Rebloom - Rebloom in Florida does not mean rebloom in zone 5. You growing season is short and its going to be a challange finding rebloomers.

Branching and budcount - Again where are you looking? If you are looking at any of the Florida Hybridizers, that is not what you are going to see in zone 5.

If I am understanding you correctly, I should be looking for a hybridizer that is in my zone 5 & forget the rest? None of the others would work?

Some Florida evergreens would be hardy, others might not. I am no expert on things that do well in your zone. I am sure others will speak up for that. Areas with snow cover would be much better than those without. You will not however, get the branching and budcount that they get in the south. There is always an exception to the rule but generally that is how it works.

A much more sure fire way to get rebloom would be to buy introductions of northern hydridizers listed as rebloomers. For instance, Karol Emmerich in MN has absolutely gorgeous intros and many of them are rebloomers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Springwood Gardens

newyorkrita, thanks for the link to Karol Emmerich's website! I am only about 50 miles from her and had no idea her place even existed!

I am bookmarking and hope to maybe visit her place next season. Her prices are a bit out of my league, but I am sure it would be amazing to see her DL farm!

Linda

Gary Schaben is another well known hybridizer in MN.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden With A Northern Exposure

1. Go with a hybridizer close to your growing zone. The plants should preform for you similar to the way they performed for the hybridizer. An evergreen plant, introduced by a northern hybridizer, will much more likely be evergreen for you than an evergreen introduced from a southern hybridizer.

2. You could well be making a mistake. Rebloom is so subject to interpretation and dependent on so many variables that I think it very unreliable to use for decision making. I think good culture is as important as plant genetics for rebloom.

3. I think most hybridizers want a minimum of three way branching with 15 to 18 buds. Bud spacing may be as important as bud count. The scape height and branching should effectively display the bloom without conflicts. Vigorous plants that rebloom heavily typically do not have high bud counts. They produce many scapes per season instead.

4. Most hybridizers are great people and try to introduce quality plants. Some are more successful than others. If you're collecting garden plants, then buy the proven plants. Look for popularity polls taken in your area. The AHS is a treasure of information. If you are into hybridizing, then look to see what other people are using. Since Daylily World has moved to Kentucky, all of their introductions should be very suitable for your garden! Mort Morss is one of my favorites too.

Hope this helps some, have fun,
Ed

I'm sorry, I guess I wasn't following you. Morss is located in Florida, right? I tried googling their headquarters & couldn't come up with any concrete facts on that, but I think that is what you were driving at, right? I guess my newbieness is coming out. I didn't know that is where they were located & that part was confusing me about your response. Very good info. I had a feeling the rebloom would make a difference, but not the branching & bud count.

So all of my ?'s basically come down to question 4, the hybridizer, right?

By your response, it seems important for you to have rebloomers as well?

Springwood Gardens has very pretty daylilies, although a little expensive for me at this point. I'm not use to spending that kind of money on a perennial just yet. I have for trees & conifers & I am sure it will eventually come around to that once I see the difference in quality & gain all the knowledge. Just starting out I would like to take it slow. I already have OCD & don't need to start with daylilies...I'd go broke!

Is there a website with a list of all the hybridizer's locations that I can go off of?

Phil Korth in Wisconsin

Here is a link that might be useful: Pinewood Gardens

Melanie Mason in zone 5 upstate ny. She grows many northern hardy resale daylilies as well as her own intros. The older ones are exceptionally reasonably priced. They are all gorgous.

Here is a link that might be useful: North Country Daylilies

Ed, that helped a ton! Thank you!

One more thing to clarify, if you don't mind. I should look for plants that "increase" (lots of vigor) & those are the 1's that bloom the most? In my mind, I was thinking the rebloomers is where it was at & now see I may have had this all wrong.

I will check into AHS after I get done posting here. Thanks for the tip.

As far as what is sold locally...same ol stuff. Highly disappointing in the varieties offered. Although my mind set was all about the rebloom & should go back & look again. The only varietys seemed offered here are from the '50's.

I did notice the majority of the folks selling daylilies on the LA are from Kentucky. Didn't know they became the new daylily capital.

Thanks for all your help.

There are plenty of daylilies that will grow in your zone. Evergreen daylilies can tend to be more tender, but I grow several evergreens, and here is a daylily poll of Hardy Evergreen Daylilies:

http://www.shieldsgardens.com/DLPlace/HardyEvergreenPoll.html

If you want a lot of blooms, here is a poll of the heaviest blooming daylilies (though I don't know what zone they are in):

http://www.shieldsgardens.com/DLPlace/GardenValuePoll.html

Lastly, Dave's Garden shows zone ratings for each cultivar of Daylily, too. I do grow some that are rated as Zone 5 at my house. They survived, but have taken a while to increase. Jolyene Nichole (Zone 5a) is 4-5 years old, and it has over 30 buds this year! I almost reluctantly sent her south; since in previous years, she only gave me a bud count of 4-7.

You can get to Dave's Garden from Google with "daylily" and about any cultivar name you choose to type in.

Sharon

Oh, yes. And if you go to the AHS page, you will likely find the addresses of some daylily display gardens in your vicinity.

Morss and Kirchhoff (Daylily World) used to be in Florida. Last year they moved to Kentucky. Their future intros should be suitable for northern climates. I would recommend Curt Hansen's daylilies for your zone. He has Crintonic Gardens in Cleveland, OH.

Debra

Thanks Sharon, I saved those links in my daylily faves. It seemed the link to the longest bloomers were from people posting from all over the US. I saw a lot of northern states listed & if they weren't listed, some mentioned opening on cool mornings, etc. Very helpful.

I also saved all of newyorkrita's sites. I think she thinks I'm rich LOL! Every one that I loved & clicked on was over $100! I've been on Gardens with a Northern Exposure website before & now I remember why. I read your thread about purchasing Moe, Larry & Joe & threw in Rasberry Bling. I absolutely love Candlelight & Cabernet from North Country. Thank goodness, it's not for sale!

I spend a lot of time on Tinkers & should be spending more time on AHS. I was on AHS only to use their dictionary to understand some of the lingo you were all using. I will go back & peruse it much further.

I didn't realize Dave's Garden was such a useful tool either. When I google pics of daylilies they always pop up. Sometimes w/o a lot of info, most likely on the newer cultivars. I will check that site from here on in.

Your experience with Jolyene Nichole defies all odds to my understanding. I hope you spread the word for all our northerly friends to try.

Thank you!

Oh, yes. And check out the daylily threads in the Far North Forum - especially in the Gallery. If they can grow 'em in Canada, surely you can, too!

Here is a link that might be useful: Far North Daylily Thread

Good Morning,

I very rarely get on, but just wanted to weigh in on this...

I havent ever lost a daylily, wether it be a evergreen or a semi, however, I get alot of snow, or did, I will be moving to a slightly less snow covered area soon in Maine still, but for me, I have a very reliable snow cover usually several feet a year. However evergreens seem to TAKE alot more time to wake up for me in the spring and the foiliage is sometimes ratty, or very ratty for awhile, lagging behind other semis or dormants.

Secondly, I wouldnt pay any attention as to wether a daylily is a rebloomer, it wont often do that , not for me anyways, We had a very good summer in 06 where there was no frost untill late october (most years can be as early as late august , early sept) I had a few rebloomers that year. So I just buy what looks neat to me.

Thirdly, Admitedly, I dont shill out the cash for the newest florida intros, If I did, I would be brokenhearted if they didnt survive. Alot of them have complex gene charts, where there is a background of some semi or dormant genes in there. Alot of them probable could survive. But I cant imagine paying $100.00 or more for a baby fan, just to have it croak over winter.

Now i'll go back to shutting my mouth and reading what alot more intelligent people than me are writing =)...

My thoughts on cost - take it for what it's worth ;-)

New introductions will be expensive. The hybridizer charges higher costs because, as far as we know, there isn't another daylily like it and some people will pay for the latest and greatest. Of course, the hybridizer also need to recoup their costs and to make money. The next year- the price drops, and again the next year. The longer daylilies are in the market, the more is learned about them. A near-perfect variety will hold a higher price for a while, but eventually it will go into mass production and the price will drop.

Low priced daylilies tend to be older varieties that have stood the test of time. A variety that is a dog will eventually fall out of production because the seller isn't going waste valuable time and space on something that people won't buy.

Many older varieties are beautiful and reliable performers and worthy to grow in our gardens. There are some people who strictly purchase and grow the older varieties, some so rare they fetch high prices just like the new ones, and sometimes even more.

Generally speaking, old or new, it is basically about availability, not so much about quality.

Check out Charlotte's Daylily Diary, especially the hybridizers' page...lots of things to look at there.

Also, google for the Northern Mecca...lots of interesting stuff there, too.

Surely, you've found the Lily Auction, as well?

Price is relative. Not to be argumentative, but sometimes it is a simple supply and demand thing. They only grow so fast, even in Florida. And, there are great Florida growers like the Stamiles who send wonderful fans for their introductions.

Price can stay up on a daylily because it might not increase that well, but have valuable characteristics and therefore be hard to obtain while also high in demand. I'm not sure what you mean by mass production...maybe the ones you see at Walmart, Lowes, etc? They are only a tiny fraction of what is out there.

The daylily market has several levels, in my opinion. You have those interested in simple landscaping plants (and many are hybridized for that), you have daylily collectors, and you have hybridizers of various degrees (and intermingling in the layers as people change their interests and focus). That's very simplistic, but you probably get my drift.

For any of us, what we might like this year...a few years down the road, we may find we like something else.

You are probably wise to learn all you can and start slowly. There are so many daylilies out there, the choices and possibilities are only limited by your constraints and desires.

For me, I would rather pay more for a plant from a grower I know will send me great fans, then bargain shop for price and wait 2-3 years (if) to see it bloom. Quality does matter. I've done plenty of the bargain shopping to reach this point!

There's a lot of trial and error here. As Ed points out, your personal garden culture plays a huge role in how well a particular plant performs. I've also read on the robin this year from more than a few people commenting how much more rebloom they are seeing with plenty of rain/water.

So, jump in! That's good advice to find a local grower and have a nice visit. Most are usually happy to talk daylilies with you and make recommendations. Build your confidence...have fun...we'll look forward to your pictures in the future!

There is a good group you might want to join - dayliliesfornorthernclimates.

You'll learn a lot by reading and asking questions. It's a good group that contains both people who grow daylilies in colder zones and daylily hybridizers as well.

Well I've tried posting the link to it, as it'd be extremely good for you to join. Too bad, but it seems I'm not allowed to post it here. Never mind that it's a perfectly valid group, for some reason, it's verboten.

Also, Cold Climate Hybridizers:

http://www.hardyhems.com/links.htm

Also, Region 2 hybridizers:

http://www.daylilytrader.com/

Also, many hybridizers:

http://www.abacom.com/chacha/gardenHybridC.htm

IMO, since you are new to daylilies, I'd spend a lot of time just familiarizing yourself with them before ordering. You might want to join AHS and any local clubs that are in your area. The club members should be a font of information and advice for you. It's undoubtedly too late this year, but you'll be able to visit their gardens next year, which will enable you to see first hand what does well where you live. Regardless, this year, you should be able to get good suggestions on plants to consider ordering. Also, join AHS and the local club(s) and you'll get the journal, your region's journal, and local newsletter:

http://www.daylilies.org/

and:

http://www.daylilies.org/AHSreg.html

Your specific questions:

"1. zone 5 & the evergreen foliage. I have read some work in this area & others don't, how do you go about figuring which 1's do? Is it simply where the hybridizer is located?"

It doesn't necessarily hold true that you can't/don't want to grow evergreens in your zone. You probably will do much better to stick with dormants, but that isn't a hard and fast rule....ergo, my suggestion is to see what people in your region are able to grow. Similar, my advice would be to look at the catalogs/price lists of resellers in your area or region. It stands to reason that, if they're offering plants for resale, those plants have survived at least a few winters. Alternatively, if you want to order from southern growers, check to see whether northern growers offer the plants you're interested in. If they do, again, that should tell you something about probable hardiness.

Once you've become more familiar with daylilies, another thing you can do is look at the parents of the daylilies you're thinking of getting. If, for example, one or both parents and other plants in their background are not very hardy, you may want to consider another, similar plant instead.

"At this point, I have been only looking at buying rebloomers...more bang for the buck & wondering if I'm making a mistake by doing so."

I think you're making a mistake. Rebloom is great, and I love it!....when it happens. There are northern hybridizers working on rebloom (why hasn't anyone mentioned Richard Norris here? Or have they?), and we can hope that more & more daylilies that are northern hardy will also rebloom.

However, if I were you, and I were looking for a long seaons of daylily bloom, I'd consider season extenders instead. (For one thing, you're less likely to be disappointed by a lack of rebloom LOL.) So, that would mean, in addition to buying the many available plants that bloom at midseason, look for earlies (marked as E on price lists), extra earlies (marked as EE), mid-late bloomers (marked as ML), late ones (marked as L), and of course, very late bloomers (VL).

"Branching & bud count - As far as I can tell, branching only happens in 3 or 4? What is the minimum bud count you all would accept? What is average? What is the highest you have ever seen? I don't have anything to gauge this on."

The common wisdom is that, for every one colder zone you go, you lose whatever the number of branches the hybridizer has registered the plant as having. LOL....I can't recall what it is, but, for example, if a Florida plant is registered as 6-way branching and 40 buds, maybe I'd get 3 or 4 way and buds in the 20s (?). Something like that LOL.

But no, branching and bud count do not happen only in the south, and you won't necessarily see only 3- or 4-way branching. One of my favorite daylilies, a diploid by Don Herr, who is about 60+ minutes from me, is JOLLY GOOD FELLOW. I have not counted B&B, but it is high, very high.

Hybridizers - as others have suggested, for you, maybe stick with northern ones for a while. There are many great ones, some run small operations, some sell only their own plants, some have many available things.

"I did notice the majority of the folks selling daylilies on the LA are from Kentucky. Didn't know they became the new daylily capital."

Not true IMO. People from all over sell. Currently, there's a seller I really like from upstate New York; there's also a seller from Minnesota whose garden was on the national convention tour....but yes, Kentucky and the whole "Northern Mecca" area seems to be growing in leaps & bounds for daylilies, doesn't it....

http://www.northernmecca.com/

I have to say, I'm really irked, truely ticked off in fact, that I can't help out a newbie by showing her the way to a very useful group of daylily lovers, growers, and hybridizers who garden in northern zones -- precisely where lalalandwi is. I'm not selling anything; I'm not getting anything; no I'm trying to give someone information. But no, this is apparently spam. Yet we can mention hybridizers, almost all of whom have web sites. We can apparently mention that Dave's garden place as well? What the....?

I know I know....this is not a public place, it's owned, blah blah blah....

lalalandwi and anyone else who wants the names of good dayliliy groups, you can email me at 1spot1not at (@) comcast.net

As for gardenweb, maybe I'll return at some point....maybe not. So, bye for now.

Richard Norris in Ohio.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ashwood Gardens

dayliliesfornorthernclimates is a great group. I belong to it myself and always interesting and valuable information. Just go to the yahoo groups site and put the name in and I am sure it will come up.

As far as not letting the link be posted or flagged as spam, it can happen. Remmember that no software is so perfect and its not as if a person is looking at it and saying, no I will not allow this. It is much more likely a glitch in the system. Doen't throw out the baby with the bathwater so to speak. This is a geat site. Not perfect but nothing is. Don't leave just because there was this one thing that you did not like.

Another great Northern Hybridizer. I like to look at his website because it has more information but you buy them thru Melanie Masons North Country Daylilies. And Melanie has lots and lots of very reaonably priices daylilies.

Here is a link that might be useful: Culver Farm Daylilies

Heres a link that has all almost all those links I posted and some others.

Here is a link that might be useful: Daylilies on Ice

lala, you started a fascinating post!
I wanted to add that Curt Hanson in Ohio grows fabulous Northern hardy daylilies that will grow well there for you.
His introductions are, like all new scarce intros, spendy. But his older & widely grown cultivars are inexpensive
& SO worth growing because of their great colors, plant habits & loads of perfect flowers, such as my favorites
Earth Music & Bela Lugosi. His Critonic Gardens catalogs are great reads, too. ~ marea

Here is a link that might be useful: Crintonic Gardens

There's lots of good information here and I had to smile when I saw the link for the Far North forum, as I post there regularly. Being a cold zoner, I tend to only buy daylilies from a grower, not necessarily a hybridizer, close to my own zone. I feel if they've had luck wintering a certain daylily, then I'll give it a shot in my garden. Because of doing this, I've only ever lost 1 or 2 daylilies over the winter.

Below is a link to a hardy daylily thread that we got going on the Far North forum. There are quite a few proven hardy daylilies on this list, so if they can survive our zone 3 or colder winters, these will laugh at your zone 5b winters.:0)

Laurie

Here is a link that might be useful: Hardiest Daylilies for the North

Thank each & every one of you! I can't thank you enough for all your help! You have given me goose pimples with all of your kindness & how much time you took in explaining these things to me as well as all of those fabulous resources! I have a lot of reading ahead of me! If all daylily people are as kind as you all, you bet I'm joining every one of those societies!

I have been following this forum pretty much all summer & it is definitely the fastest moving forum on GW, so much so I have a hard time keeping up. I was kind of intimidated at 1st to post these ?'s here & that is why you have given me the goose pimples...all of you taking the time to help me out!

So far I purchased this year what are labeled as "Trophywinners" from a local nursery. Here is what I have so far:

Siloam Amazing Grace - I saw this at a local nursery, came home to look it up on the net & fell in love with it. Went back & couldn't find it. I thought I was losing my mind or dreamt it or whatever. A month later I go back to get another plant (not a daylily) lo & behold what do I see? I picked the bloom out in dozens of daylilies there! This one was a must have for me:
="{{gwi:942887}}"

At the same time I saw Spiritual Corridor & really liked that 1 too. I came home, looked it up & went back to buy that 1 as well:
="a href="http://s279.photobucket.com/albums/kk147/tolalaland/?action=view&current=July9006.jpg"; target="_blank">{{gwi:923434}}"

Chesapeake Crablegs I bought straight from the picture. Never saw it in bloom until I had it home. I can't get a good pic of it, but man is it pretty to me! It is a lot more coral in person:
="a href="http://s279.photobucket.com/albums/kk147/tolalaland/?action=view&current=June28082.jpg"; target="_blank">{{gwi:942890}}"

Easy Ned was a Monrovia product I saw at a different nursery. Thinking it was a Monrovia product, how could I go wrong?
="{{gwi:942892}}"

Now, with all the education you folks gave me, I'm off to do some reading & plan to go to a daylily farm tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Thanks again everyone!

Oops! I stand corrected on the subject of bud count on Jolyene Nichole. I just counted all the buds on all four scapes, but I just found out that the bud count is really the average number of buds per scape.

Last year, I had one scape with 7-8 flowers; this year, I have four scapes with about 30 flowers. That adds up to an average bud count of about 7-8.

Sharon

Hey, lalalandwi,
I'm with you! The people on this forum are THE BEST. Since I found this forum I think I have developed carpal tunnel syndrome. I have to check every day to ooh and ahh and to see what everyone's up to.

This is the best forum for all gardening needs----I have been rereading posts and the folks here are just GREAT!!!
What is wonderful about our "PASSION" the DL is there is something for everyone!!!!! May you want to breed --collect---show---what ever!

Have you seen the NEW UF from C. Hanson? WOW!

Enjoyed your pictures---

I have a seedling from C.CRABLEG that is out of this world. My Orchid Friends
could not believe it!!! curls and twists--wild yellow in colour.

always take the time to enjoy your flowers!
colette from norcal