Be sure to check to see if Benz has actually registered any plants you are interested in acquiring. A couple of years back he was naming things but was waaaaay behind on actually registering them with the AHS.

His plants should be very hardy for you.

Brooke

John Benz has excellent plants, maybe even superior! Especially for northern gardens. His plants may never be registered with the AHS, therefore you would not be able to exhibit the flower in an AHS accredited show. If that is important to you, you should check with Mr. Benz to see if it is registered or if he intends to do so before buying.
Ed

Take a look at Curt Hansons plants. They are of high quality, bred, born and raised in northern Ohio.

His descriptions are fun to read too!

Here is a link that might be useful: CRINTONIC GARDENS

I have not yet bought plants from Mr. Bentz---But they are in a class of their own--really beautiful!!!! check out his purples!!!

To die for!!!!! cole

Hi Rita,
John Benz's older intros RADAR LOVE and NUT AND HONEY are among my best performers. Last fall I ordered two of John's 2006 intros, RUBY LIPSTICK and DARK TERRITORY. RUBY LIPSTICK went from a single fan to five fans over the winter but hasn't bloomed yet. It got knocked back pretty hard from those late spring freezes, but I expect great things next year. Unfortunately, DARK TERRITORY rotted over the winter. John replaced that one, plus sent VISION of GLORY (2005), which did bloom, and TRACES OF RED (2006) as bonuses. All of those cultivars are registered with AHS. John is a very good person to do business with, and I will buy from him again in the future. I think he's turning out some really interesting things from dip coversions. Unfortunately, my photos of VISION OF GLORY didn't turn out well. I only let two of the blooms flower to see what they looked like, and then cut off the scape so the plant could put energy into growing roots. I think the Benz plants should grow very well for you Rita. Most are dormant or hardy semievergreens.

Debra

Rita since you are in Long Island you should look into Bob Schwarz and George Rasmussen both LI hybridizers. I would also recommend Curt Hanson - Crintonic gardens.

Paul or Mare can put you in touch with the LI hybridizers.

I love the Benz daylilies and have found everyone that I grow here in zone 7b to be absolutely superior in every way. We are cutting back on our Inventory here, but will hold on to the Munsons, Websters and Benz daylilies, as we have found them to be the mainstays of our garden. I have a whole page devoted to Benz on my website, but unfortunately, I can't post it here, as it is of a commercial nature and might not be accepted well. I realize you asked about zone 6, Rita, and I don't have a clue about that. Sorry! Ida

Rita,

I can't recommend John's flowers highly enough. The images on his website don't begin to do the flowers justice. His 2007 collection is on its way to my house as I write this. The plants won't be the huge leek-like things that you receive from some of the Florida hybridizers in the spring but they will do very well in a northern garden.

John's plants are expensive, but he is the the most generous with bonuses of any hybridizer I have dealt with. And you must consider how much longer it takes to bring a new intro to market in the north. I have yet to get one of his that I did not think was worth what I paid for it.

Dale

Are his introductions registered with AHS? It isn't important to me but might be to others and in earlier posts on this thread there was indication that some were not.

Most of his intros are registered. Apparently there was one year when he didn't get them registered, or had the registrations denied.

Debra

I did a search on Tinker's Database. It shows Benz has 454 registered cultivars. I'm wondering which cultivars never got registered.

Debra

It was more than one year when he didn't register his plants but after much complaining by people paying the big bucks for unregistered plants, he did start registering them. The registrations were not denied by AHS, according to records he never applied for them to be registered.

I hope they are all registered now but if in doubt, you can check for registration via the AHS website.

Brooke

Wow, lots of good advice and information here since I last checked. My internet access was out from Tuesday night until this morning so I have really been missing looking at the daylily forum!

Thank you everyone who recommended and spoke highly of Benz intros. Everyone seems to really like them and that is always good. I find them abit pricey but am not really squabbling with the price and should know that cooler zones take longer to grow plants. I just wanted to get feedback before I made any serious lists of what to buy. If all of you hated them then I just would have moved on.

I will check the AHS website to see if what I pick is registered or not but since I will never be showing daylilies in any flower show, I am not certain that I much care. I suppose it only matters in the sense of how valueable an unregistered plant might or might not be. I am thinking more in lines of garden performance and general hardiness so for me, its not terribly important. But its a good point to know before buying.

Gary - Paul has already mentioned Bob Schwarz and Bob Stanton has mentioned George Rasmussen. I am sure I will be able to learn more about their daylilies as I start gonging to the Long Island Daylily Society meetings. I am also very interested in Isabel Hibbards lates as I absolutely need to add lates in my gardens.

bambi_too- Thanks for the link to Crintronic gardens, it looks like there are some real beauties there and I need to look further. Just looked alittle at the 2007 intros but I see they have intros going back quite afew years.

I have heard that it can take a LONG time to get your order from Benz. Living here in Ohio, I have heard many stories that are not that flattering about his customer service. I have heard him speak at symposiums and meetings, and he is always an interesting speaker. I have no personal knowledge of buying from him though.

I have traveled all over Ohio and into Kentucky, looking at daylilies...and I rarely saw any of Benz's plants in the gardens I visited. The few people I know who grow them either buy them from someone else, or trade for them. Jamie Gossard may have Benz plants for sale. Jamie also has fine northern hardy plants. I think Van Seller's Iron Gate Gardens in North Carolina sells some Benz intros.

I would check out Curt's older intros. You mentioned purple.... some fine purples that are older (less expensive) of Curt's are BELA LUGOSI, LOUNGE LIZARD, GORT, GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE, NOSFERATU, ROBERT JOHNSON, ROMULAN DEFECTOR, SATANIC MAJESTY, THROUGH DARK WATERS, TROUBLED SLEEP, VELVET UNDERGROUND.... some people think Curt is the "king" of northern purples.

Some other colors of Curt's that I have grown and do very well...
Allison's Wedding... tall full formed pink that has fabulous scapes and usually bud count of 45-50.
Conspiritor's Oath... really nice bright rose
Intimate Secrets.. wonderful full formed pale strawberry pink
Just Another Yellow... HUGE yellow! Wonderful.
Life on Mars... smooth cerise rose
Notify Ground Crew... 72" scapes... yellow, fast grower, great branching
Roaring Fork... lavender orchid that pinches in the throat
Shadow Dream Song... round, pink with small purple patterned eye, tall with great scapes and bud count
Spiritual Corridor, edged lavender
Supreme Empire - fabulous golden yellow..
Women Seeking Men - really great rose... huge scapes, lots of buds

John Rice has some really nice intros for the north too! Here are some of my favorites of his that are less expensive.... find him by looking up Thoroughbred Daylilies - Paris KY - John is also a great person to buy other people's plants from. He has really good prices.
Crown of Creation... a toothed orange/peach
Caught Red Handed... vigorous red
Debbie Smith... peachy pink with patterned eye.. grows well here
Mayan Tapestry... unusual orangy rose
Read My Lips.. a vivid pink with rose eye that you can never capture in a photo. Outstanding color.
Total Commitment - pink cream with purple eye and edge - consistently one of the best performers for me
Truley Angelic - another fabulous scape - pink rose iwth watermark and gold edge
I really love Papal Robes... a purple that has a silver edge for me outside, but a gold edge in John's greenhouse.
Theodore Kline is right up there for my favorite purple. It may not be "inexpensive" yet.. not sure... but John drops his prices fast on his intros. John is the hybridizer of Bass Gibson - one of the hottest daylilies now.

Don't forget Moldovan's Gardens. Sadly, Steve Moldovan has passed away, but Roy Woodhall, his partner, is still selling his intros. I love Bombay Silk, a coral with a watermark.... Roy's Cry Me a River... a wide petaled lavender that is just outstanding... Oh, there are so many Moldovan's that are really wonderful. You can find his at the DaylilyTrader site. Steve was also known as having wonderful purples. His Shaka Zulu is really beautiful. Vatican City is older, and also one of my very favorite purples. I have never had a bad performing Moldovan or Woodhall.

Jamie Gossard's plants can also be found on the DaylilyTrader site... it's a site with many Ohio area hybridizers. Jamie has some really beautiful plants, but some can be hard to find. I have never grown any of his myself, but I did see Red Kangaroo and Heavenly Dragon Fire -- both great clumps in a couple gardens I visited this summer. I'd love to have Heavenly Dragon Fire. Some of his photos are a bit "vivid" compared to what I have seen growing in others gardens... but that happens on a lot of sites. It is SO hard to get decent pictures that really portray the colors. Especially brightly colored daylilies. I spent about $1500 on a SLR digital last year to get really good shots.. and am sometimes disappointed when shooting reds, purples and very vivid rose daylilies.

Rice, Hanson, Woodhall and Moldovan, and Gossard are really top notch hybridizers with really great sales practices. They welcome visitors, send great bonus plants, and you won't have any issues with them for customer service.

The best thing is to visit display gardens and sales gardens IN YOUR AREA to see what the plants really look like in your climate, and make your choices from that instead of from photos on a website. Flower color, scape height, plant habit can vary a lot in different gardens and areas.

Good luck finding what you are looking for!

Thanks, everyone for your input on this thread. Seem like I still have some questions.

I am looking for lots of bloom and northern hardy rock solid plants that will thrive and multiply. Dormant or semi evergreen much preferred. Long bloom peroid a must so I am looking at high bud counts, or high scape density per clump or proven northern rebloomers. Rebloom is preferred but not necessary if the daylily I am considering could have a very long bloom period without the rebloom. Rebloom needs to be consistant, not the weather, rain and heat, dependant rebloom that I have since found out is the case with most of what I have bought this year.

Anyway, with the Benz intos I was asking about in this post, for those of you who have them, did you buy directly? Seems to be some doubt as to how quickly one will actually recieve their order.

I'm afraid you are going to be disappointed in daylilies because rebloom is dependent on many things and usually it is the weather. A daylily has to have enough growing days, i.e. sun and warmth, and good cultural practice to insure the plant has enough energy to make additional scapes.

Around here I take what the weather gives me and usually add as much water as possible and a little fertilizer and enjoy my bloom season. I look to other plants to create spring color and fall bloomining plants when the daylilies wind down. Daylilies are a great perennial but they don't bloom from spring to fall.

This year the weather gave me borscht but I enjoyed what blooms the daylilies did provide. Hopefully next year Mother Nature will be nicer but I don't count on it.

Brooke

My only benz so far is BARNEY, which I was able to get off the Liy Auction and plant this past fall.

I have been told that Iron Gate Gardens carries a good number of benz intros (probably older ones) so I just e-mailed for thier catalog today.

Here is a link that might be useful: Iron Gate Gardens