There are many reasons for poor performance. Before I toss something I bought, I want to be reasonably certain that the problem isn't my culture. This climate may not be that great for getting daylilies to open reliably, but it's almost perfect for overall plant growth and health.
Normally, if a daylily has any kind of size to it, I'll see flowers the first bloom season after planting. The longest it has ever taken a daylily to bloom for me is 5 years.
I have always loved Reckamp's diamond-dusted melon tones with the lavender-pink shimmer. The Reckamp line seems to have a reputation for being "hard dormant" and developing relatively small fans, but I've had good luck with
Live Jazz,
My Sunshine, and
Angel's Smile, so when I saw the picture of
One Dreamer, I had to have it, and bought a plant from the mother nursery, Song Sparrow. It wasn't very big on receipt, and I made the mistake of planting it on a warm, south-facing slope in a bed of vigorous evergreens. It couldn't compete, and seemed to get smaller each year, so last summer, before it totally disappeared, I planted it in a 5-gallon nursery can so that I could feed it well, build it back up to size and give it full shade once it went dormant. This year it scaped, and produced about 15 blooms. It was well worth the wait.
On a side note regarding Miracle-Gro, check the formulation. Their flagship product used to be 15-30-15, although I hear they've changed to a lower phosphorus formula. (this info was related by a Canadian gardener—a different formulation might be available there.)
Be cautious, because phosphorus can build up in some soils to toxic levels. Most good mineral-based soils have plenty of phosphorus anyway.
Years ago - I believe it was in the late 80's, UC Davis collaborated with Sunset Magazine on a fertilizer field trial (mostly vegetables and perennials, as I recall) which debunked the high-phosphorus "Bloom Fertilizer" theory, (0-50-0) finding that with most plants, the ideal macronutrient ratio was approximately 5-2-3. (or a multiple thereof, e.g. 10-4-6)
Daylilies love nitrogen, so don't be afraid of it. Nitrogen stimulates growth, and produces bigger, stronger fans
and roots, which means more flowers. To prevent soft growth, apply less to plants which aren't getting full sun.
Dan Trimmer wrote an excellent article regarding daylily culture. Rich Howard of CT Daylilies hosts it on his site.
http://www.ctdaylilies.com.
Ken
