I am starting my second year of daylilies and I am nuts about it. I hope it doesn't fade out. I am not 'into'it like some folks but i like the surprise of a new bloom each day. It's a hobby to me...tho I may sell some later on, if I can bare to part with them....some people are really particular about what they will have in their gardens and if it doesn't 'make the grade' so to speak...it's outta there. Well I am not so picky.....I try to enjoy them all.
I wish I lived close to you so I could take all your 'throw aways' and adopt them into my gardens! LOL

I doubt that I would ever loose interest as I am obsessed with my daylilies. I do find that I tend to take a winter vacation away from all the forums from about christmas each year until March. Since March is when the garden starts to wake up again, its when my gardening interest starts up all over again. Happens each year.

I know I will get to the point were I want to replace some of the daylilies here. Either they do not do that well opening, have poor budcounts or just that the flower just doesn't much get my attention. But mostly (unles its a real, real dud) I am not at that point yet.

There are lots of regulars on this forum that come closer to bloom times are here most days but absent during the months when not much is happening. I figgure most will be back, they usually are.

I fall off the web entirely from December to about March. It is the busiest time at work for me, and throw in a few holidays and family birthdays, and I don't feel like I have time to breathe more less spend time on the computer.

As for Daylilies, I have been "hooked" for about nine years now, and my interest has only accellerated.

I go through an "attention span" cycle with my entire garden every year. You can't keep me indoors when spring starts to show...rain or shine I am doing something garden related. As the summer goes on, I reach an interest peak (about the time the DL's are in full bloom), and then my interest starts to decline. I get bored with weeding and deadheading, and start to plan any changes that I might want to make the following year. When the main harvest season shows up (usually mid-September), although I love the fruits and vegetables, gardening has definitely turned into work rather than fun. The labor of picking/canning/preserving is usually the final straw..I am ready for a break from the garden. I am ready for rest and a good book!

I love my daylilies, and honestly don't think that I will ever tire of them. I have gone through "phases" with roses, dahlias and iris, and I still love them all and have gardens full of them, but they have never had my heart the way that daylilies do. I think that is due to four main factors: 1. The ease of growing DL's in my yard--they thrive with little care 2. DL's are very low maintence in my yard--You don't go into every season knowing you will have to deal with spraying, pruning, digging (very slow increase in my cool climate), etc. 3. Change in DL's is ongoing and noticible. New iris and roses come out every year, but few are extremely different from what is already available. With DL's, there are always at least a few introductions that make you say WOW! And finally, 4. I can easily create my own daylilies...no special tools or skills required. How thrilling is the idea of creating a flower that no one has ever seen?!

No, I don't think that I will ever get tired of DL's!

My first experience with daylilies started 30+ year ago.
We stopped along the roadside with my Gran & Pap to pick flowers for my 1st grade teacher. They were the old ditch lilies but to a 6 year old they were fascinating. I picked what was like a zillion scapes and presented them to her the next day. We watched them open over several days in the classroom, it was so interesting and pretty, Thus a daylily/garden nut was born.
My fascination has grown and changed over the years through 4-h years and into the world of work( I used to be in the nursery biz when I was in my 20's). I go through spells of intense interest where I simply must have new and more varieties and spells where I really don't want to plant/ weed anything else. Right now I'm in a period of rapid expansion and I started to dab pollen last year. I added @ least another 1,000 sq ft of bed last year to my already extensive gardens.Soon Dad will only have to mow a path for the backyard LOL!!! Even in my periods of non-planting I always enjoyed the blooms.
I guess I'll never truly tire of them. Sometimes I just take a slight break form the insanity(read: dayliy addiction).

Happy Gardening to All
Kim

I guess I've had my obsession for about 6-7 years. After bloom season is over, I think the next year I won't be as enthusiastic as the previous year. I think I won't add any new daylilies. I think I've spent enough money on this hobby, and don't need to spend any more.

Once March and April roll around, I find I can't bear the thought of not having any new faces to discover in the garden. Those morning strolls to see all the new blooms -- that's my favorite part of this obsession. And no, I guess I don't see it ever going away.

I'm one of those who will never be without my daylilies and like Chris, although I promise myself no more dl's, I always manage to get some new ones each year. I do sell a few, especially my own seedlings, but that's just so I can make room for more! :)
Bloom season to me, is like having each new day be like waking up on Christmas morning when I was a child. I can't wait to get out in the garden and see what's blooming each morning. Nope, this is one dl enthusiast that won't be losing her obsession for dl's for a long time. LOL
Jan

Same here. I walk the garden every day that it's not raining just to see what's new and to deadhead. I actually believe deadheading is therapeutic.

Once in a while I come across a surprise, like a snake or rabbit and that can scare the bejesus out of me. But it's still worth it.

Unless I have to move to an apartment for some reason, I don't see myself ever losing the desire of being a daylily nut.

Carmen...didn't you use to go by the name Roberta? If you've lost interest in daylilies, then why are you still here? Just curious...

You said, "Today, I realize my hybridizations are at least as good as anyones". This is a rather bold statement - you must've contributed something amazing to the daylily world! Can you imagine being the first to hybridize a truly white daylily, or a new daisy form, or a daylily that blooms in the winter, or a daylily immune to rust?! To hybridize something truly unique would be remembered long after we're gone. I think it's an admirable goal that shouldn't be trivialized.

As for your poll....I'd have to say that I am not as enthusiastic about daylilies as I was 5 years ago. This is mainly due to rust, which I knew nothing about when I started growing daylilies. I still enjoy them, but have placed less emphasis on them in my garden than I would have if rust was not an issue. I consider myself part of your "general public" and rarely pay more than $5 - $10 per daylily. But I know that collectors will pay big bucks, whether it's for a daylily or a baseball card. Nothing wrong with it and if you are a good collector it can become a profit making investment.

You say that you are "slowly getting rid of any daylilies that aren't absolutely spectacular". I would love to read your list of spectacular daylilies. With your critical eye, I'm certain the wheat has been separated from the chaff.

Kathy

LOL, when I read the title of your post I thought this was going to be a confession of the ADD/ADHD group. I'm probably autistic spectrum (related to ADD/ADHD) so all of my obsessions seem incredibly intense to most people. That's just the way I learn and I happen to enjoy learning...not sure what that really says about me...other than I'm not all that typical.

Obsessed...well, I'm somewhat restrained in my obsessions when it comes to money but definitely free with my time. I am fully absorbed with exploring hybridizing, not only daylily but other perennials and shrubs. Learning is what fuels my obsessions and there is so much to learn in this that it will take me years to exhaust the passion.

I'm only 1.5 years into this new found "hobby" but right from the start viewed it as a potential career change or at the very least a secondary income. I'm not selling yet but absorbing myself in the world of horticulture/agriculture with every spare second & then some. When the opportunities present themselves for me to make the career leap I'll be ready.

I don't collect the latest and greatest new intros (though I covet a few of them), I can wait for the prices to drop on those because there are plenty of unexplored genetics in older plants.

I don't have any illusions of being a famous hybridizer. Just want a small, family run nursery with unique plants not available from every box store or commercially supplied LGC.

This is interesting to me. Newyorkrita and Maximus were just coming in as I was leaving. I don't recall any of the other alias' but maybe you were here long before me. Don't get me wrong -- I still love daylilies but just not more so than my other perennials. I am ridding myself of the stuff that is no longer spectacular in my eyes. Let's face it -- daylily blooms have a short life span and they really do have to be spectacular to remain in a perennial garden, IMHO.

Ones that are wonderful and very prolific aren't that great when they only look good if dead-headed daily. I no longer care to spend that kind of time with them. I offered daylilies for the digging one day last year and ended up with a bed full of holes. Yep, I made people happy and they took a fraction of what I need to get rid of -- ended up with a mess.

Sad to say, I will rototill over a bed or two this year and I know many will still come up in my new veggie garden.

And this is important to daylily lovers, why?

Carmen, I really love your post. Interesting. I grow daylilies for 7-8 years, but they never were my only obsession. I love them and have probably close to 150 different ones, but keep them mixed with other perennials. I also have about 150 roses, several dozen clematis, irises, peonies, etc. Garden looks so much bettter in my opinion when roses, bulbs, perennials, irisis, peonies, lilacs, etc are all mixed together. It makes my yard not just a rose bed or daylily bed, but a garden. So much more fun. I have limited space and always only keep those that make really good garden plants, not just unique rose or daylily bloom, but the whole bush or clump have to be spectacular. In this kind of mix repeat actually is not that important anymore. Have a lot of onceblooming roses too. Something will be blooming all the time and the garden will be changing every week. I find it fascinating. Sorry if this is off topic.
Olga

Olga, that is exactly what I am going back to. I used to have a beautiful mixed garden and then became obsessed with daylilies to the point where it just wasn't fun anymore. I am downsizing and going back to mixed beds. No more rows of monotony.

Not everyone is obsessive/compulsive as I am and I ruined the hobby for myself by just over-doing it.

BTW, why am I still here? I haven't checked in here for over a year -- just wondered what was happening.

Daylilies are THE late summer perennial where I live. They have no major pests are not demanding of anything other than water (which I have in abundance) and sunshine.

I'm also a lilac nut, a peony nut, an iris nut (borer hater), a dahlia nut and a hosta nut.