil. Coincidentally, she has it planted in combination with Bela Lugosi as has DebbieC. It was one of the cultivars that got her hooked on daylilies. I always admire it when I visit her garden. When she gave me my Mother's Day gift of a daylily order, she included one of its parents in the order, El Bandito. We tend not to buy the same cultivars, because we share plants. It did have a bee pollinated pod this summer, but the seeds did not germinate for me.

I planted ED in 2014, and it bloomed in 2015. Great color, and it seemed to have a longer than average bloom season. This year it has lots of scapes currently, and I can see that they are going to be noticeably taller this year. It bloomed more ML than L last year.

I just planted mine a few days ago and looking forward to see the blooms !!!

Would love some stats on yours as the season progresses! Do keep us updated. (An acorn tip is awarded for evaluation comments.)

@beckygardener, funny thing is I got one package that said ED from Walmart and another package of daylily (forgot the name but definitely not ED) from Lowe's and they both have blooms (just finished) that are identical (the yellow color and shape just like ED but just yellow self, I posted the photo on my noid)....

I got mine as a gift plant at the Daylily Convention in Naperville a few years back. It is a good grower for me but my daylilies don't bloom until July here in zone 5.

I crossed El Desperado with unknown(s). Here are first year blooms in 2017.

I love this daylily. It is slow to increase in my zone 4 but it does put out a nice show. Scapes are very sturdy. Puts out several bloom per day. It is pod fertile as I crossed it twice last year.