For the most reasonable and reliable daylily nurseries, I would recommend Aren't I Pretty Daylilies and Sunset Meadow. I also understand from others
here at GW that Blue Ridge on eBay provides very good plants.

On up the line, Marietta Gardens have a very good selection and are most dependable.

Higher than the others, but worth the price is Maryott's in CA. While shipping is a little slow, they send great bonus plants.

Be sure to check out each nursery at Dave's Garden before placing orders.

Nancy

Be sure to check when the sellers "spring shipping" begins. Here in Middle GA - I prefer from Mid March to first of April so plants can settle in before super heat of the summer...and give me a bloom. Nothing is so disappointing as to pay a high price for a flower, only to miss bloom season... only to see you could have paid half the next year. Blueridge sends large plants and a generous bonus - but I buy from him only for fall planting because his spring begins in May due to his region and plant recoverey. As Nancy said - Maryotts and Marietta Gardens are both good. There are several sellers from Mississippi on.. shall I dare mention .. the LILY AUCTION .. once you go there..you will never be the same...lol.
Shelly

Trapped like a rat from the snowstorm,so I got my "stick" out and am stirring up the "pot"! lol

Here is a link that might be useful: Lily Auction

This is just my opinion, of course, but I'd wait on buying DLs from the Lily Auction until you know the regular prices. A lot of people get carried away at this auction and pay much more than the DL is normally sold for. I'd also find out from others here who the reliable sellers are at the Lily Auction. I hear there are a few bad ones. I have bought from several and had very good luck.

I'd be very careful from whom you buy DLs in Mississippi. I was shortchanged two daylilies and the vendor refused to replace them. I take a dim view of that sort of thing and never forget it, even when prices are low. Check them out at Dave's Garden first.

Nancy

Nancy

Try Dan Hansen, at Lady Bug Daylilies. He's in Florida, so you'll be one step ahead of the game already with daylilies acclimated to warm, southern climates.

I've never ordered from Dan, but that's primarily because I am in Pennsylvania. Every year for the past few years that I have not ordered from him, I regret it very much. Why? Because I have been told -- and from a knowledgeable and highly experienced daylily grower -- that Dan is a VERY generous and honest seller. (In fact, this year, I think I will order at least one of Dan's '08 intros.....I like the look of them too much not to.)

But the fact that you're looking for reasonably priced daylilies is not a reason to avoid buying from Dan Hansen. First, many of Dan's previous intros are very reasonably priced. Also, if you look at his catalog, you'll see that some that may at first glance seem somewhat highly priced are actually CLUMPS of a minimum of three fans for the price. Second, and this should delight you, he has "Dan's Bargain Basement - Clumps for $8.59." These are older plants, but I see many wonderful daylilies on the list....and most are from hybridizers whose plants should do really well for you in your area.

To go along with my suggestion that you order from one of the "big name" hybridizers -- check out the general price lists from some of the others, most of whom are in Florida. Lamberton's Art Gallery Gardens, Floyd Cove (Stamile), etc.

Also, there is Jack Carpenter, who is in Texas. Many of his intros are evergreen or semi-evergreen, and those should do very well for you. I have been told that he is another very generous seller.

If you want to buy daylilies via auctions, I do NOT recommend ebay. I know there are a few good sellers there, but you would do MUCH better to reserve your activities to the Lily Auction. That is where almost all serious daylily buyers/sellers go, the selection is enormous (ranging from some 08 intros to 07 intros to clumps for $5.00 to seedlings to seeds), and the auction owner is careful to guard against dishonest sellers (and buyers). Several hybridizers sell their daylilies on the auction, too.

"but I'd wait on buying DLs from the Lily Auction until you know the regular prices."

I wouldn't.

There's no need to be concerned about the Lily Auction prices. If you want to know something about auction price trends, do two things. First, if there's a daylily you're interested in, do a quick online search to get an idea what the latest catalog prices for it are. Second, do a search on the Lily Auction for CLOSED auctions of that daylily. (To do that search, I believe you need to be a registered auction user.) You should be able to get an idea whether there have been many auctions for the cultivar, whether auction bidding resulting in a high price was merely a bidding war between two or three stubborn people, and whether prices for the cultivar are trending downward with time.

One thing you should begin to notice as you compare online price lists & catalogs with Lily Auction prices is that very often, the auction prices are lower. Not always, and not if there's a bidding war, but often enough. If you're patient, you should usually be able to get something you want more cheaply on the auction. But patience may be the key.

"I'd also find out from others here who the reliable sellers are at the Lily Auction. I hear there are a few bad ones."

You can examine sellers' ratings to see what buyers think of sellers' daylilies & service. Most sellers are good to very good, and more than a few are excellent. The bad ones....if they're truly dishonest, they'll be booted off in a New York minute. If they're just overpriced or don't send good plants....watch the activity (or LACK of activity) of sellers. Someone has 25 offerings, but maybe only one or two plants being bid on? This seems to happen with that seller a lot? Well, that should tell you something about what experienced auction bidders think of that seller!

Also, I'm not sure what Dave's Garden is, but it does make sense to see what others have to say about a place you want to buy from. Here is one list of recommended sellers:

http://members.cox.net/hiddeninthecity2/sources.htm

It's a little out of date (for example, Woodside Nursery is out of business as of the end of this past summer), but I would trust the recommendations there.

Last thing, since you're in Mississippi, you probably need to avoid buying so-called hard dormants. (At least, I THINK that's correct.) These are daylilies that must have a reasonably lengthy period of dormancy to do well over time. There are northern growers who breed for these primarily or as part of their programs. If you try to grow a hard dormant, you will probably find that, with each passing year, your plant will dwindle more & more, until one year....alas, it's gone.

BTW, since you're just now getting into daylilies, think about joining the AHS. You'll get a lot back for the small membership fee!

After all that verbiage, I forgot one of the important little bits....the Lily Auction web site!

http://daylily.com/cgi-bin/auction.cgi

From the bottom of that page, the link to registering:

http://daylily.com/cgi-bin/auction.cgi?1&1&u

And, also at the bottom, the "Help" page, which answers questions:

http://daylily.com/auctionfiles/help2.html

YEAH YEAH I agree, lets get Jim to the Lily Auction. Since I spend so much time there looking at stuff and spending money, I think we need another addict. LOL

Dot

Hi,

I have listed many spiders,narrow and unusual forms on the lily auction under seller "Vino"...There are many other few good sellers on this site...always check feedback of a seller...you will learn about communication, quality of plants shipped.

My favorite seller is rondas on the lily auction, when I am thinking on bidding I always highlight the name of the daylily then right click and click on search the web then I find several other places that sell them that I know are good. If the LA price beats their price then I place a bid if not I dont.
Jill

Thanks for the suggestion about joining the American Hemerocallis Society. I did it!!

Can anyone recommend a really good book or two?

I've been looking at photos today. Wow, there are so many!!!!!

I didn't know that there are daylilies that re-bloom. Is that a new thing, or have they progressed far enough along that there are some really good ones?

Jim

On the LA the seller jrt (James Townsend) is in the Good Ole Miss...in Laural. We've purchased from him 4 times and always received top quality plants usually more than advertised (winter wins for spring shipment), intros or excellent seedlings for bonus and cordial communications. Buy one from him...then make arrangements to pick it up at his place and make a new friend. Have Static coming from him this Spring. 8-)

As for the LA...A few sent us rather small plants..we don't mind that if we know, but these were supposed to be blooming size fans. *-) All the other 55+ sellers we bought from were good to excellent, except one who seemed to not care about the customer more than themselves. I did get a refund with no problems.

Dan Hansen is good also. Stopped and visited him one year. Great guy.

Stopped and visited the Lambertson's last year. His older cultivers are reasonably priced.

Another we order from consistantly is Jordan's Daylilies (Memory and BoB) in South Carolina. We stop every year and visit....and err pick up a few. Great folks.

I'm sure there are others just as good, but we just haven't found them yet. *-)

Cheers,
Bruce and Tanya

Jim, The good news is that because of your growing zone, most daylilies will rebloom in your garden. The bad news is that because of your growing zone, some of your daylilies will eventually get rust. I'm including a link below that is a good source of information about daylily rust. You might also want to take a look at the daylily rust survey at the bottom of the link. It lists daylilies that have been found to be both resistant and susceptible to rust. Good luck,
Kathy

Here is a link that might be useful: Daylily Rust Information Page

I ordered plants from Dan Hansen at Ladybug Daylilies last spring and he sent nice clumps at a good price. Here's a link to the reviews of Ladybug Daylilies at Dave's Garden. The reviews at Dave's Gardens have been very helpful when I'm looking for daylily sources.

A lot of the daylily books are a bit out of date - there are so many new daylilies each year! If you're interested in some older daylilies, I like "The Gardener's Guide to Daylilies" by Diana Grenfell. Maybe you could find it at the library.

Also, it's good that you've joined the AHS - you live in Region 14 and they have a great newsletter - I subscribe to it in addition to my region's newsletter because Region 14's is so much better. Here's a link to the Region 14 website, although it looks like it hasn't been updated for a while.

Juliet

There are several daylily growers in Mississippi. You might want to visit one or more. Most growers are very willing to talk about what they do with anyone who will listen. After all, it is their passion.
Two Mississippi growers that I have gotten great plants from are Pinebeltman (Henry Boykin) and BigStump (Helen Wheeler). Both are listed in the LA as being in Ellisville although Helen use to be in Columbus and her Big Stump Daylily Nursery is still listed by the state of Mississippi as being registered there in their 2007-2008 directory. I have also bought from and been pleased with plants from jbc1 (Jimmy Boyd) in Collins. A visit to Collins, Laurel and Ellisville would be about a 150 mile loop from/to McComb. Henry seems to have more of the newer, higher priced cultivars. The others have many new ones too, but it appears that may have more less expensive ones.

I found contact information for Henry and Jimmy along with a lot of others at www.ahsregion14.org/display_gardens.htm

Good luck!
Larry

hi there,
thought i would put in my 2 cents worth. although i am a relative newbie, i started "collecting" (read: obsessing) about daylilies about 6 months ago. i now have over 300 named dls and the list keeps growing! anyway, i joined the AHS and they sent a voucher along with a list of nurseries that honor it and for how much, etc. i chose Brown's Ferry Gardens and i couldnt speak more highly of them. Amy and Heidi were most kind and gracious, their prices were excellent and they send 40% bonus plants out of plants that you suggest. the most important thing was that the plants were gorgeous! most, including the bonus plants, were many more fans than the double advertized. one had 9 fans! they honor the voucher for $50 with no additional purchase required.

i have recently started on the lily auction and have gotten many good deals. since i am new, i looked at the feedback and i hope i have picked some good sellers. Rondas is one of my favorits, too. be careful, though, it is addictive! LOL

tracie

Crimony, Tracie, 300 in 6 months!!!! Are you eating these? :)

Thank y'all for the references on the Mississippi growers, and thanks for the book suggestion on the older daylilies. I'm going to the libraryu today.

Jim

Actually, i understand that they are edible and quite tastey! LOL havent tried them myself. i tend to overdo my plant obsessions. with dls, there are sooo many to drool over, i have to have them all!! i really hope i get a great show next year for all this hard work.

tracie