Based on my observations with the limited number of daylilies I grow and the short span of time I've been doing it, using deciduous would work well, it seems. The reason is that there are some daylilies that begin to retreat for the coming winter well before really cold weather sets in. That corresponds well to the deciduous trees and their behavior which do the same thing. They react to approaching winter well before it begins. Other daylilies continue to grow until enough freezes stops active growth and kills the foliage. All those that start fading ahead of time were registered as dormants, but not every daylily purchased as a dormant daylily actually does. Most do.
My growing zone can be erratic from year to year. It can begin or end and some winters probably correspond to Zone 7a and others to Zone 8b with most winters more commonly fitting in either Zone 7b or 8a.
That type of behavior was really pronounced in some daylily seedlings. I thought a bunch had simply died by early fall, but they returned and grew well in early spring. I was glad I hadn't just dumped them, but they were in with other seedlings that stayed green and growing and were even mixed up among sibling seedlings. Those little containers that had both types from the same pods showed the effect most clearly. I didn't let those containers freeze the first year, so the behavior was not due to freezing temperatures or being treated differently.
