Frillylily,
Oakes does sell some daylilies which have unregistered names. Lady Georgia is one of them.
Sometimes these are registered cultivars which have been renamed.
For example, Miss Victoria (unregistered, not currently offered) is the same as 'So Sweet'. When it was first offered I suspected so by the description, purchased one, and planted it next to 'So Sweet'. Completely identical.
Miss Tinkerbell (unregistered) is clearly identical to 'Siloam Little Girl'.
Miss Amelia (unregistered) is identical to 'May May'. Compare the descriptions, Every detail is identical.
I'm growing Miss Mary Mary (unregistered) but haven't determined what it might be.
I'm guessing Lady Georgia is a renamed registered cultivar because Oakes usually registers daylilies they hybridize. This may also be true of Lady Melanie (unregistered). But 'Lady Lucillle' (Warrell) is registered.
Most of this started when Oakes became affiliated with the "All American Daylily Selection Council". In fact the AADSC address is now in Corryton, TN where Oakes is. The AADSC is a purely commercial organization which should not be confused with the All American Selections organizations which are nonprofit and have public test gardens. AADSC is opaque in every way.
In 1998 Star Struck was anointed an AADSC "All American". This daylily is evidently identical to the one Oakes previously sold as Jen Melon, a registered name. They no longer offer it (as Jen Melon) even though it was one of their most popular. Adding an additional mystery, it appears the one sold all those years as Jen Melon (and now Star Struck) may not be the one originally registered as JM. I asked Oakes about this once and received a noncommittal reply.
There is one other common source of dual-naming of cultivars. Patented plants must have a cultivar name. But their commercial owners often give them a different name for marketing. Oakes offers 'Dynamite Returns' (Apps - BlewR 2007) which is the registered cultivar name of the Plant Patent #20002 daylily which is marketed in garden centers as Passionate Returns.
If you don't check the AHS database you could pay to acquire the same daylily twice 😐, because, if you liked it once you'd probably like it again! You might enjoy having more of it, but you did want to get a different one.
Plus, if you should ever want to compete in an AHS exhibition to share your beautiful flowers with the public, unregistered named entries would not be accepted.
Oakes used to be highly supportive of AHS. They may still be. But their market is not to advanced daylily collectors who exhibit. They've cast a wider net. They "catch" a lot of first time daylily buyers and reel them in by selling high quality plants of a diverse selection of cultivars that perform well. Having hooked them, many of their customers eventually find their way to AHS. So overall I think that despite the few name glitches their influence is highly positive.
Pat
