I usually don't ask for a specific bonus plant unless I've ordered from the seller before and know they will ask what I prefer. Then I might make a specific request.

I am really worried about rust, so if I know they do bonuses, I do ask that if they can't send something rust-resistant to include a few extra fans of something I ordered instead. I also ask for no substitutions.

I don't think it is tacky.

That just gives the seller a clue on what types of cultivars you gravitate to.
Some even ask for suggestions.

Last year when I visited CT Daylilies, I had communicated with Rich Howard about which Daylilies were available. Then I narrowed my list considerably. Imagine my surprise when I got there and he had practically given me my whole original list as bonuses! I ended up buying additional plants out of sheer guilt! Not unhappy at all!

I, too, feel uncomfortable asking for anything 'specific' as a bonus ... on occasions when I have received a nice bonus, I usually find that it's a plant I never would have picked for myself and they often do very well in the gardens. And over the past ten years, I have only gotten a repeat on a bonus plant one time - I gave it to a neighbor who adored mine.

Bonus plants tend to broaden my daylily horizons and I find myself suddenly 'stuck' with a plant I had never considered ... only to discover it's gorgeous, and why did I not order this myself?

And sometimes, sure - the 'bonus' is a seedling from the seller's own breeding stock that they don't like well enough to register; that does not automatically mean it's not a very good daylily, it may only mean it's headed in the wrong direction for the hybridizer's program.

Since I asked this question back in 2016, I would like to update with some observations. If the sellers note that they would like a bonus list, then I will provide it. If not, I just leave it to the discretion of the seller. I take what is given. Sometime, the seller offers seeds as bonus instead of plants, I will take up on that offer as well if I like the crosses. As a seller, I give 2-3 choices for the buyer to pick for a bonus. If they don't like any of the choices, then I assume that they do not wish to receive bonus. It takes too much work to send a bonus that is not appreciated by the buyer and that maybe tossed.

I personally prefer extra fans. However I have gotten some nice bonus in the past. For instance, Mike Grossmann sent me two of his intro as gifts in the past. One of which is a super fave here. King Of Camelot

I agree that extra fans are nice. Sometime the daylilies being rare, new, or slow increasers are more difficult to give extra fans as bonus.

Glad to see this thread revived. I've never asked for a specific bonus plant before just because I didn't want to seem greedy, but have received nice bonus plants and I have a few that are among my all time favorites.

But I have emailed a seller and asked about specific qualities of a few daylilies that I was thinking of buying. Then when I placed my order, they sent a nice bonus plant that had the qualities I was looking for.

I'm super-picky about the varieties I grow, and it hurts my heart to be given cultivars I don't like. For this reason, I push myself to list possible bonuses (if it's mentioned), even though it's awkward territory. Bonus plant negotiations are socially interesting in an internal and interpersonal way. Too many times, I didn't read all the fine print online and missed that I could ask for what I want. Now I read the fine print more carefully.

Some growers are awfully generous and will let one request bonuses worth 20 or 30% of the order. Sometimes, I take the portion of my order that I can live without and list that material as potential bonus. Some growers will entertain bonus requests of material that isn't even listed online as available, if they have it. Some growers give extra fans AND bonus plants, and that makes me wanna cry- in a good way!

Many hybridizers, in particular, have been very generous in gifting newer material, and I'm very appreciative of their kindness. My motto is that "it doesn't hurt to ask", but some requests should be framed as wish-list plants. One doesn't want to come across as greedy, but it can work well when one offers the seller enough information to make one truly delighted with the order, as Vickie notes.