Viewing post #300656 by chalyse

My simple steps for putting together a responsible Rust Buster (c) garden, starting with selection of cultivars. Rust Buster gardens are simple; anyone who can read ingredients or assembly something from instructions can do it. :}

Please Note: No hybridizer's names or chemical application discussions are appropriate here (hybridizers are not responsible for creating rust pathogens and could not have bred for rust resilience prior to its discovery & documentation - and chemicals make it impossible to create rust resilient daylilies, so chemical masks are counter-productive in a well-balanced Rust Busting garden).

Rust Busting is as simple as 1-2-3:

Step 1. Where are those Rust Busting daylilies to put in my garden?

They are right here at ATP:
1. Go to the database for daylilies: it allows you to find cultivars that are both resistant and susceptible: http://garden.org/plants/group... (scroll down to the "rust resistance" drop-box)
2. Find daylilies from both groups (Important! if you only keep 'resistant' daylilies, you increase your chances of losing them as rust pathogens evolve, and as new strains of rust show arrive in your area!)
3. Select a mix of 50% resistant & susceptible daylilies, and then find the other 50% from anywhere in the database (untested & personal-favorite daylilies keep a healthy balance needed for a rust-busting garden).
4. The database can also be set to find whatever season, foliage, colors, or types of daylily you prefer, while you search for your Rust Busters.
5. Use plant markers to keep track of your daylilies - as soon as the daylilyrust.org site is fixed, you can report your successes there and help monitor rust performance. Also, if one of your daylilies loses its foliage, you'll know where to look for it to come back up even if its caught a case of rusty-bug one summer.

Step 2. Oh ... there is no step 2! :D Its that easy ...

Here are some of my picks for the 50% resistant/susceptible plants in my new garden, and 50% untested/unknow or just random "personal preference" daylily cultivars (since I don't have the blooming plants yet to take mug shots, I'm using "derivative" photos here to avoid any copyright infringement - collages of color-altered and re-oriented bits and pieces that represent a flower are a-okay :}

My mix of favorite resistant and susceptible cultivars include:

a deeply ruffled sweetie and a popular pretty

My mix of favorite untested/personal preference cultivars include:

a personal ruffled favorite and an untested double

okay ... i'm off to put in my order! Anyone else got their balanced Rust Buster garden sorted out yet? :}