Maurice, could that emergence from dormancy be a matter of timing?
In your climate, by late December it seems as if daylilies grown outside would have already experienced quite a bit of both photoperiod (assuming it exists) and/or cold-induced dormancy, and when introduced to warm conditions, they would begin to grow, and once doing so, the hormone cycle set into play might overpower the photoperiod effect.
What I've noticed here regarding photoperiod-induced dormancy is on the other end of the growing season. Despite fair temperatures, (not even light frosts at that point) many dormant daylilies are down to hard crowns by Thanksgiving. This is what led me to think that photoperiod was involved. What do you think is going on there? Is it a matter of the plants having produced a "season's worth" of leaves and blooming stems, triggering a rest period? Might it have something to do with the plants being sensitive to increasing day lengths in January and decreasing day lengths in autumn? Put another way, could it be that the plants are able to sense that each day is longer than the last, and that alone is enough to maintain a growth cycle?
I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts about all this.
Ken
