Hi Nancy,
Although I'm not from a warm climate I do grow/have grown a good number of Sculpted cristate forms. I also understand why you might reach a conclusion that cristate cultivars need a certain amount of dormancy based on your warm climate experience and the inconsistency seen in the cultivars you are growing. Do daylilies with dormant foliage habit normally grow well for you? Michael's Sword, Bee's Bob Baker and Dan Patch are registered dormant. I think there are a number of NGA members that can tell you some dormants do well for them in the south and others do not. While an individual cultivar may need a period of dormancy to perform well, an officially recognized daylily Form does not. Sculpted cristate forms have been hybridized and registered from both the north and south with evg, sev, or dor foliage habit.
The inconsistency you are seeing is likely due to one or a combination of factors.
Foliage habit - these are registered dormants that simply may not grow well in the south. Any daylily that does not grow well may not be able to perform to the hybridizers registered information.
Your plants are relatively newly planted - When hybridizers record the registration info it is usually done at clump strength. Some cultivars can take a few years to establish themselves and perform to the registration info. Moving plants north to south or south to north can also slow this process as the plants need to adjust to a different climate.
Inconsistency within the cultivar itself to produce cristate blooms - Sorry to say many of the early cristate cultivars are inconsistent in their ability to produce cristate blooms. This form was not popular with a majority of hybridizers... thought of as a fault and the resulting sdlgs tossed to the compost. With the official recognition of the Sculpted cristate form in Oct. 2010 they are slowly gaining in popularity as growers and hybridizers see their uniqueness. As hybridizers work with them the consistency to produce cristate blooms in registered and introduced cultivars has the potential to improve.
My own experience with several of the cultivars you listed....
Michael's Sword - a dormant, has been grown here, zone 4, for 7 years. The blooms have been extremely inconsistent in producing cristation, maybe 1 in 10 will be cristate. Pod fertile.
Dan Patch - dormant, new last year. The few blooms it produced this year had some blooms more heavily cristate than others. Pod fertile.
Tiki God - registered sev, closer to dormant, this one was hybridized in New Hampshire not to far from me (Paul later moved to NC) growing here since 2012. It has been very inconsistent in producing cristation but is pod and pollen fertile.
Have you tried growing Texas Feathered Fancy? TFF is a registered dormant hybridized in Texas, grows well here too. More consistent than Michael's Sword and is pod and pollen fertile.
