I have a few of Abajian's intros, but most of them have only been here a year or less. So far, no blooms on Dream Wizard or Ledgewood's Tropical Butterfly to show you. The first bloom on Ledgewood's Evening Sunset was your typical FFO, but I think it will look like the one posted on Ledgewood's website.

These three are doing fine:

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I added this one last year, and saw it bloom for the first time last month. I'm not so sure I'm going to like this one, because it looks nothing like the hybridizer's photo so far:

I have heard some comments that the "blue" daylily photographs on their website are nowhere near as blue in person, but I'll let others tell you about those.

Chris

Geez, that shape isn't even close, much less the color. Makes me really wonder about the other unusual shapped ones pictured on the site.

I was wondering about the color myself as I have never seen daylilies pictured anywhere else that were as blue as the ones pictured on Ledgewoods website.

I went to their garden last month during Mecca, very nice place. Two of the cultivars that really stood out to me were Ledgewoods Citation, as pretty a yellow as Ive ever seen and LEdgewoods Tony Likes It. I may have to get them both eventually.

Since you saw them in person then are they true to the pictures? Anywhere near as blue? How about the shapes on the more unusal forms? Not the spiders, I figgure those are ok, plus I would never buy them but the flared petal form on some of the others.

I hate to say it, but I didnt even really notice the blue eyed ones. Next year I really need to be more observant. I can tell you that after seeing many daylilies and the manner that some hybridizers grow them, I will NEVER buy a daylily from a picture. Ever. Ever.

I've been to the Abajian's garden as a friend and as a garden judge. The shapes are true to form--I love what they are doing with the open, flared forms that aren't spiders. I'm saving my pennies for a couple of their seedlings when they are named/released. Color--I'd say their color is close. I can replicate the photo colors when I use a photo program and select the auto correct on constrast and brightness. Yes they are very close to blue, but not exactly as shown.

Does this make sense?

Unfortunately I would never be able to get much of anything if I didn't buy from pictures not living were I can go tour the Florida, California or even Ohio area farms.

I would immagine you saw so much that it would be difficult to remember many specifics.

What are you referring to when you say the manner in which they grow them? Do you mean greenhouses?

Thanks. Actually it does make sense. I know there are no true blues and I would like the blue eyed ones pictured even in a different tone but would like to know what I am getting. The forms, however, need to be correct and not look like the one of Chris' picture above.

Rita, I see what you mean about my picture as the example, but it might still be too early for this one to have shown its stuff. Plus, it's my bad for not reading the description of the color on the website and instead ordering after looking at the photo. The description does call it "peach-lavender" -- I just didn't notice it because the photo looks so different.

Once the daylily has settled in, I hope the form will be ok. The petals are pinched at the throat (like the one on the website), so it does have some similarities. Now if the color would just improve, I'll be happy!

I went to their website and I also wondered about those intense blue colored daylilies they had. The background foliage in those shots looked bluer as well compared to the other color daylilies they had listed so it made me a little cautious. Of course I don't know for certain if those photos were enhanced.

Danielle

The only ones that Ive seen with my own two eyes that "blue" came to mind, is some of Grace Stamile's minis. When I first got into daylilies, I didnt like minis even a little bit. Well as my taste has changed, Ive also gotten into some of her blue minis. They are really startlingly blue.

I was in a garden during blooming season a year or two ago and saw a really famous intro...might have been intro'd that year. It was blooming waaaay down in the foliage. I questioned that, and the owner of the garden that I was at (not the hybridizer of that plant) said unfortunately it was grown under shade cloth, and when it was sold and planted out in gardens in sun, the scapes shorted up since it wasnt "reaching" for sun. That garden didnt even use it for hybridizing, in fact they wouldnt even sell it, they plowed it under.(!!) So Im pretty skeptical when I see daylilies growing under shade cloth, especially if they are just above the foliage. When out in sun, they will be much lower.

OK Rita. We are talking the flared flowers. Right? In my garden judge notes, I described their new seedling as having "tall petals". That is, the petals were higher and flared when compared to the sepals. A very unique look that comes from MYSTICAL ILLUSION. They have a number of cultivars that have that look. It is real and it is unique. Very good looking. The seedling I saw was marked "C1". It was a 6.5" lavender/violet with mulberry/cream double edge. Beautiful! It has a 3-d look with the petals high above the sepals.

Is this is look that you were asking about?

I was looking at the unusual shapes like Winter Wolf, Mystical Illusion, Ledgewoods TROPICAL BUTTERFLY, Ledgewoods Stolen Dreams, Ledgewoods Hidden Heart and so forth. They have a very unique look in the pictures as you say with the flaired flowers. So I guess that is what I mean.

I was not trying to open a can of worms here and pick on anything. I think the pictures are astounding but my daylilies are garden flowers so I don't do anything special to them. So they would need to look good without any special extra care.

cavamarie- That is very interesting about the shade cloth and the short skapes and it is something I certainly would never have thought about on my own.

Rita, the form we are describing should not be dependent on climate or heat. It is what it is and when the cultivar blooms, the blooms should be as pictured.

Gunda and Tony don't have a greenhouse for their daylilies. If memory serves me, they do use a limited amount of shade cloth.

If I had to guess, I would expect that the experience Cavamarie is describing is at the Stamile's.

Unfortunately this year was strange even in FL, and early blooms were in the foliage and budcount was crap. Very difficult year for being a Garden Judge. I quit keeping record of my own garden in about the third week of bloom because nothing was representative. Right now DARK AND DANGEROUS is sending up its first blooms and it is a early mid season bloomer. Everyone else is on their third or fourth rebloom. As I did my popularity poll, I realized that this season has been very disappointing. The only saving grace is that I have more DL than ever so the number of blooms was in line with averages from other years.

I have read that with the newer fancy flowered daylilies you have to give them extra care to have the big gorgeous flowers pictured on the websites. I was never sure exactly what one was supposed to do. I grow my daylilies as garden plants and plant each one with some nice compost added and mulch but thats it. I do water if needed. Maybe it is just a matter of time and the plants settling in to get some growth on them. We have all certainly seen lots of pictures of First flowers from new daylilies looking very dissapointing and needing lots of improvement to look like what they are supposed to.

I am not really going to be concerned about the shade cloth one way or another.

I wouldn't worry about it! In no way was anyone recommending shade cloth in a home garden. In FL, the sun is brutal and if natural shade isn't available, the pros use shade cloth. Daylilies grow much better in my back yard because they get shade at different parts of the day, depending on the location. In northern areas, I don't think this is recommended but I've never lived north of Virginia so I can't really say .....

Rita, you are doing everything right--good soil, good conditions, watering if necessary. What else could a plant need???

I have had old fashioned daylilies for years. Never had to do anything to them they just bloomed. The newfangled ones seem to be more fussy.

Well, I did manage to buy Ledgewoods Oriental Silk on the Lily Auction. It looks stunning but its a traditional flower shape. Will have to get some of those unusal flowered ones. They are just too pretty to pass up.

Folks, lets not forget the disappointment I felt with Bird Talk. Lambertsons. The first bloom looked like the yucky one on Tinkers. When she rebloomed, she looked just as Lambertson has her pictured. I really do like his dls.

Chris, I think your dl will get MUCH better...Ellie

Yes, I am begining to realize some daylily flowers just need extra time, something one never even had to think about with the old form daylilies from the past.

I bid on and am also getting Ledgewoods Winter Memories and Ledgewoods Evening Sunset.

Good for you,Rita!Maybe next year you will have some extra seeds to sell or trade. I love them both!

Betsy

Too bad no one here lives near me because they could use lots of pollen that I would have. I don't want to plant any seedlings and I do not want to do all the fancy recordkeeping needed for seed crosses. If there was a really easy way, I could do it and have seeds for whatever (not for growing here!).

Well, all the Ledgewood Daylilies for this year are planted in my garden. I got all of them from the Lily Auction, different sellars. I now have-

LEDGEWOODS ORIENTAL SILK
LEDGEWOODS WINTER MEMORIES
LEDGEWOODS EVENING SUNSET
GALACTIC WARRIOR
FIERY MOMENT

Fiery Moment and Galactic Warrior were bonus plants that I didn't expect to have. Galactic Warrior is not my usual type of daylily as its an eight and a half inch UFO flower 2007 intro. Will see when it flowers next year what I think of it. Fiery Moment is as you might have guessed, red but its a dormant. Unusual for a Floriday daylily, I think.

Bumping up for easy reading because of other post on Ledgewood daylilies.

Hi Newyorkrita,

thanks for bumping this up for me. I'm the same as you, I have to buy from pics as I live in the UK and there is no way I can see what these would look like in Britain---I just have to take the chance.

Also I am VERY new to daylilies and don't really know what the hybridizers mean by pale violet-lavender, pale pink-lavender etc (esp when lavender plants themselves can vary from the very dark blue "Hidcote" to palest pink/white!!) I haven't even seen my first "lavender" dl variety in flower yet, never mind subtle variations---but I digress.

Yes, I know when I look at some of those blues that they can't really be that colour. In fact I had a good laugh when I was looking at a hybridizer's website whose varieties I like (Not the Ledgewood's page). When I looked at the new seedlings page and clicked on one in particular to get a bigger picture, there was a nice big wedge of "Computer Blue" on the bottom petal. OOPS!

That's why I was hoping some of you grew some of them so that I could get a better idea of colour from your pics. Same with the Lambertsons' varieties.

I know someone over here who has Calico Blues but it hasn't established enough yet for me to have a piece of it from him. He thinks perhaps next year he may be able to split it, he's put my name on it :o)

It is sooo expensive though to import DLs from the USA that I need to have a better idea of the plants rather than just the hybridizers info.

I also like Hidden Heart and Winter Wolf so if any of you have real pics that would be great.

thanks,

Nikki

I have just used all my savings on importing some fabulous daylilies from the USA to the UK. I will not see any of them flower until next year (just cannot wait!!)
Of the Abajian's I have:

Ledgewood's Firecracker
Ledgewood's Stolen Dreams
Ledgewood's Pansy Eye
Ledgewood's Calico Blues & In Cahoots

I really do not expect them to be like the photos, especially as they were taken in sunny Florida and this is miserable rainy England! I will post some of the photos when they bloom if anyone is interested.

And Niki - I do not know where you live in England but you would be welcome to come and visit my 500+ smashing new cultivars from USA if you are interested? It will all be new to me as I have gone in at the deepend and gone bananas!! I only owned one boring old English daylily up till this year :)

I love this forum and seeing REAL pictures from REAL gardens. Thanks Jennie

Hi Hemmedin,

WOW! 500+!! I'm seriously impressed. I only have a tiny paved-over suburban garden so am very limited to the number of plants I can have, I grow everything in large(20-25inch) pots.

I only had two "boring" daylilies until a few weeks ago when my Dad bought me a few and I got hooked.

Like yourself I'm importing a few from Lambertsons with some money I inherited after my mother died earlier this year.

Rachel Lambertson very kindly put me in touch with someone over here in the UK who buys from them every year so that we could split shipping/certificate costs and then the $400 minimum spend on international orders wouldn't be an issue.

I live (unfortunately!) in West Yorkshire, whereabouts are you based? I'd love to come and see some of yours if it isn't too far. Once my Lambertsons' arrive next year I will be pretty much at my limit daylily-wise as I will need to leave room for Calico Blues if it is big enough to split the year after.

best wishes,

Nikki

Hi Hemmedin,

I forgot to ask you if you have imported any of the Lambertsons' daylilies and if so what varieties did you get?

Also, whereabouts in the UK are you based?

best wishes

Nikki