I love South Seas! It is one of the first ones I purchased, and I'll never get rid of it!

@gleni Thanks for the tutorial- great flower you posted

Deryll said: I composted Fooled Me years ago!

You composted Fooled Me? That is the one trade I made this year! I LOVE that daylily, and I'm so excited to finally having it growing here! You are so much tougher than I'll ever be!

Natalie, I like South Seas also. Each year when I select my newest evictees I always pass it by even though it is a small flower. The color is unique, and in all the others I have never found that
color. As for Fooled Me... it was ok, but I prefer larger flowers. I kept a seedling with 6.5 inch blooms that have great branching and a more modern ruffled look. Mine also has a more sunfast
bloom, where Fooled Me will turn white as the day progresses. It had a place in my garden for several years, and it was great until one day....
I have a feeling you would frown if I gave you a list of the many hundreds of daylilies I have ditched. I am trying my best to build the ultimate collection. So far South Seas has lasted longer
than any of the Stout winners. These days, I will only buy something if it has the potential to improve my seedlings, and trust me when I say that some of my newer seedlings are as good as
any you will find. So often I will buy something that simply will not grow well here. Spindly plants with short scapes. I hate that! Give me a robust plant with 7or8 inch full form flowers that last all
day in full sun without melting. Give me those huge cascading unusuals. I like my garden.

Deryll, I'm quite positive that I would cry like a baby if I knew what you are tossing out!

Just don't discount all of the older ones. They are still around for a reason, and some of them make outstanding seedlings. I have almost no newer daylilies myself, and I actually didn't get any from this decade until last year when I added a couple. I've made a few decent seedlings with the older ones. and I'm working on adding a few newer ones, but most are way out of my price range until they are considered old! I'll just make do with what I've got, and I'll be thankful if I get something good enough to name after several family members and pets that has passed. That's my goal anyway!

You are right about the color of South Seas. It's like nothing else I've seen. Not that I've seen massive amounts of daylilies in person, but it really is something special!

Sorry to keep getting off-topic!

Natalie, as I told Blue 23, I can send you a clump of the seedling, and you can judge for yourself, if you want. I have several. Not a big deal. I did register one last year and named it after one of my
amazing Aunts. It has 8.5 inch flowers, but can go to 10 inches, and it is a gorgeous amethyst orchid. I have several of these in different colors from the same cross. Thing is that I wanted to
honor my Aunt with something special, and I don't want to look at it one day and say yuck.
I have only a few older ones left. My most favorite is Gullivers Travels, and it will often pass on its huge size. The majority of mine are since 2000. I don't sell plants, but I often share. Being from
Idaho, I would guess you might have a hard time growing a lot of the evergreens that I grow, but there are some nice ones I'm sure you would like very much. My rows are 100 feet long, and there
is a field full of them! Just curious to know if you are in the AHS? See if there is a local club in your area, and visit the other members gardens. A wonderful way to expand your horizons.

Forgot about the performance of this one for a fall 2015 purchase. Everyone's fav.


All American Chief

Polymerous said:

I like the idea of screaming oranges and brilliant saturated golds, too, but I have yet to find one in either color bucket that comes close to my idea of "ideal". (Like Larry, I want rust resistance and large flowers, but I also want somewhat modern bloom faces - no ultra chicken fat edges or multi colored eyes or anything like that, but at least some nice ruffling (unless, I suppose, it is a UF). And the blooms must open well on "tall enough" scapes, and the color must be clear, not muddy.)

You might like TROPICAL HEAT WAVE. I think the real bloom looks better than the pics. It is a tad darker. It shows exc rust resistance and last year (second yr in ground) it flowered for months. It did get water as it is on the edge of a spoon drain but it also gets full sun most of the day which last year was extreme.



Also better than photos is HOT BRONZE a hot orange which varies in colour and is a almost tomato red in cool weather. Long flowering but not resistant. However a fan from which I removed all green parts and planted away from rusters is showing no rust.
Sorry I can't find other better photos. All pics were taken in January this year, mid-late summer here

I'm a few days late to this, but I love reading about other gardeners' favorite daylilies ... even if they can't choose just one. (My favorites are typically whichever ones are in bloom on any given summer day!) But this season I would have to put Paul Owen's 'Impulse of Innocence' on the very top of my list. It is just gorgeous -- beautiful coloring, very heavy substance, tons of buds, and it seemed as if it had the longest blooming spell of all my daylilies -- truly a spectacular show this year (it was the third year in my garden).

NancyB - Oooooh! I like that one a lot! What a beauty!

I have mostly single or double fans of registered cultivars (as I acquired most of mine over the past year). I have some I absolutely love, but I'd have a hard time choosing just one, too.

I do have a dilemma though ....

Wild One was one of my favorites this year! I love, love, love the colors of the blooms! :



But for reblooms (though yucky foliage), Betty Warren Woods would be the top one in my re-bloom category. She produced 3 sets of scapes three different times and the blooms always opened perfectly:



Neither of those have huge flowers, but they opened beautifully and made me smile every day they bloomed!

I have several seedlings I am quite happy with, too! But they are not registered ..... yet.

I will pass on the rust bucket, but will consider 'Tropical Heat Wave', Bron.

I just looked it up on the database. LOL! I just removed one of its parents, 'Cherry Eyed Pumpkin', about a month ago!

The garden could use more early cultivars, and I am still in search of oranges. This is a bit shorter (and smaller flowered) than I wanted, and it could do with some improvements in form, but maybe I can make a cross or two.

Thanks for the tip!

Becky, your comment about "yucky foliage" on BWW dismays me (though I am pleased that you say that the flowers open well). I just bought the plant this year and have it in the shade. The foliage looks kind of stretched out and narrow, but I attributed that to the shade. Is that what you mean, or if not, then what?

I could never go down to just one daylily.

I won a blue ribbon on Highland Pinched Fingers last year and Linda's Magic this year. I love Panic In Detroit, and Seven Seas. I love Ruby Spider but think that Persian Ruby is prettier.

I also like crazy names such as A Moose Fishing On A Pond On Monday Morning.

Nancy8, OOOOHHHHH!!!!! I've never seen that one before and I love it!! Had to add it to my "want' list!

Becky, Wild One is amazing! Love the colors on that one too!

You all are killing me! My want list keeps getting longer!

I love this thread!

Oh gosh Nancy, that flower is just gorgeous!!!

Third Witch, in it's third year in my garden didn't stop blooming for over a month.

Steve

Deryll said:Natalie, as I told Blue 23, I can send you a clump of the seedling, and you can judge for yourself, if you want. I have several. Not a big deal. I did register one last year and named it after one of my
amazing Aunts. It has 8.5 inch flowers, but can go to 10 inches, and it is a gorgeous amethyst orchid. I have several of these in different colors from the same cross. Thing is that I wanted to
honor my Aunt with something special, and I don't want to look at it one day and say yuck.
I have only a few older ones left. My most favorite is Gullivers Travels, and it will often pass on its huge size. The majority of mine are since 2000. I don't sell plants, but I often share. Being from
Idaho, I would guess you might have a hard time growing a lot of the evergreens that I grow, but there are some nice ones I'm sure you would like very much. My rows are 100 feet long, and there
is a field full of them! Just curious to know if you are in the AHS? See if there is a local club in your area, and visit the other members gardens. A wonderful way to expand your horizons.

Deryll,
I was intrigued with your cultivar and looked it up on AHS. Irene Bally is a beauty and to think it has a bloom so large is awesome. I noticed that White Eyes Pink Dragon is in its parentage along with an unknown. I wonder if a Munson is the other parent.

From your comments, your gardens must be stunning. I'm sure you've taken pictures of them and your seedlings, which sound like they too are spectacular. I think just about all of us would love to see them, so please consider sharing them with us. Pretty please!

Just one?! That's just like deciding which of your children is your most favorite! Anyway, the #1 daylily on my list this year is Spunky Monkey by Paul Owen. It was a retirement gift to myself and I just loved its large and colorful bloom.

Choosing only one daylily would be difficult for me as well. Had you asked me prior to this year I would have probably said Neal Berrey.



However, this year I grew Webster's Pink Wonder for the first time and it stole my heart. Here it is in a border setting.

Cynthia, I have some great photos, and as soon as I can find someone who knows how to get them on here, I will post them. Could be a while. Everybody I know is busy with their own life and it
is not often that I actually see anybody. Irene Bally has an open slightly pointy look, and my Aunt actually likes the heavily ruffled full form yellow ones best. There are quite a few of those, and
I hope I can get them on here soon. Next year I should have well over 1000 new seedlings blooming for the first time, many of them clumps.

Navajo Narrative.
First, well, because it's mine (from an unbloomed seedling bought off the Lily Auction).
But also because it is tenacious; a prolific increaser; a rebloomer (tough quality to get here); holds up to rain (although it does brown out in summer's late afternoon sun); and has--so far--handled both northern and southern climates with ease.