Background history:

'Xylophone Jazz' is a semi-evergreen tetraploid introduced in 2011 by Stamile-Pierce.

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

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 'Xylophone Jazz')

I bought this the year it was released ($$$$$). It arrived as a HUGE single fan, but it began to shrink almost immediately. Although it bloomed in 2012, the scape produced only two or three blooms, (if I remember correctly). By the fall of 2012, it was a tiny "blade of grass-looking" thing and then it died.

I am so sorry to hear that @judydu2

It is one of my favorite daylilies (in pictures) so I purchased a double fan this year form Maryott's. I just got it in the ground about a month ago so I can't report on anything other than the fact that it appears to have established itself since it is sending up new green foliage. Keeping my finger's crossed that it thrives in my zone 6 environment

I bought 'Black Hornet' (Stamile-Pierce, 2011) at the same time. It behaved the same way.
I spent a lot of money on these two new introductions, but more valuable to me than money lost were the lessons learned.

@judydu2 what were the lessons you learned? Anything that might help a newbie?

There is a lesson to be learned. Remember, the term "semi-evergreen" means the plant may be more evergreen or almost dormant--it is a sliding scale. Many of the plants out of Floyd Cove are very close to being dormant even though they call them semi-evergreen. The best thing to do is to look at parents and grand parents. Also hope that the parent plant listed is the actual parent. I know that in Louisiana you should be able to grow SEV's. But not all SEV's are the same! I have the same problem with EV's. This is not a singular problem just with Floyd Cover. It is throughout the industry. I've lost thousands of dollars over the past 10 years (losses in 2010-2012 totaled $4,000). Now I buy from the Lily Auction or go to a more ethical grower in the same area as Floyd Cove, explain to the hybridizer that I need EVERGREEN and then look at the plants he offers. My losses have been significantly reduced!!

I was told by a grower recently that I live in an area where both dormant and evergreens should be okay (he called it a "sweet spot for daylilies"). I really hope so. I wonder how Floyd Cove handles their plants being closer to dormant if they are in a warmer climate...they are in Florida aren't they?

Yes they are in FL. I don't know how it works, but it certainly doesn't work in this home garden!

When I lived in Marietta, GA, I could grow both dormants and evergreens there, too. The dormants couldn't be hard dormants in Altanta, but you can certainly grow them in Missouri.

amberjewel said:@judydu2 what were the lessons you learned? Anything that might help a newbie?

I learned to avoid new introductions that have been grown in a "pampered" environment. By pampered I mean container-grown with the perfect ratio of components, water and nutrients being supplied 24/7 and grown under shade cloth. While I have to give props to the vendors being able to grow a daylily to "perfection" under these conditions, it doesn't usually translate to livability under normal garden conditions. Humongous fans with a mass of feeder roots look absolutely amazing upon receipt but will, on most occasions, suffer and struggle when planted out into normal gardens. Feeder roots will not sustain a plant while it is adjusting to different cultivation conditions. The same holds true for greenhouse grown plants. Been there, done that, lost plants from that scenario, too.

Since I can not replicate optimum conditions that pampered daylilies are grown in, I stopped buying them, as few make the adjustment. They are too expensive to be annuals.

There are vendors that offer new introductions as field-grown plants. Field-grown means far less problems in adjustment from dirt to dirt. I feel these vendors need (and deserve) my monetary support. If there is ever a doubt as to how a plant is grown, I make the time to ask.

Buying on the secondary market allows someone else to take the risks and lowers the intro price. Of course, it's no longer a "new" into when purchased in this manner, but the chance of loss is much less.

florange said:There is a lesson to be learned. Remember, the term "semi-evergreen" means the plant may be more evergreen or almost dormant--it is a sliding scale. Many of the plants out of Floyd Cove are very close to being dormant even though they call them semi-evergreen. The best thing to do is to look at parents and grand parents. Also hope that the parent plant listed is the actual parent. I know that in Louisiana you should be able to grow SEV's. But not all SEV's are the same! I have the same problem with EV's. This is not a singular problem just with Floyd Cover. It is throughout the industry. I've lost thousands of dollars over the past 10 years (losses in 2010-2012 totaled $4,000). Now I buy from the Lily Auction or go to a more ethical grower in the same area as Floyd Cove, explain to the hybridizer that I need EVERGREEN and then look at the plants he offers. My losses have been significantly reduced!!

Purchased a double fan from Rich Howard at CT Daylilies last summer. Had 2 beautiful blooms this year. Fans increased to six with one scape. I did mulch last winter. Ct Day lilies is warmer than I am but I've had great luck with all the plants I've from Rich. So far so good for zone 5.