Do you mean individual plants or unique varieties?

I have 4 varieties...but I think something like 10 plants (well some of them should probably be split).

I've actually been thinking I want to re-do the flower bed. I got daylilies because I liked how they looked, but I get annoyed each year that most of my bed is just green foliage until very late June. I'm thinking some of them could go to the side of the house or something and I could get some earlier blooming flowers for the front of the bed. The taller daylilies could stay in, but get moved to the back.

I have more than 600. I'm sure I am "over the top."

Debra

In my crazy days I grew over 1,000 varieties, but the maintenance killed me. I did some severe downsizing and got rid of quite a few beds to get me down to about 350 varieties.

The upside to giving away all those daylilies is that, hopefully, I've created daylily lovers elsewhere.

I have around 175 daylilies. I always get so much joy from them that I don't worry about the number. I support my addiction to daylilies by using them on landscape jobs for my clients. Enjoy your new daylily collection, daylilies
are a great hobby.

we are pushing 150 different kinds, and keep strict records. have fun!

I have about 350 and am doggedly trying to reduce some. Hope to get to about 300.
kay

Oops, forgot to mention the record-keeping. I do keep lists with statistics, including a list of daylilies I used to grow but have given away. I especially like to keep track of the date of the first bloom so I know what I have to look forward to in subsequent years.

Excel or any other similar software can easily be used to keep records. I only have about 60 named cultivars.

When I'm writing about my seedlings I do it by hand though...it's a lot easier to carry a wee notebook in the garden.

In my zone things that flourish elsewhere don't necessarily do so...keeping records is the only way I know year-to-year whether something is worth keeping or sending down to my mother-in-law in FL.

And don't do my mistake of forgetting to label things in the ground somehow...I literally lost poor Swedish Girl for months this spring because of that dunce move.

Cheers!
~Anika

This post was edited by gothiclibrarian on Tue, Jul 15, 14 at 7:11

I too was way over the top but started cutting back quite a few years ago so now it's only a bit over 600 named varieties and at the moment about 270 seedlings, which I am still in the process of culling somewhat vigorously. I think I will cull about 50 more seedlings and donate 10 more named varieties to our club's August plant sale.

I had a number in my mind years ago of 500 being how many named daylilies I should grow. It's not easy since I have to do all the work of digging, cleaning and tagging on my own for these club sales, otherwise I would be getting down to that 500 mark quicker. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

I also used to keep records on all the daylilies... beginning and ending bloom times, description of flower, branching and bud count. Now I just do it for the dozen or so new ones I get each year plus however many seedlings I have. Of course, they all have to have their pictures taken too - especially on a good hair day.

I only have about 150, and my yard is small with 2 big trees in the back and two still not big in the front yards, numerous big lilacs, etc.. Yeah you can fit way more hostas than daylilies. Mine sit on top of each other and what bothers me most I can't get to some. I wish I could have twice as many but in reality I need to downsize (hehe) and give more room to my clumps.

Records: I use excel spreadsheets. Copy descriptions from AHS, add where I got it and what year. Record when scapes start, FFOs - LFOs, for most - budcount and how many scapes, and I also count flowers because I can :) This year I also try to make notes (in a diff file) about flowers opening. I don't like to take pics of not opened or deformed or splotchy blooms, so notes will work for that.
That reminds me - I need to update my hosta list, it's only like 10+, and finally label them as most of the markers disappeared after the winter.

There is a little over 100 spread out in mixed perennial beds and nearly all DL only beds. I used to make maps as to what was planted in each bed. There was no more room to plant any more. If I want a new one and old one had to be gifted away. Well our 21' above ground pool finally died, has been removed to leave new space. The struggle I am having is do I get new ones or take from my 100 to fill this new bed. It will be a mixed bed with roses, hosta, and companion pernnials. The deck will stay and the front will be a raised bed with the remainder back to lawn. I have reached a point where the work to maintain and obsess about the new is being replaced by a need for balance. The right amount of work to beauty to enjoyment. After a point there is diminished returns. That point is different for each gardener. Go slow and savor the evolution of your garden. The more you look at DL nursery sites, posts here and others gardens the clearer your taste and preferences will become. It is great fun, Good luck

I tried to resist this one. I really did. Oh well. Okay, I don't know how many I have right now. Between an external hard drive crash and my endless quest to downsize...I hope...hope I am at around 350. It's just a guess. Maybe I will count after the season.

In my prime, I had around 750 with comings and goings. Then, I decided to do seedlings and good heavens, I had hundreds and hundreds.

Fast forward...life happens and I am just trying to...literally...enjoy the flowers this year. After years of taking endless pictures, keeping endless records...well, that hard drive crash...terrible as it is...freed me.

So, I say, whatever. Have as many as you want and can take care of. The last is much harder than the first. :)

Enjoy.

I don't have a large property and need to still have room for the kids to run around so I had just over 100 different varieties with a few duplicates of favorites around. I made a decision to add different annuals so to make room I managed to cut it down to about 90.

I had them all on a spreadsheet and then my computer crashed and nothing was saved. :( I had to try to recreate the spreadsheet - this time on google so it's saved in the cloud - but I'm still missing some.

I used to keep track of FFO and last flower for each year, and all the info on the daylily (year, type, etc...). Now I just keep track of their names and if I need to divide them or move them. No more going crazy with record keeping. Too much work. Just deadheading every 2 days it enough for me.

I used to have 200 on a wish list and managed to cut that back to 30 as well. Those that don't show their stuff get tossed after 3 years. (traded or tossed).

I am very upset I don't have my original spreadsheet because when I first started buying daylilies I liked different ones that I like now so I eventually traded those and now I have no record of what they were - just would be nice to have.

OH, plus I kept track of where I purchased them from. Unfortunately 2 or 3 of those places are no longer in existence. So sad because they had huge selections to choose from for great prices.

I also used to have name markers but they didn't hold up as well as expected (still there for most of them) and once they bloom I know what they are anyway.

I did take a 2-3 year hiatus of posting and taking pics but now I'm back taking pics (not posting so much though). I work and have kids and time is limited.

Good luck!

I have around 250 registered CV's and added at least 25 new ones this year. Right now I have around 1,500 seedlings, most of which will be leaving next spring to make room for new ones. I will probably only keep 30 of those seedlings to continue using in my crosses. I'll also be getting rid of 25 - 30 registered CV's that I no longer use in my crosses. I do keep maps of my beds, and stats on the registered CV's and seedlings that I like.

Linda

About record keeping, I use the Plantstep software.

Wren Garden - I so agree with what you said about balance in your post. As I get older, maintaining so many beds is nearly impossible. I am forced to clear out some borders and beds this year because shade patterns have gobbled up more of the yard, and the daylilies planted there are barely surviving.

Debra

I have about 170, down from 200, and hope to get down to 150 and hold. I use MS Publisher and make maps using pics of the daylilies with name, size, and when it blooms [late, early, etc]. I also have a MS Word doc that lists the flowers in each area with more detailed description about color and other descriptors.

I love it when people say they have a small garden and only grow 100+ daylilies. I got up to about 75-80 by last fall. For various reasons I grow mostly in pots, so that's alot of watering when we are going through the drought. It's not as if I don't grow double that in other types of plants in pots too. Anyway last fall after 3 years of drought enough was enough. Between what I gave away and what died over the winter ( and then added in new this spring) I'm down to a respectible 40 or so . I hope I can keep it at that number, but ..... When I say a dayliliy earns its keep in my small garden I mean it........Maryl