If it makes you feel better, I purchased a Smith daylily called "Sweet Old Man". I gave it away because it was a rust magnet. Could not keep rust off it. I don't buy Smith daylilies either.

A bunch of the growers label their daylilies as SEV's because it makes the northern people purchase them. Most everything they register is SEV. Don't believe it! Marketing at it's worst. Those of us down here in evergreen land don't know what to buy!

Over the past dozen years, I have learned this lesson the hard way (in much the same way you did) In all fairness, I'm not sure that all the blame should go to this daylily or Frank Smith cultivars, however. What I have learned is that in this climate I CANNOT buy and plant daylilies from Southern grown locations in the fall and expect them to do well. They simply don't have time to adjust before cold weather hits! Many times over the past few years, I have ordered some "fall collection" plants from people like Pat Stamile - but I've had them hold it over for spring shipping. ( that way, you get Florida increase on it too) One year, even though I knew better, my garden was to be on Regional tour the next year and against my better judgement, I ordered several brand new Florida introductions from several hybridizers. Within a month of planting them, we were hit with a severe cold spell. The next spring, the casualty list was the worst I've ever experienced, and most were those brand new fall planted ones. Talk about pain!

Often, if they get planted in the spring, they have a longer time to become acclimated to this climate and thus, better chance to make it through the winter. This is just an observation from my garden on the edge of zones 6/7.

Wow. At $180.00 that hurts to loose it over the winter. I have two Frank Smith intros, thought not bought from him. They seem to come up ok. Didn't bloom much last year for me though. I am sure the price will come down for that one so maybe you can try again by planting in the spring. I don't know that it will ever go down to five bucks though.

A lot of the pictures are touched up.

There was a thread earlier about 'Wedding Gown' in particular.

Here look at this:
Italian Kscope

That royal blue edge is touched up. 100%. No doubt about it.

In the online catalog, there are many pictures like this one that cannot possibly be true, and a great many others that severely stretch credulity.

I believe that the shape of the flower is probably correct. But the colors? Nah. Not even close.

Just took a look at the Frank Smith collection and there are certainly a lot of eye-popping colors to make you drool. If I can't find another picture on the net to compare it to, I'm a little leary of getting it.

Does anybody have pictures of Frank's dls that actually look like the pictures on the website?

baileycat:
When you bought the plant on the LA, was it from Frank Smith or some other seller?

Julia

I will post a few pics of some Frank Smith daylilies which grow here. ( most are Grace-Smith reg.) Some look more like the website pics. than others. You can compare.
This is BILL ROBINSON, taken here in the garden. It is perfectly hardy here.
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baileycat, sorry to hear about your daylily. That is heartbreaking. I'm sure you've already checked, but have you raked back the mulch and carefully picked back the dirt?

The reason I ask is because last fall I planted Spacecoast Citrus Kick and when I looked a week ago, it wasn't anywhere to be seen. I used a very small stick to pick at the dirt and I could see just a little green. I know I bought two fans, but only one is coming through and it doesn't look very good, kind of yellow. Maybe I planted it too deep or it just barely survived the winter.

I live in zone 6 and noticed that you are in zone 5, so maybe it is still a little early for Mary Alice. I hope that is the case.

This is BRIDEY GREESON growing here. I always take pics of any daylilies with "blue" very early in the AM - not touched up, but certainly before the sun hits them. I am using this picture for the awards presentation at this summer's National meeting. Frank will be there. If he doesn't like the pics I use, guess he'll tell me.

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Here is one which is hardy, but only slightly resemblese the pictures of it. I have been disappointed in the color and keep hoping it will improve. However, this is either third or fourth year here, so it probably is as good as it's going to get. This is PRINCESS DIANA. Sometimes the deep south daylilies do not retain those heavy edges when they move north. This seems to be an example.
PRINCESS DIANA

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OK, to be very honest ... I had a weak moment in February. I ordered some plants and one I wanted wasn't available. The lady offered to replace it with GRANDMA'S SMILE (a Smith-Grace intro). I took it. It has been in my garden for 2 months with no rust problem and its growing well. We will see what happens!

I agree with blue23rose. My garden is in a boarderline type zone, and sometimes experiences the low temps possible in zone 5. I can't make a certain call on any of my daylilies until mid to late May. Last year I had several that I posted here as goners early on and they all did make it through. One in particular ANA MARIA MARGETTS ended up putting out fans from below the crown. I didn't think that it would bloom last year, but to my surprise and delight it did....several scapes in fact. I'd just like to encourage you to be patient a little bit longer....if the crown of the DL didn't rot away....it may just be slow to put out new growth. I do hope that is the case. It's a real drag to lose a pricey new intro.

Linda

Have you contacted the seller and told them that your daylily died? Sellers on the Lily Auction are supposed to guarantee the plant they sell. How long they will do that will probably be different from seller to seller. I copied the following for you from the rules for sellers on the LA :

"ALL Plants must be guaranteed to remain alive for a period of at least 60 days from date of receipt by buyer, unless otherwise stated in the Auction Description. Of course it is the buyers responsibility to provide the required care to the plant, including adequate water, soil conditions and sun exposure. If you ship plants in the hot season, July and August, and do not want to guarantee the plant's survival, you must state so in your auction description. Most sellers guarantee their plants for 6 months. If no guarantee is offered, this must be stated in the auction description. When a plant dies within your guarantee period, always offer to replace the plant or, if you cannot replace the plant, offer the choice of a substitution plant or refund of money. Show your customers that you are ready to back up your sales when necessary. In the long run this will improve your sales and profits."

It certainly would do not harm to notify your seller and get their position on a guarantee. You might actually get a replacement. Good luck!

Ann

I bought the plant on the LA from Miss Lily. I really can't blame her for the plant dying as it looked perfectly healthy when it arrived.

I planted Grandma's Smile and Bill Robinson last spring. I don't know how they will bloom; but at least they survived the winter.

I was kidding, Rita, I know Mary Alice will never be 5 bucks.not in my lifetime anyway!

Some evergreens and some sevs are hardy up here; some dormants are not. And, as floota has said, many southern plants that might die if fall-planted do well if they've enough time to acclimate....baileycat, I'm sorry you lost that daylily (how that must have hurt!), but it's not a reason to write off Smith daylilies totally.

Here's one way I decide on southern-bred daylilies, and on evs and sevs....do they grow and flourish in northern gardens? That is, have they been offered for sale after MORE THAN ONE season up north? You can take it a step further and seek them out not just in northern gardens, but in gardens in your own zone or even in your own area. Similarly, you can ask gardeners in your zone about their experience with daylilies whose hardiness you're unsure of. There are southern ones in the AHS display garden about 12 minutes from my house....she grows Kinnebrews, Carpenters, I know she's got some lovely Smith plants as well. I forgot to note the names, but I do recall seeing FAME last summer. It looked very good - not with as wide an edge as you'd see in Florida, but I was able to ID it immediately.

Another thing you can do is plant your iffy ones in a protected location. I bought a bunch of Trimmers last fall from someone. Not expensive, but still...who wants to lose a plant? I placed them in a south-facing, raised bed that's protected from wind by a wall of the house. That wall is stucco and so retains heat. On one side of the bed are the stones of the patio. Every one of the plants has come up. I think the location was one factor. In fact, I also won an ev. seedling on the auction that has two ev parents. A silly, spur-of-the-moment thing. That one I planted directly next to the patio's stone. The plant got frost-heaved, and the main fan died; happily, it's growing a new fan from underneath the crown. Same thing with a Lambertson I'd hate to lose, VIOLET SABREWING - also either got frost-heaved or damaged by a burrowing something, and it, too, is putting up a fan from underneath the crown....

so, unless you're certain your plant is dead, I'd leave it there. Give it time. It may recover, even if it doesn't bloom this year.

Anyway, long way of saying there are ways to grow southern plants. So don't give up on one hybridizer's intros due to one unfortunate experience. Me? I wait til I've killed something several times, and only then do I give up LOL.

I'm not sure you'd have any luck trying to contact the seller. I believe either she or someone in her family had some major health issues last year. I tried to contact her about a daylily I received that was mislabeled, and was told by a third party that someone else was trying to fill in for her and handle the daylily business.

I never heard back and didn't pursue it -- I figured my one daylily problem wasn't important in the grand scheme of things.

baileycat: I would send an email, just letting them know what the problem is, do they have any suggestions and that your still monitoring the dl to see if any growth will appear.
If they are reliable seller, they or anyone handling their business will respond. People do have health issues come up as well as other unfortunate circumstances.

$180 dl is nothing to just forget about and I would definitely follow-up. JMHO.

Julia