Old Gardener, great to hear your comments about dormants! I have only a handful, mostly because participants on the old DG forum warned me against them years ago, thinking that they might not do well in a moderate climate. But the ones I have had for the last 5-6 years have bloomed and increased quite well! There were two other cultivars that I asked about, but shied away from, because they were considered ‘hard dormants.’ In other words, daylilies that need a period in the winter when their buds are not growing in order to prosper. Yet, it turns out that growers in the East Bay have had these two cultivars in their gardens for 7 and 10 years, respectively, and they’re doing just fine. However, I have no idea how well ‘hard dormant’ daylilies would perform in your extreme summer temps, though, I wonder if that isn’t a different issue. I only have a sketchy understanding about dormancy, but a key factor appears to be decreasing day length.
As for rust, I had 3 challenging growing seasons with that scourge. Since the San Francisco Bay Area doesn’t have a sustained freeze that could kill rust annually, I trashed about 25% of my daylilies – the ones with the worst outbreak – hoping that would be enough to contain the rust. When rust next began attacking cultivars that I was using for hybridizing, I questioned whether working with daylilies was worth the effort, even just as a hobby. Then a fluke of good luck occurred: the Bay Area had what’s called here a La Nina winter: a dry, relatively warm season in 2011/2012 with highs in the 60 degree F range, and lows just below freezing for a few early morning hours. The first decent rain didn't occur until the last week of March. Coupled with my only watering the daylilies just enough to keep them alive, the rust was killed, and I haven’t seen any sign of it for 1½ years. I wouldn’t wish this experience on anyone.
In my case, quarantining purchased plants from rust-belt areas wouldn’t work well on a lot that’s as small as mine, which moreover can have fairly high winds in the afternoon. Plus, Kirby seems a bit jealous of my attention to daylilies, and delights in rubbing up against them as he follows me around the garden. : ) I’m sure he inadvertently could spread rust spores. As could I, via a pant leg or shirt sleeve…
It’s not just a problem in my garden, but other growers in the Bay Area also have done battle with rust that was introduced from other parts of the US that don't have hard freezes immediately prior to shipping daylilies to California. So, Doug, take care!
Good luck with it! : ) Elizabete
