Your favourite Daylily

14 years ago

I've been disappointed with my Daylilies this year, in particular 'Happy Returns' and 'Going Bananas', both of which are suppose to be re-bloomers. I understand that re-bloomers need to be divided often, but these have only been planted two, maybe three years.

What is your current absolute favourite Daylily, and why?

I just planted 'Fooled Me' this year, and am hoping for better things.

Thanks.

Featured Answer

weeper_11

14 years ago

I have to admit, I'm totally disagreeing with everybodies "Stella d'Oro sucks!!" That is all I've heard everywhere, and I love mine! They quickly become nice clumps that are absolutely COVERED with blooms...they essentially have bloomed all summer for me. The color is a rich buttery yellow...and the blooms are always perfect! It's an old "plain" daylily, but I love it for it's reliability.

I also love Ruby Stella...same thing as above, tons of blooms, rich scarlet color, perfect blooms, nice light scent. Pardon me is very similar.

Next spring I'm ordering a bunch from Floral and Hardy..I've very excited, because there are so many beautiful varieties that can't be found in greenhouses!! So next year my favorites will probably change.

I bought Bela Lugosi this year..I love the color, but most of my blooms ended up with splotches on them...hopefully it'll be better next year.

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Comments (35)

deeje
14 years ago
I'm not a huge fan of daylilies, and have only a few in my garden, but I do like Joan Senior:
{{gwi:259478}}
and Pretty in Pink:
{{gwi:259479}}
Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca
14 years ago
I also have joan senior, and love it! Its been blooming forever it seems. I love daylilies, though i dont have many yet.
I know if you head over to the daylily forum they post amazing pics and i bet everyone there could tell you more favorites!
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coolplantsguy
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks. I will also post this in the Daylily forum, although I'm looking more for responses from avid perennial gardeners as opposed to Daylily enthusiasts.
highalttransplant
14 years ago
Coolplantsguy, I have to agree with you on the Happy Returns. Mine was planted the summer before last, and last year I was very happy with the amount of blooms and length of bloom time. This year, the bloom time was much shorter, and the blooms just seemed less impressive.

On the other hand, I only got a couple of blooms on the Fooled Me last year, due to critters eating the buds, but this year, it has put on a much bigger show. The blooms are HUGE, the biggest of any daylily I have, and the colors really stand out.

{{gwi:253864}}

I am not a daylily enthusiast, but I do like the punch of color they add, and have maybe 7 or 8 different kinds.

Bonnie
woodside
14 years ago
Destined to See.
buyorsell888
14 years ago
I just bought a couple dozen daylilies and can't choose a favorite yet. I've had Stella D'Oro and Happy Returns for years.

Stella needs to be divided almost every year for me though I see her in commercial landscapes that can't possibly get that much care. I think my soil may be too rich and moist to get the same performance as I see at the local McDonald's where she is covered with blooms for months.

Stella gave me a bad taste for daylilies so I'm very late to the fancier daylily party. I hate how messy and grassy in a bad way her foliage gets and her color is just not pretty.

Happy Returns is such a prettier color and does rebloom for me with less dividing though not as much rebloom as Stella.

There are a couple of groups of daylilies that are branded as Trophy Takers and Happily Ever Appster that are supposed to bloom almost as much as Stella. I purchased eight of them but it is too soon to tell. I can say their flowers are prettier. A lot prettier. Final Touch is also marketed as a Proven Winner. Final Touch is also the only pink daylily I bought that bloomed true pink not peach or salmon. The photos on the site below aren't that great. When My Sweetheart Returns, for example, is so much prettier in person.

{{gwi:259480}}

My garden is too small to give space to flowers that only bloom for a week so I've concentrated on long blooming before flower form unlike most daylily enthusiasts. The climate here isn't ideal for daylilies, I'm told many won't rebloom, we don't have enough heat or sun but I'm hoping. I really lack garden color in July and August. Spent too much money on Spring and Fall bloomers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Long blooming daylilies
Donna
14 years ago
I probably have a hundred varieties. Daylilies were the plants that got me hooked on perennials. It is true, however, that they require more maintenance than almost any other perennial I grow, and I do classify them according to whether they make good border plants or not.

My favorite border daylily is Beautiful Edgings. It is a soft lemon yellow with a pale mauve edge, and it blooms endlessly as long as I divide it every year. It multiplies prodigiously and it has pretty good foliage too.

I think you will find that specific varieties of daylilies perform dramatically differently in various parts of the country. I have spent alot of money over the year on plants that are on "everybody's" top ten favorites that were just clunkers for me. It really pays to buy these plants locally so you can see how they're doing in your own area.
whaas_5a
14 years ago
I only have a few culivars but mine this year has been Strawberry Candy, started blooming first week of July still blooming today.

Color and size of bloom is easily seen from far away...unlike some where if your 30 yards away you hardly tell there is a bloom.
kentstar
14 years ago
One of mine, "Primal Scream" just planted this year. Next year should be fun!

{{gwi:259481}}
hunt4carl
14 years ago
A favorite daylily? Always the one I'm looking at. . . ! An impossible question,
for me anyway, but I can tell you a few that I wouldn't live without. Like you,
I'm not an exclusive daylily fancier, but find it very challenging to include them in mixed borders or in smaller mixed groups (similar flower size, similar height). One of these groups is mixed with ornamental grasses, another with liriope and carex. . .a real standout is the H. 'Frans Hals' (a fave!) soaring up through the branches of a spreading Juniper 'Old Gold'. . .I know, I know, pictures should be posted, but I'm still in the process of "going digital". . .soon, very soon. . .

As someone above suggested, I learned some years ago that purchasing my
daylilies from a grower in my own (or a colder) zone, has provided the most success for me. Also, rather than go with re-bloomers to get the maximum
bloom, I look for daylilies that simply have a longer natural bloom-time and
overlap them with other long-bloomers of an earlier (or later) bloom period.
Which brings me to my first "star" daylily: H. 'Princess Irene', which started
blooming on July 26th this year, and if my six-year tracking records hold true, it will STILL be blooming for me in the first week of October !

Coincidentally, it was the first daylily I ordered from a newly discovered grower some seven years ago - the link is below and it's one of the very best
plant web-sites I have ever encountered ! They also introduced me to the world of very tall daylilies: there is nothing quite so charming in my garden
right now than a collection of six-foot (6') dayliles (H. 'Autumn Minaret',
H. 'Challenger', and H. 'Autumn King') with their long, arching
stems bobbing amidst the opening plumes of Miscanthus sinenis 'Purpurascens' .

One last favorite: a robust, very pale yellow, 3.5-footer called H. 'So Lovely',
standing tall in the midst of my blue border -it gives me a good six weeks of large blooms (and slight fragrance) from about the third week of July on. . .

And one other grower I'm very partial to, located in Zone 4 of southern Vermont: Olallie Daylily Gardens at www.daylilygarden.com

Carl

Here is a link that might be useful: Bloomingfields Farm
tasymo
14 years ago
My favorite this Summer is "Chicago Apache". It has been blooming continuously for at least 4 weeks.

Here is a link that might be useful:
DYH
14 years ago
I have 'Happy Returns' and I've lost count of how many times it has bloomed this summer. At least 3, maybe 4 times and is in bloom right now. I pull out the dead canes and brown foliage often.

I also have 'Joan Senior' and love it, too.

I have very limited space inside my fence for daylilies, so I only use reblooming. I have stella, but I'm pulling those out and replacing them with 'Happy' when I divide those.

My daylilies have been in place for 3 years and I've not yet (but will for next season) divided them.

My garden gets full sun all day.

Cameron

Happy Returns is in this photo (caption was for my blog, but I can't remove it for this)

{{gwi:259482}}
conniemcghee
14 years ago
I bought a bunch of daylilies this year (about 20). Some have not yet arrived, will be here in the fall.

I spent a LOT of time studying the daylily forum here. They have amazing, amazing pictures and great descriptions, and you can find several threads on "best bloomers" and such. I hope I have some good ones, but won't know for sure until next year or so. :)

Some of the ones I went for, based on their reviews:

Joan Senior
Trahlyta
Indian Giver
Strutter's Ball
Autumn Wood

One I saw in a nursery and fell in love with was Mini Pearl. She had SO many blooms it was impossible to pass her up!

I also got Happy Returns and Apricot Sparkles, as both were supposedly good rebloomers.

You should go look at the daylily forum - if you're in a daylily mood, you would really enjoy it!
janepa
14 years ago
It is hard to choose out of hundreds of daylilies, but I will name a few. I like all colors, but if I would have to choose just one, it would be the deep pink family on the blue side, not peach. Here is my list, Casual Pleasure, Metaphore, Jedi Blue Note, Indy Long Legs, So Lovely, Polar Ice, San Ignacio, Indy Charmer, Big Cabin Luscious Lips, Summer Wind, Ocean Rain and . . . I can post photos if anyone would like to see any of the above.

Jane
Donna
14 years ago
weeper, I have Bella too. I have found that it does much better with afternoon shade and plenty of moisture. Otherwise it sunspots very badly in my climate.
greenfreak
14 years ago
I love my Spiderman:

{{gwi:259483}}

I didn't oversaturate that picture, it's really that color.
capecodder
14 years ago
I've got close to 100 varieties also. My favorite is Frances Joiner. The link I've provided really doesn't do her justice. My Apricot Sparkles barely bloomed this year.
Daring Deception is another fave, but it didn't do well either.

Here is a link that might be useful: Frances Joiner pic
conniemcghee
14 years ago
I was this close >
mmqchdygg
14 years ago
I have a full bed dedicated to daylilies, and several in other spots around my yard.
My absolute favorite- while not a rebloomer- is Peppermint Wind (Bouman's pic, but 100% true to how it looks in my yard):

{{gwi:204244}}
ontnative
14 years ago
I have a mixed garden of herbaceous perennials, that includes many native plants, true geraniums and about 100 daylilies. Many of my daylilies are older ones, but I have a few of the newer cultivars as well. My most expensive one was about $20. I refuse to pay the really high prices the "latest and greatest" daylilies command. I often buy mine from RBG in Hamilton for $6-$8 or from local nurseries at their "end of season" sales. Of all these, my favourite has to be 'Bertie Ferris', a small peachy-orange Award winner from a number of years ago. I have two clumps of this in my garden and I just love it, partly for the unique colour. It is a very long bloomer, as well.
bean_counter_z4
14 years ago
I love the doubles. Siloam Double classic is a fav.

{{gwi:259484}}

Mary's Gold is huge with blooms 8 inches across.

{{gwi:259485}}

Kwanso

{{gwi:222570}}
greenfreak
14 years ago
That Mary's Gold is gorgeous!!
diggerdee zone 6 CT
14 years ago
Oooohhh, this is a dangerous thread! I keep trying NOT to open it and read it, but I end up doing so anyway.

I am not anywhere near the collector of daylilies that some here are, but I could easily become one. I have to show considerable restraint, which I feel going out the window after googling some of the suggestions here and looking at the photos.

So, it is with some hesitation (which I will easily get over, lol) that I ask you, Jane, yes, can you post some pics? I especially love the pink daylilies!

I have a few favorites, but I can't think of the name of the particular ones at the moment. But here is a pic of my Prairie Blue Eyes and Buttered Popcorn.

{{gwi:253861}}

:)
Dee
conniemcghee
14 years ago
Oh, now I want to post pics too!

These are all new for me this year:

Mynelle's Starfish. This one has been my favorite bloom so far, though I only had two this year:
{{gwi:259486}}

Mapping Tennessee:
{{gwi:259487}}

Radiant Simplicity:
{{gwi:259488}}

Here's the one I mentioned earlier, Mini Pearl. It's the lighter-colored one...the orange is Radiant Simplicity. I would never have picked MP from a catalog, but seeing it in person with all the buds and blooms, it was a must-have:
{{gwi:254972}}
diggerdee zone 6 CT
14 years ago
Well, I just wanted to let everyone know that our buddy Carl, while being all nicey-nice here on the forums, e-mailed me this past weekend with the sole, evil intention of fueling a possibly - *possibly* - budding addiction. Can you imagine?! Complete, no less, with links to the American Hemerocallis Society and others - which, of course, I immediately looked at, lol!

Well, I'm here to publicly state that I need no such links to prompt any addiction. No, not I. I fed my burgeoning habit this morning... at the supermarket! Yes, I admit it! The grocery store! I succumbed to a absolutely gorgeous Chicago Apache, languishing on the sale rack, priced at a mere $4.50. It was sitting there, basking in the morning sun, a bright, glowing spot against the hot, dreary asphalt... For 4 bucks, who could resist? Not I...

Gee, and I don't even really like red...

:)
Dee
geoforce
14 years ago
My favorite would have to be either a double, of which I grow several dozen varieties or one of Ra Hansen's weird smoky lavender color ones like 'Ben Lee'.

If I were a bit more vain I would say "George Forsythe" which is a gorgeous green-yellow double which Darrel Apps named for me but in reality although its a great plant there are better ones,

George
janepa
14 years ago
I just had to post some of my favorites -
Fancy Buttons {{gwi:259489}}

Metaphor {{gwi:259490}}

Unforgettable Fire {{gwi:259491}}

Ocean Rain {{gwi:255546}}

Polar Ice {{gwi:255537}}

There are many more. Thank you for looking. Jane
kentstar
14 years ago
All are so gorgeous! Makes me wish it could be spring all over again now, instead of autumn coming up.
brody
14 years ago
My favorite is 'Corky' but also like Hemerocallis flava. I like the simpler, less artificial looking flowers, and also they shed their petals cleanly so I don't have to deadhead every day.

That said, I love 'Pandora's Box.' The flowers are ok, kind of get buried by the leaves, but they smell wonderful, like grape soda.
hunt4carl
14 years ago
Spoken like a true addict, Dee: did you notice, folks, how the price crept ever
downward throughout the post from $4.50, then suddenly $4.00. . .by
tomorrow, she'll be congratulating herself for spending a mere $3.00, pocket
change! And thus, another addiction takes hold. . .

Carl ("Mr. Nicey-Nice"?)
diggerdee zone 6 CT
14 years ago
Well, okay, I admit, since I fancy myself somewhat of a writer, I took a bit of poetic license with the price. The second time, I rounded it off to $4.00 because let's face it, "four bucks" sounds oh-so-much better and more effective than "four-dollars-and-fifty-cents".

The true, actual price was $4.49 - which really is not poetic at all. I can bring the receipt to the swap if you'd like as proof (of what, I don't know - my cheapness, perhaps, lol?)

:)
Dee
who is going out to enjoy the last bloom on her new Chicago Apache...
highalttransplant
14 years ago
Well, Dee, since you don't like red, I think you should box that up and send to me, LOL! I love red, and I don't have Chicago Apache : )

Bonnie
diggerdee zone 6 CT
14 years ago
Bonnie, I really am not a big fan of red, but I do find myself starting to have my attention caught by red. I am actually planning a bed where I will put yellow, red, and (dare I admit it?!) orange bloomers next year. I guess Chicago Apache will live there.

:)
Dee
highalttransplant
14 years ago
My entire garden is mostly reds, yellows, and oranges, and I think Chicago Apache would be happy to live there ...
but it sounds like it'll be very happy in your new bed too. : )

Bonnie

Your favourite Daylily

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