Well, as a beginner also (really I have grown daylilies for years just never did anything for them) I have asked those same questions.
1. I gather that it is yet to be seen what will show up when these bloom? And as such, they will also be unnamed?
That is correct, sometimes the new daylilies will look a lot like one of the parents sometimes not so much.
You are also correct in that the new plants will be unnamed. But you could name them if you wanted to,
if nothing else you could give them a "garden name". I don't bother with names for anything other than the
ones I buy or get with registered names.
2. In terms of cultivation, I want to wintersow the seeds. I may take a few seeds out and try to grow them now, though, to see if I get enough ahead of winter to put a few in the ground. Tips about growing media are eagerly sought here!
Winter sowing should work fine for daylilies. I just plant mine in the ground or small plastic pots (later I put
them in the ground after they get a little size. Mostly that is to protect them from the critters digging them
up when they are so tiny. Daylily seeds vary in the amount of time needed for germination, depending a
a lot of the variety some will germinate in a few days and others may take weeks or possibly months.
Fresh seed tend to germinate pretty fast, but some do need a chilling period while others don't.
Growing media seems to vary a lot from person to person, I grow mine in pots using nothing but my home
made compost, sometimes I will blend it with perlite sometimes with some sand, but mostly just compost.
Others use pile bark and sand along with other amendments,people use seed starting mix, potting mix or
other homemade mixtures. It seems to come down to using what suits your budget and style of growing
that still allows the daylilies to perform well.
3. And my understanding is that, once these bloom (which may not be until the second year?) the blooms will be unique in some way, and subsequent seeds will not bloom true but will have different characteristics, so if I want to reproduce a plant I have to take a division.
The bloom may be very different or very similar to one of the parents, but it is true that no daylily
that I am aware of comes true for seed. Even if self pollinated the new seedling will be different in some
ways from the parent. The blooms could actually look identical, yet other traits would be different, or the
bloom could be a different color, shape, texture etc. Things like dormancy, height, rate of growth, etc.
be different. So if you want an identical plant you will have to use a proliferation or division of the original
plant.
