For being the most amazingly popular daylily in the world, Strawberry Candy hasn't exactly rocked my socks. I will keep it for another year but it is moving to a much less prime piece of real estate.

Edward
Timberlea, NS

I have been so disgusted with the performance of Baracuda Bay that I gave it away. Moved it once but never got a decent bloom off of it. I paid a good price for a large plant and it was my biggest disappointment.

I live not far from Irongate gardens (who are introducing the newer Siloams.) Had an opportunity to get a few and see the rest. They are gorgeous and some are much larger. It is a wonderful garden to visit.

MALAYSIAN MONARCH has always done really well for me - it gets some afternoon shade. I got rid of a different Munson, EARL ROBERTS, because it always got such bad leaf streak. I also got rid of DARING DECEPTION because it was a muddy orangish color instead of lavender for me. I was disappointed in INDIAN GIVER this year because it had a lot of thrips damage, it was much better in previous years. EDITH VAUGHAN was blooming in its pot when I got it in 2004, but in 2005 it only put up one scape and all the buds aborted except for one. If it doesn't do better this year, I'm getting rid of it.

Juliet

Strawberry Candy hit the compost pile at my house. I really didn't like the color. Denise

Oh No! Say it ain't so. Not Indian Giver. On my limited budget it was one I'd already ordered. Thrips? I've just about pulled every light colored rose I have because there is nothing out there that kills them permanently without constantly spraying insecticides. But they didn't seem to bother my daylilies that much. Maybe they were too busy eating my roses? Please keep the information coming. Oh, by the way the Crimson Flood was beautiful, but at $50.00 a little too pricey for me.

Mmm, probably one of my oldies, "Gentle Shepherd." Love the flower, love the color, but it just does NOT increase for me. I've had it for 6 years, in two different locations, and I still only have two plants of about 3-4 fans each, from 2 small single fans when I started. My first daylily. I don't know if I'll keep it - each spring I think, "Out with it!" - and then it blooms, and I love it anyhow, and it gets a reprieve.

Laurel

Laurel,
Now that is strange...I have 3 clumps of it, 2 in full sun, one in dappled afternoon shade and morning full sun. All 3 clumps have grown like weeds. Each started as 2/3 fan divisions 2 years ago and now, huge clumps. I wonder what it could be, the soil I have mine in is just average, nothing special...hmmmm. Maybe someone else might have an idea why??? Oh the one in afternoon dappled shade appears to have the nicest blooms....

When I was ordering from Roycroft I asked about whites and he said that Gentle Shepard was the purest white for a daylily, but that it didn't increase well.

I don't know about GS. Could it be related to tissue culture? I got them from a box store at the time (since I knew NOTHING about daylilies at the time, and just liked the name of the flower).

I'll have to watch So Lovely for spring sickness - I'd never heard of that before, and I just planted it last summer

Laurel

I got Startle from a local Amish perennial center because the tag in the pot showed a beautiful DL and the price was great. That should have been my first hint. It bloomed a couple of times its first season and the last was as blotchy and ugly as the first. You fellow daylily growers told me it was probably from tissue culture. I was told if you can find an original it should be nice. I saw one being offered by a reputable nursery and didn't like the photo much better than the actual DL I planted.
One I highly recommend and which bloomed several times last year was Key To My Heart, and it was new in the Spring.
Jane

ahhh edward, my Strawberry Candy is a very pretty flower. I wish I had a picture..I will this summer...

Now about MM. I love this dl. It is never muddy and always gorgeous. Sometimes when it is very hot outside, it tends to recurve a bit, but not always. The following photo was taken in my garden last year...Ellie ps..this is full, all day sun..

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My DH just happened to walk in when I pulled up the picture of Malaysian Monarch and said WOW. Back on my wish list I guess. BTW, I saw Strawberry Candy growing at the local public garden last spring, and although it was blooming in profusion, the colors didn't really grab me enough to want to buy it.

I love STRAWBERRY CANDY mainly because it clumps up FAST here in my GA garden. I do have other pinks that are prettier.. but none can match the in multiplying rate for me. My most disappointing flower has been HENNA COPPER -- not for the color - as I love it.. but for increase. I have had it two full seasons now and it has only increased from a single fan to a double. I know it is a dormant.. but had hoped for at least a small 4/6 fan clump by now..

From the one who started the MM discussion: It was the first to come to mind on the subject of disappointing dls. I do like the flower, but it melts and curls up for me. Not giving up.

Have avoided STARTLE because of negative remarks. Have not seen the flower, but first was in Parks cat. Also now in Roots and Rhizimes. Therefore, will bet that it is TCed to $5land in near future, if still want it then.

I too love my Malaysian Monarch and Strawberry Candy! The colors are very rich. I've been disappointed with Sweetest Cherry and Atlanta Arabian Nights. They seem to always be splotchy. Swt C. is a very dark maroon double that ends up being a splotchy mess of twisted petals. I've been thinking of putting it in the shade to see if that reduces the splotchiness any. I like the color when it has it's one good bloom of the season:-)
VG

I've been very dissapointed with DELIGHTSOME. The color is the pink shade I expected but it's form and performance leave much to be desired. On top of that after waiting forever for her buds to open she dropped all of them (only opened two out of a dozen) just because of a little extra rain. We'll see what she does next year. Pod setting was nill on the two blooms she did open and where I used her pollen only one is still hanging on. I won't throw her out but she'll get moved into perenial beds in another part of the garden and not used for breeding if she doesn't peform better next year.

MollyD

Talk about disappointing the Spacecoast series were all the rage a couple of years ago so I got Spacecoast Starburst a couple of years ago,,well it sulked and did nothing for me,,so I got two more fans from a different source,,same thing,,one just disappeared and the other one is getting smaller as we speak,,I got Spacecoast Blastoff also loving the color,,it increased extremely slow think I have still have just one fan,,bloomed a little for me last year nothing this year,,then I got Spacecoast Cranberry Breeze,,it bloomed for me last year,,its first season and nothing this year,,I'm swearing off the Spacecoast series,,I did get Key to my Heart this spring from two different sources,,it bloomed for me on the blooming size fans and set two pods,,so I'm very happy with it,,here is a pic,, Dot

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Hmmmm ...Must be the soil. My Malayasian Monarch is in full sun and magnificent in large clumps along our 65 ft perennial garden. We've had terrible heatwaves here in CT... we're facing a week of 90o weather right now, and the poor things get no shade. Yes, the petals (Huge!)do curve inward at noon and the color bleaches... but I can't stand it out there either!

My MLs are still blooming with multiple scapes and 4 or 5-way branching. They've been such a prominent DL in my garden that I'm looking for some whites for balance. Was thinking of GENTLE SHEPHERD, DECATUR SHOWBOAT, JOAN SENIOR, or CHATEAU BLANC. I noticed that GS doesn't reproduce much so I may have to rethink that one.

Keep your opinions coming, folks, your impressions are really appreciated.

Molie

Keep in mind my comments are for my garden. If I didn't like something about the plant originally I wouldn't have bought it.

One Step Beyond - Never a good bloom
Startle - Blotchy about 50% of the blooms, but I love the edge
Strawberry Candy - Nice blooms, but not very interesting
Malaysian Monarch - color uninspiring in my garden
Always Afternoon - Does fine in my garden. No problems
Cleopatra - Looks like a small clump of grass that should be removed from the bed. Not good for zone 6.
Indian Giver - Does well here, good blooms and multiplies.
Nowhere To Hide - small clump, slow increase, few blooms
Heaven Can Wait - Little if any increase in 4 years
Chesapeake Crablegs - Love the bloom, but very slow to increase.

This is only a partial list, trying to highlight those that have been mentioned and some of the ones I'm disappointed in

Tom

It's interesting to re-visit this topic after watching the blooms this summer. Biggest disappointments:

STARTLE (blotchy last year, no blooms this year)
ELIZABETH SALTER (three years and still no blooms)
SPACECOAST STARBURST (no increase and no blooms this year)
FRANCIS OF ASSISI (2nd year in, no blooms, no increase)
PEACOCK MAIDEN (2nd year in, no blooms, no increase)

I've also noticed that the few that have died this year are from the same hybridizer -- Hansen. I guess I picked ones that don't thrive this far north.

Chris

My biggest disappointment is Chorus Line. Everyone was praising it and the pictures were great, so, when I had the chance I bought it.

It was in a pot, 4 or 5 husky fans. It was at a reputable garden store. I planted it in, what I considered, a fine place for a fine plant---what a waste, several large nice scapes came up, well budded, the first "flower" that opened was a screwed up little mess, yuck. The second flower was a larger screwed up mess - no decent shape at all, they had color, that's all. Finally, the third flower was proper and I was happy. It is pretty with lots of flowers but rather boring.

I may give it to someone that would appreciate just that type of flower.

Kay

so I'm not the only one that Spacecoast Starburst doesn't do well for,,I know it's not my soil because most of mine are in pots with very good potting soil,,I did break down and get Sp Fancy Dancer this year and so far it is growing good,,Elizabeth Salter does great for me but then it is evergreen,,

Dot

Phaltyme21,

Here's my story of Chorus Line. Bought a single fan maybe 8 years ago, stuck it in the ground about 8-10 ft from a tiny Crabapple Tree. Fast forward to 2 years ago - little tree is now 15 X 15 ft, area is overgrown with purple coneflowers and foxgloves. Chorus Line is blooming its little head off, perfect bloom, wonderful color, in & out of the huge foxglove leaves in almost total shade about 20 inches off the ground, completely dwarfed by everything around it. Never fertilized, never watered, never divided.

I decide to move it, split it in half, give them nice soil, lots of open space in a nice sunny location. Results : two nice big plants, but Chorus Line is still sulking. Blooms don't want to open, color is orangish, form is poor, number of blooms is better this year than last, but never more than 2 open at a time. I shoulda left it alone!

I am most disappointed with'Edge of Darkness' not much edge, color or darkness. I had Zugunhrue for 1 season and I yanked it...perhaps I should have moved it and given it another chance. Raspbery Banana Cheesecake was my worst "new into" purchase. Looked great in their pics but did nothing in my garden, just sat there small and ugly!

My Anita Spalding did the disappearing act. I got it three years ago, nice double fan. The next year it was one fan. Last year it was two leaves about the size of chives leaves. This summer it didn't show up at all. I never even got to see it bloom.
VG

Chris,

I think Dan Hansen doesn't recommend any of his mothers intros above Zone 6. I'm thinking that he does cold test a lot of his intros so he's saying that most of them will survive Zone 5. I've found that most of his do fine but his mother's are iffy.

A few of the disappointing ones have been
STRAWBERRY LACE
LORD OF LIGHTENING
LEGALLY BLOND
LIQUID SUNSHINE
BABY BLANKET
EDGE OF DARKNESS-three years old, 2 fans. Luckily it found a new home just last week.

Though LEGALLY BLOND and LIQUID SUNSHINE did bloom this year since we had a milder winter they've got a heck of a lot of ground to make up before they change my assessment of them.

Janet

Hey, I didn't have time to read through all the posts, but I have to say all of the daylilies that did not turn out for me, were tissue cultured daylilies. The Sayville I got through a trade, was so ugly, I throw it in the trash. Why? It was a tissue culture plant. I saw the same daylily blooming perfectly in someone else's garden. I've noticed many of the Stamile daylilies have been TC.

Mercy

Mercy, I don't know whether my Sayville was TC or not (I bought it at some discount store before I became a DL addict). It was NOT my cup of tea (yellow with a brown eye). It found a new home (with someone I don't like very well). :o)

Janet, that's interesting info about Hansen's daylilies. The ones that've died have been Ra Hansen's intros, although I have a few of hers that are doing fine. I'm a little worried because I just ordered Tuscawilla Snowdrift and it's an evergreen, to boot.

how do you know if a plant was tissue cultured or not?

Dot

Thank You Brooke!!!! while re-reading this thread you mentioned Iron Gate. As soon as you did that, the light came on in my head. I have this dl that I have posted a pic of twice and no one can identify it. I knew I would recognize the name if I heard it. You mentioned Iron gate and I added Glacier. Now, that is the dl I have.. Thank you !!!!....Ellie

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This is Iron Gate Glacier.

Interesting list of ones to avoid. Any other dissapointing daylilies to add to the list?

This thread is interesting and worth resurrecting.

Some learnings I gathered from the discussion:
1)Dark colored or fine substance flowers may benefit from being placed where they receive some shade in the afternoon as their colors may fade or substance may "melt". Some dark colors are colorfast so not affected by late day sun.

2)Some colors, particularly "mauve pinks" are highly dependent on soil composition and/or climate (heat, humidity, etc) so colors may be disappointingly "muddy" in some gardens.

3)A plant with gorgeous flowers will still be disappointing if it's too slow to increase because the "clump effect" will be hard to get to. (I gather the remedy for this might be to suck up the higher price and buy a clump in the first place)

I purchased seeds on the LA with Always Afternoon in their parentage because I just love the colors in the pictures I've seen. Now I wonder if all I will get are mud colored babies?? I certainly will plant these somewhere where they may get reprieve from the hot mid-day sun.

I greatly dislike brown in any sort of flower. It just doesn't appear in nature with the exception of Purple Cone Flower which isn't always muddy. What I have found is that in good rich organic soil, you won't see the 'mud'. I found this out with ALWAYS AFTERNOON and DARING DILEMMA. When I lived in a burb of Chicago, these two were just plain ugly to me.

When we moved to our farm where the soil was absolutely virgin (never lived on, pastured, or used) the colors of those two and everything else was just awesome. Since we had the property for years before we left the burbs, I was able to grow several perennials at both places. What a difference in growth and color!!! So, people. If your soil is used up, you can't feed it enough. Compost is best.

carmen grower,
Was there a difference in the soil makeup (besides richness which also adds water retention) such as alkaline vs acidic, calcium, or iron content, etc?

Were there other climatic differences between the two sites such as heat, humidity, water, etc?

I'm curious just what factors most affect plant color so that I can amend or plan where to plant DL that may be affected by these.

:) I do like brown flowers in certain shades. Usually not muddy beige, but for example, I just ordered Milk Chocolate because it's a nice rich brown shade and I have my eye on Brown Witch because it's similar but a tet.

Probably the most disappointing daylilies I have in my flowerbeds are the two clumps of Wineberry Candy. I paid almost $15 CDN for them and they are tissue cultured...grrrr... (I see that I transferred them to my photobucket album without rotating them...so this picture is a sideways picture...still doesn't help the TCed daylily).

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This spring they are going to the garbage dump. I do sell a lot of daylilies and other perennials at the farmer's market but there is no way I will sell these TCed daylilies. I think of all the flowers I have seen on both plants over the past few years, I have seen only one flower that did not have twisted, misshapen petals. I still have the receipt and am very tempted to drop them off at the nursery I bought them from. But so many of the smaller nurseries that sell assorted perennials have never even heard of TCed daylilies and the problems they can have with misshapen flowers.

I have Strawberry Candy planted in two places. There is quite the difference in color between the two. The one in the sun is more pinky whereas the one in more shade is a lot more on the orange side.

Startle had blotchy miscolored flowers its first year here in my garden. Last year, its second, the flowers were much less blotchy and produced much better formed blooms. I am hoping for even nicer flowers this year.

Malasian Monarch and Chorus Line I just got last year and both only had one flower each...hoping they will winter through and have better flowers in the future. Chorus Line's flower was really nice whereas MM was not very good at all.

Siloam Merle Kent is a favorite Siloam here. Lots of flowers and I love the color of her.

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Milk Chocolate is also in my garden. I love the brown coloring of its flowers.

Brenda

This isn't a disappointing daylily---it's about disappointing people. Quite a few years ago, before P.
Henry died, my husband and I were driving north (going home) from southern Texas. We saw the sign and kept right on going. Later, we realized just how dumb we were, I've been kicking myself ever since.

Kay

CLEOPATRA hands down! It may be the worst cultivar ever introduced. The blooms were beautiful last summer, all 11 of them on 2 scapes. I checked, its been here 7 years, bloomed 3 times, the highest number of buds I've seen on a scape is 7. The scapes need to be staked wether I pollinate them or not, I still only have 3 anemic fans. I cull seedlings with it as a parent at a very young age, if they are puny, they get trashed, only the robust stay. I don't know what I was thinking when I pollinated H. altissima with its pollen.

ALWAYS AFTERNOON, comes in second only because I was disappointed in the color, the plant its self has preformed very well. I have a bunch of seedlings with ED BROWN as a pollen parent, and they do not have EDs edge, but they are fertile with a capital F and have really nice plant habits. There is another group with OLD KING COLE as the pollen parent, and they are the same as the ones X ED BROWN, good plants, average flowers, but nice and fertile.

SPACECOAST STARBURST, I waited patiently for this one to drop in price, and was actually gifted it. I have not had a single flower open properly. The first blooms I thought were just going to take 2 days to open because it was kind of cool. They opened about enough to let some insects in and hold enough moisture to ruin the pollen, and the next day they were mush. I visited a display garden near here, and saw the same thing.

FORTUNES DEAREST, I was told that I probably wouldn't be able to grow it. I have babied it to the max. It doesn't get teeth unless it hits the mid to high 80s and up tempeture wise, and when it gets that hot it melts by 2:00pm. I have moved it to a sheltered spot on the edge of the shade garden where it will only get morning sun. I do have a couple of nice seedlings out of it, that are much better plants, but they don't show the teeth on a consistant basis either.

We need a KNOCKED YOUR SOCKS OFF thread now.

Startle is a good plant for hybridizing. look it up on Tinkers and then look at its children. Also take a look at Linda Agin's website under her 2008 intros, look at Red Friday and look in "Hit me for secret". Some nice seedlings coming out of Startle if you like edges. Also look at Alan Lane Agin. Here is her website:
http://daylily.homestead.com/agin.html
Wineberry Candy was one of my best performers last season. Incredible bud count. It started in june and bloomed into September. Always Afternoon in all day sun the mauve was not as intense, that's the only fault that I noticed.

Wineberry Candy - Could never get true colour om camera

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Always Afternoon

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I wonder if some of these that seem to do poorly for some folk's are Tissue Cultures....??? I ask because they don't seem to do poorly for other folks....even in the same zones. Could the soil ph and soil type make/have more effect then location by zone? Could the actual location of some of these be effected by actual location in the garden/yard? (NSEW)? Could locations with high moisture or low moisture make such differences? Could the locations being effected by wind, make such differences? Hmmmm who knows???? I know that Spacecoast Starburst and Spacecoast Gator Eye do great here....yet in some peoples gardens of similiar zone, they say they are terrible...Hmmmm I guess with so many factors effecting the growth and bloom it is hard to tell......maybe ya just gotta give each a try and see how they will do in your own gardens.......Startle and SC Starburst and many others will always have a place in my gardens.....now those that are weak scaped...poor bud counts and just poor examples of Hemerocallis...well sometimes one must consider more then just the bloom.....then go from there.....IE Cleopatra..poor plant...great bloom that has led to many really nice offspring....so even with it's weak scapes...it contributed to the overall developement...of some beauties....IMHO

Not altered...that is a Blue Grass behind SC Starburst....:)

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Rick

My most disappointing daylily is Lies and Lipstick. I loved the pictures I had seen of it and bought it 3 years ago. The plant is very healthy and has many flowers, but they are all very rusty orangey. I have moved it to another area and tried epsom salt and it was the same. I do not have this problem with my other daylilies. I don't plan to keep it. As far as purples go, I have Malaysian Monarch, Russian Rhapsody, and many others and they all look wonderful.

Ed Brown, I don't care if it won awards or not. I got rid of it, it bloomed once for me maybe one flower. THEN I got it as an extra last fall, so I potted it up and guess what. The only one that I got last fall that rotted!! It had 3 fans, two rotted and now there is one puny little plant left. It will go again, maybe it likes colder weather who knows.
Cleopatra went as well it never bloomed.

Dot

No ED BROWN is not that good a citizen here either, not as bad as the others I listed as disappointing. On cold mornings it hangs up occasionally, it took me 3 years to finally get a nice bloom to photograph.

I guess I should have added ARABIAN MAGIC, it has failed to over winter here twice. I guess I just rented it. I really like the flower, I'm going to give it one more try because I'm stubborn.

I hated BREED APART because it bloomed blotchy for me for two years. The third year was the charm -- it clumped up beautifully and the blooms are all saturated color. I'm hoping for the same kind of improvement with my so-far disappointing SPACECOAST STARBURST which will be three years old this summer.

On the other hand, I've been happy with my CHORUS LINE, ALWAYS AFTERNOON, and STRAWBERRY CANDY from the git-go. The soil here is highly alkaline -- wonder if that's what makes the difference?

My most disappointing daylily so far is Sultry Smile (Petit 1996). I bought it based on the discription and the picture on Tinker's:
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The first year there were no blooms at all. Last year it gave me less than ten blooms that looked like this:
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It was in a bed that had several reds and purples as well as others that looked great(several planted after this one!). Sultry Smile is on its last year unless something better than a black-purple happens!
Larry

Chris mentioned daylilies with a "mauve" color and I have to agree. I call it "hybridizer's purple." Anytime I see a daylily described as lavender/mauve/lt purple-rose, I am afraid I'm going to see a color that is muddied and not true to pictures. Two that I have been really disappointed in with this coloration are Royal Braid and Edge Of Darkness. Not only did I dislike the flower colors on both plants, very seldom was there a nicely shaped, non-blochy flower that opened completely. Royal Braid went to live with a lot of different people, and I hope it does better for them. I'm giving EOD another year.

Chorus Line is still here due to it's flower production and not the color. It's always more orange than I had hoped. Strawberry Candy and Judith both were given away because the color just did not appeal to me. I expected a pretty pink and got a salmon-pink from both plants.

Spacecoast Starburst was another disappointment and it went to live with my hybridizing freinds. I can get some back if I find that I want it back at some point.

And Dallas Star has not opened a really nice flower in the past three years. Most are mis-shapen and twisted. It did well the first two years I had it. But not now.

I was discussing Tissue Cultured daylilies with another friend and she's of the opinion that there are more TC'd daylilies out there than we even know. She brought up the point that some varieties that are not very old are sold in such huge quantities that there would be no way for them to have naturally increased to that extent. In her opinion, though, TC'd plants should preform as well as non TC'd plants. I don't have an opinion on that because I don't feel that I've been growing daylilies long enough to comment. I really appreicate everyone's experiences with their plants that are posted here. It's a learning experience for me.

Linda

This is a good thread to revisit. It's interesting to read the comments from a few years ago. The daylilies I listed as disappointing have been given new homes, and SC Starburst will probably be leaving this year.

Larry, I don't think you've got the right daylily there. I don't see how your daylily can ever morph into Sultry Smile. Did you contact the seller?

Chris

Larry, I would bet that you did not get the right plant, that would be disappointing.

I have been disappointed with the daylilies that are in the TrophyTaker line. They advertise that they are supposed to bloom longer, better, have better flower blooms, etc. But most of the ones I bought have never looked like the ones at the nursery. Some are downright pathetic. I also noticed that the nursery that carried them no longer does.

My SULTRY SMILE looks exactly the same as Larry's. When I saw it on Tinker's I thought there must have been a mistake. I'm wondering if their site is incorrect? Nevertheless, it has only been in my garden for one season and has not performed well. That being said, I don't believe that one season is a fair estimate of a flower's performance. From a hybridizing standpoint, I do want cultivars that rebound quickly after division.

Kevin