SunriseSide said:Years ago "Lady Georgia", "Lady Scarlet" and unregistered others that escape me 
seem to have been first marketed by Blooms Of Bressingham. That marketing effort did not last long but the plants persist. [I have the two named above]
Hi SunriseSide (Dave),
I think Blooms and others may have joined the AADSC efforts too. Blooms was originated by Alan Bloom, a dignified horticulturist of the old school tradition. I heard him speak once and have a book he autographed.
When his son Adrian took over in 1985-1986 the Blooms of Bressingham name was adopted and the effort to commercialize on a larger scale began.
I was actually surprised when Oakes joined and don't know when it was. We've known all 3 generations of the Oakes, Bill, Stewart, and now Kenny leading it. Stewart and Kenny stayed overnight at out house when they brought a pickup load of daylilies for the display at Ameriflora in 1992.
The original Oakes under Bill was a traditional daylily nursery with hundreds of modestly priced choices. Their plants were known then as now for their high quality and generosity. Now it has transitioned to a more commercial style with a limited but diverse selection, a color catalog, website, etc. And their prices are often surprising for some of the older daylilies. However, they are simply matching the price to the perceived value and the demand.
We've done that with a handful of daylilies in our garden. If you can't keep it because everyone wants it - raise the price until it matches demand!
Jack Roberson of American Daylily & Pererennial was one of the first involved in AADSC. His 'Black Eyed Stella' was chosen as the first "All American Daylily" selection. This was probably not a coincidence!! It was heavily promoted in the press and to wholesale growers.
I know firsthand of a local wholesale grower who was selling 20,000 potted 'Stella de Oro' a year to local landscapers. He went all in on 'Black Eyed Stella'. There was a minimum commitment required by AADSC, I can't remember exactly, maybe 1,500 plants. At the end of the season he had taken down all the posters plastered in the sales office. He was still sitting on a large number of those, while basic Stella had continued to sell as before. He was fuming.
In other words, 'Black Eyed Stella' gave the AADSC a black eye and I don't think it has ever recovered.
Why? Because it was misrepresented in several ways. First, it does not have the expected "black eye". It's more a wishy-washy red that doesn't show up well, especially in sunlight. They claimed it bloomed up to 270 days a year. Where? I wondered. Definitely not in central Ohio - impossible 😂 And the literature features a picture of what is implied to be a clump growing in a white pot. If you grow the plant you will realize that this is a picture of a "composed" clump - basically a type of flower arrangement. This is most commonly seen in marketing images in Dutch publications. The real thing is nothing like the picture and claims.
There is a lot more to say about AADSC, another time. For now please just remember that the AADSC "All American Daylily" choices are done privately with no public transparency. There is no network of public test gardens where you can see the cultivars under evaluation, as with All American Selections. The names of the judges are not public. Its hard to discover who even belongs to the "Council". It's all opaque.
The AADSC may be down but it's not out yet. We'll see if it ever comes to something.
Pat
