Those are awful looking. I wouldn't be happy if I got roots looking like that.

Thanks, I am working on it. They did come in brown lunch bags.
Sorry you lost all those plants Shannon, they are not cheap! Also what bothered me the most is that you were a return customer.

I have a story to tell that counteracts the above.

I never purchased from Wilds but they way the field dig and store, it was the old way of doing it. Let the plants dry out first and then ship. No rotting that way and storing them in bins just made it easier for orders. Go to a bin, bag it, ship it. Cash the check.

But then things changed. More growers started shipping damp plants.

I purchased locally from a nursery. Oooh, they had a white one! Bought 3. They were potted up and green on top. But, when I took the plant out of the pot (the soil literally fell off), what I found were moldy roots. WTF?
They apparently didn't even dip them in bleach first before potting! I did. And they grew fine. Daylilies are hardy. Heck I have even left roots out all winter, having forgot the plant was dug, and it survived!

We have now been wicked spoiled by the southern growers. Leeks! But then, up north all those southern roots die off as northern ones grow. I now know that most any plant, unless purchased down the street, needs a second year of growth to settle in and do well.

Oh, I should share another.

Local seller of lilies, daffs and tulips - dried things in bins. Including fulva. Poor old fulva just sitting out in a cold barn, in a bin. But he sells out every year! BTW, I usually give fulva away out on my front wall as I dig them. This year, at least a dozen trays full. All gone in a day!!!

I have been growing dls about 10 yrs. Yes, I also ordered from Wilds. Thankfully, it was a small order, with 4 kids under foot then. Mine looked like that but I wasn't to concerned. Ignorance is bliss lol, but most all lived. They didn't bloom til the next yr.

I have ordered from Wilds for 5+ years and most are not the correct plant. But,they grew and I still
liked the plants and yes,I know daylilies are Strong plants. But,when a customer that has been coming
back to you for years and has Never complained asks why the plants look Bad you just dont' ignor them
you should Try to help not just push me aside. I will Never order from them again.

Susan I really hope your new babies make it I would give them a good soak and pot them up
Did you get Frost last night also? I had to scrape my windshield . I have some scapes on some daylilies
I think I'm going to cut them before the snow gets here and bring them inside

I agree that we have all been spolied by Southern grown or greenhouse grown plants. I have gotten some whoppers from some Northern sellers because they have greenhouses. But when I get smaller fans or ones that look like they may have been sitting out for just a bit I don't complain (unless it's a toothpick sized $150 one). Some growers rely on mother nature to water and some places just don't have mother nature on there side or whatever.

I have bought from Wilds when I first got into daylilies and was extrremely disappointed in what I got, super small fans with hardly any roots. I planted them anyway and hoped for second year blooms. Well, I was pleasantly surprised that they all grew, bloomed, and most increased from a DF to 9-20 fans (keep in mind these were older, more hardy ones) with little effort on my part. I hated to get rid of them when I had to move because they were great garden plants.

Keep in mind when you order from a mail order company that is 450 acres of daylilies plus all the other things they grow and sell they are going to do things the easiest, most economical way possible and that would be, like Bobbie said, the old way of doing it. Unlike us daylily addicts or more seasoned gardeners, there will always be buyers for companies like that because the prices are usually pretty low when you get the ones on sale.

Thanks for the input, great to hear different opinions, especially from people up north. Don't laugh but some people say that about Va. you know? Up north in Va, yawl do it different.

lilylady, my mother had those ditch lilies and I know some states list them as invasive but they were not that aggressive around here and I sure did enjoy the orange show in the summer. I took a few to my other house but did not get a chance to dig any up when I moved. So sad.

Ok, I understand about the old way and picking them and drying them out, but if 'Wilds' had been doing it that way all along then Shannon would not be so disappointed. This was something that happened after five years and was not normal.

For spoiled southerners like me, I just needed a second opinion. I was confused about getting dormant plants from someone in the same zone as me. Nothing is dormant here. Shannon, no frost we only got down to 44 and that was the coldest I have seen it.

If I order from someone up north I would not mind getting plants or roots like these but I did not order from anyone up north, but someone in my zone. Marys GP in zone 8b and the coldest zone I ordered from was 6a and that was 'Daylilies by the Pond' her plants were green and huge, Oakes and Blueridge in 7a, green and huge!

I do not believe she grew these daylilies at all, I think she ordered them from someone else and then shipped them to me. Which is wrong to me and for me because I wanted something already adapted to this climate.
But since they are northern roots, they are very happy to be here and have started sprouting, happily I see growth in each pot.

After seeing how he treats his return customers I would never consider doing business with Wilds.

I live in a pretty hot, dry climate and somewhere along the line I learned from this forum (maybe when it was on Cubits?) that an overnight soak is a good idea; and ever since I've always soaked my plants overnight after I receive them. I immerse them up to the crowns and put them outside on a table, and by the next day the ones that looked pretty dry have perked up. But the small REALLY REALLY dry ones usually don't make it past the first month or so here. And after reading all this I would NEVER order from Wild's! I have a group of wonderful, reliable hybridizers and vendors that I purchase from, and it seems like I'm never disappointed. And the couple of times that I have been disappointed in the past were through the Lily Auction, and I just make sure I never purchase from those sellers again.

I think it is mostly a live and learn thing.

One of the prettiest daylilies, MARGO REED INDEED, at the end of the season, dug up and divided into clumps was so teeny weeny, it was hard to even ship some for a trade.

Yet, it is a very hardy plant that blooms in the first year (3 fans or more) transplanted

It is a very nice plant, also up for the Stout Medal, I believe, so hopefully those that get it from a northern grower, understand that it is very dormant (going down to nothing at the top in early Oct). And with very small roots and tops.

Just an example.

I understand where you are coming from Susan.

it seems that MGP sells mainly bulbs so they may treat daylilies like they do bulbs and pre-dig and let go dormant. Remember the ones that can be bought in the plastic bags at Walmart or Lowes, they have gone dormant and once planted and revived they will grow (usually).
This could be how they do it. Or they may just get them in from a wholesale supplier and just resale them how they come in. I couldn't find anyplace that says they grow their own stock. On the clump specials it says they are field-run clumps but it doesn't say they are grown in their fields so who knows.

If it has small roots then why would they dig it up? Don't some take three or four years before you divide them? Why would they divide it after only one year? Sounds like they are a little too anxious. They should let it grow a few years before they divide it. This is why people get upset, they divide them too early and try to sell tiny roots as a mature fan and they are not ready to be divided. If they go down to nothing in October then why not dig it in August or September. Does anyone really dig up plants in the middle of winter and ship them? The ones I got had pretty big roots, just no tops which is normal for dormant plants, right?
In the spring I got a lot of dormant Hostas and I planted them and had good size plants in one month because the roots were mature. I think that is the key, I don't mind dormant plants at all, I bought all my hostas from up north. New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Michigan, etc. They do wonderful. I just do not expect dormant plants when I buy from someone in the south.

Susan, some daylilies, especially the diploid spiders only make small roots. Others always make monster roots - usually the tets. So yes, some may be immature, but others it may be what is normal for them, and others are affected by the environment. Most daylilies love Florida sunshine, and the longer growing seasons down south ~Jan

I haven't seen any small ones, all mine were big. The smallest ones I got were like the picture I showed. Shannons were small, and they were small for the first time, she has ordered from them for 5 years and they were up north the whole time! Did she order a diploid?

Sorry to see that your order was so pitiful. I ordered twice from Gilbert H. Wild and was very happy with both shipments in April. They were not a dehydrated version at all, and several went on to bloom in the summer before I officially planted them in a bed. I soaked them for 8 hours before potting them up, and am pleased with how they've been growing. I'm rather a novice, but was tickled with the discount prices. I hope yours end up performing well after all.

Sarah, those are very pretty.

lilylady, I love MARGO REED INDEED, I will keep that in mind about the small roots. I hope it wins the award.

jan, I did not know that about the dips, I only ordered a couple and coincidentally they all had the same sized roots as the tets.

tink, the only reason I wanted to order from people in my zone is because Daylily said it's the only way to know if they will rebloom because if something reblooms in one zone it does not mean that it will rebloom in a different zone. She said if I want true rebloomers for my zone then buy from people in my zone. I was assuming that daylilies love warm weather and if something reblooms up north then it would rebloom here, but not so because a lot of the dormants do not even like hot weather, right? That was my main reasoning for ordering from the south, the daylilies are more adaptable to the heat. Information about cold hardiness was easy to find but the only thing I know about heat tolerance is that the dormant daylilies are not as heat tolerant. Isn't that the purpose of ordering evergreens?
I could not resist ordering a quite a few dormants because they were just so beautiful, I am just starting out with daylilies and I did order what I wanted with an open mind about how they might do. I will be taking notes and will report my experiences with my ATP friends.
The dormant daylilies from MGP have all sprouted and I did report that I thought I got a good deal. I noticed she had a variety pack of five daylilies and you get to pick out what you want, I picked out 15 different daylilies and was very happy because I did not know what would do well in my yard, so the single fans were more like an experiment.

Sarahbugw, those are beautiful blooms. Thanks for posting them.


Susan, I don't hesitate to order dormants, we get enough cold for most to do well. I don't think I've had any that didn't do well here. I believe only one of my dormants didn't rebloom for me and it may be because I got it planted really late in the season. I'll know next year if it will or not.

Thanks tink! I haven't been paying much attention but I had hoped they would do ok! I sure got some beauties!

Susan, so I see that you are after reblooming daylilies, right?

There are a lot of factors for those that rebloom (so I have observed and studied)

They need very good growing conditions:

Water regularly

and nutrition.

They need to bloom early enough in the season for them to take a rest AND put out the energy to rebloom.

They need the warm temps later on to completely open.

They need to have the genetics to rebloom.

Here, for me, almost nothing reblooms. Our season starts later than just 20 miles inland (I am on the ocean) and our fall season is late but cooler so that even 'late' daylilies often do not open well and presents a bloom only half open.

Hope this helps in your decision making.

Thanks lilylady! . Yes, it helps to know about the early bloomers. Do you think I should even worry about adding late bloomers? I was going to add a few but if the early rebloomers will do that late thing for me then maybe I would not need them?