I'm a viniculturist, but I have thoughts on soil management. A soil with high pH 'locks in' iron and potassium, so using ammonium sulphate in solution for short time or sulphur for permanentcy will increase the acid level. For any magnesium deficiency use a tablespoon of magnesium sulphate (epsom salts. g.). For tomatoes I use 5-10-10 at planting then osmocoat when the fruit are as big as golf balls plus an ounce of Amm. Sulphate. (My soil is 7.4 pH.). As for umbrellers, gentlemen farmers work for prizes at the County Fair, as opposed to commercial growers. (grin again)

Theres a lot of very good sellers on the auction. Some are big "stores" that just list a lot of daylilies all of the time, some are sellers that list in the spring, some are just backyard gardens. Very few of the sellers are bad; if they are, they dont last long. Above all, right now, with you absolutely dying to start buying, DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Check prices first, either with Eureka, or google. Some sellers spray for rust, some dont. Some give bonus plants, some give bonus fans, some dont give anything extra. Check feedback. Prices can vary widely. Shipping can vary widely. You'll get lots of recommendations of good sellers, too. READ THE AUCTION DESCRIPTION! Check on payment requirement, check on shipping. Sometimes you'll buy a daylily only to find out that you wont be receiving it until the fall. Many northern daylily gardens are finding they have much better results with planting in the spring. It gives daylilies time to settle in and get really good root systems before winter. (sigh...) its a horrible addiction...I think Ive filled 80% of my garden with auction purchases. Ive gotten some humongous fans, Ive gotten some tiny fans. For the most part, no matter what the size of the plants, they have all grown well. Everyone wants to get great big fans, but you have to remember that you are buying the growing plant, not something right out of the box. Of course, if you plant something and it croaks in 2 weeks, it probably wasnt healthy to start with, and you should contact the seller. Some cultivars make smaller fans; diploid spiders tend to make smaller fans. Theres so much variety out there that it seems never ending.

I have been growing mums for my roadside market for many years. I used to ship wholesale and found it a major money looser, three to four months work for 50 cents profit on a pot. I grow only enough to sell at my market, I charge about twice the going rate and have no problem selling out. I don't grow any early mums,I prefer the season extenders that mature late September into November they fit nicely with fall pansys and pumpkins. Yellow decoratives have always been the biggest sellers, followed by red, bronze and white, lavenders are unpredictable last year they were hot most years not. Decoratives are usually prefered by most customers. Grow them in the larger mum pan type pot usually called a 9x6 pan. I prefer a bark soil mix its heavier and drains fast, mums like a loose airy well drained soil. I don't like growing them in the ground as some folks do, digging them is hard work and the plants wilt badly. Lately I have been staking and tying my mums like we do with poinsettias that way they don't fall appart when a hard rain falls. I use a constant liquid feeding at every watering plus Osmocote 14x applied after the first pinch. I also try to get one application of B9 growth retardant on before plants start to spread. I set them 30" appart in the rows with drip irrigation... Goodluck Bob.

Dave, I'm not growing it but I don't find any mention of even any of the named illicium being sterile (though may not come true to the parent). If the seed needed stratifying the Clothiers base would have said that. The descriptions say deer proof ;) I may have to look into one of the hardier cultivars and try to get an idea how they would do with my wet, and usually but not always mild winters here.