Background history:

"Big-Kiss" is a dormant diploid introduced in 1991 by Enman Joiner.

Char created a thread about Enman Joiner:
The thread "ATP Series: The Daylilies of Enman R. Joiner, Sr." in Daylilies forum

More information can be found on the Joiner Daylily Gardens website:
http://www.joinerdaylilygarden...

This cultivar can be found in the ATP Plant Database:
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Big Kiss')

According to the ATP database, it is listed as a mid-season bloomer and can rebloom. It has earned two AHS awards: Award of Merit: 2005, Honorable Mention: 2002
It is pod and pollen fertile with 24 children currently registered in the Plant Database:
http://garden.org/plants/paren...

Please join in, if you own this plant! We would love to know more! I award an acorn for performance information posted to this thread.





Also, please consider adding a "Local Report" to the ATP Plant Database! Thank you!

Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Big Kiss')

I received a double fan of Big Kiss as a bonus in 2009. It is growing underneath my Kwanzan flowering cherry tree and even though it does not receive full sun, it seems happy where it is at. Branching is close together and the bud count is probably around 10. If I moved it to full sun, it would probably be better.

True to it's registered bloom time as a midseason bloomer, it usually blooms in mid-July in my southern Indiana zone 6b garden. I have never seen rust on BK that I can remember.

This picture was taken on 7/8/14. It has multiplied nicely since 2009, although I don't know for sure how many fans there are now.

I purchased a double fan in 2014. In this, its second season, I filmed the first bloom 22 July 2015. It appeared as a single which had me wondering if there was some mistake.



I was relieved when I circled the plant and found a double bloom as I'd expected. The blooms are large and a delicate shade of peach/pink.



I continued to be able to take photos of Big Kiss until 19 Aug 2015. It turned out to be one of my best growers. The bed was planted in 2014 and this year this plant is larger than most of the daylilies and the blooms are on taller stems. The plant has been disease free and has not been bothered by insects. My husband helps a lot in the gardens and one of the jobs he assigned to himself this year was to remove the spent blooms on the daylilies. His only complaint about the Big Kiss was the number he had to remove - to me that was great - it meant it was a great bloomer. The only thing that would be an improvement would be if it were a rebloomer. We got a full month of blooms however.

I'm pleased to see that Big Kiss is Daylilies of the Day - it is one of my favs!

I've gotten some single blooms off of BK before too, and I actually like those blooms better. The color on this pic from 2009 is a little more pink instead of the peach it normally is. Probably had the camera settings different that day.

In its first year here, Big Kiss is one of my strongest daylilies. Dense, thick and upright scapes bear nice blooms. Flowers fade into a rather mushy, messy glob, but I still like the plant. Mine is in full all-day sun, and has grown well (to this point at least) without additional water or fertilizer.

I have to agree about the scapes, they are nice and sturdy. One of my pet peeves is puny scapes that do not hold up the blooms. BK doesn't have that problem

Big Kiss is a good performer for me in my zone 5 garden, and is outstanding when given sufficient water. The scapes are sturdy and support the double and even what appears to be triple layers.

That's a nice picture Cynthia . You should add it to the database.

This one still grows here, although about half of the clump has been sold off. Got it from Mr. Joiner around 1999! The attributes that I find most appealing are that the scapes are sturdy, it almost always blooms double here ( don't even have any pictures of it blooming single) and the bloom season begins slightly AFTER mid season, when a lot of others are winding down. The subtle soft colors are also appealing. It looks like a big three dimensional powder puff!

I LOVE Big Kiss! It is my new favorite double! I got it last year from Lilydaydreamer. This was its first year blooming in my yard and it put on a great show! I believe all my blooms were doubles although a couple were close to being single.

This one always blooms well for me. Fertile as both pod and pollen parent. When I offer seeds to my students, the Big Kiss crosses are among the first taken.

I have Big Kiss for 4 years and has yet to bloom. It has increased nicely. Have moved it once.

Will keep babying. I think this flower is really beautiful. Any ideas on how to get ti bloom would be appreciated.

Emquinn said:I have Big Kiss for 4 years and has yet to bloom. It has increased nicely. Have moved it once.

Will keep babying. I think this flower is really beautiful. Any ideas on how to get ti bloom would be appreciated.

How much sun does it get Liz?

Do you fertilize it? If so, what ratio of nutrients does it have?

Chelle it is full sun and have used compost and cow manure. there is always next year

I have tried this flower twice and it both times just sat there and would not grow for me. No blooms after 2 years and does not increase. Maybe it doesn't like my fair to middlin' soil ?

Big Kiss has been in my gardens for only 2 full years, coming into its third summer, and it is a show-stopper. It has had very good bloom, strong and sturdy scapes, and so far tends to basically just crank out double blooms. For zone 3 summers, it has blown me away - full sun, all day.

And I will actually be dividing it this coming summer, it has already multiplied readily... in northern gardens, we can go years without needing to divide, so Big Kiss stands out ... along with Ruby Spider and a handful of others that have been very prolific here.

After growing in a pot for two years, Big Kiss has been planted in the ground It was getting a bit crowded with 6+ fans
It survived the Feb 2021 TX 'Big Freeze' outdoors in the pot. It was a mid-late here with FFO on 6/17/2021 with 4 scapes 4.5" x 25" with 9+ buds. It will be interesting to see what it does out of the pot.

I purchased it last year for the third time so hoping this time will be the charm. I wouldn't bother with it, but I want it for the name. I plan to put it in my dog's memory garden area.