How do you define exotic? Are you looking for UF's or bagels?

A lot of what I have will grow in more Nothern gardens.

Here is a link that might be useful: Daylilies

del s,

Just so you know, I don't think I could survive -40 degree winters! Whew! You are hardy yourself.
kay

I sent every year some orders in Zone 3(North of Québec)

I can suggest:

Apache Bandana
Brer Rabbits Baby
Choctaw Chick
Chokecherry Mountain
Connie Abel
Delta Force
Divine Inspiration
Forestlake Ragamuffin
Garden Symphony
Heavenly Beginnings
Heavenly Flight
Heavenly Island Magic
Jim Spencer
Long Tall Sally
Non D'une Bobinette
Odds and Ends
Red Skeleton
Rocky Horror
Startling Creation
Swallow Tail Kite

Michel

Thanks for your responses. I guess I should define what we think of as exotic, because there are so many variations. We find interesting colour combinations, strong colours, and frilled edges to be more exotic than a simple flower with one colour. I am attracted to the ones that do so well in the south, but understand that the heavy edges and wild frills don't really translate to the north. So we are looking to see if any of you have been successful in trying some of these out and which ones have perhaps given a decent approximation in your colder areas. My wife dislikes spiders (although I hide a secret passion for a few of them). This means of course that we will never have any spiders on our small property. Some of what we already have might be considered unusual forms. But I think we prefer the more standard shapes overall.

You don't have to feel lonely because you are in a cold zone Del. Just check out the Far North forum. Some of us are pretty hem crazy over there too. Just do some searching for daylilies on the forum to see what we are growing and check out the gallery too. You might find some pictures that catch your eye.
I live in central Saskatchewan, so if I can grow it...I am sure you can as well. Daylilies are tougher than you think.

Here is a link that might be useful: Far North

You would probably be interested in STARTLE. Startle is a Dor Tet and fertile both ways. I have Heavenly Beginnings. HB is out of Startle. Check out my website for a picture of Heavenly Beginnings.
Joe

Here is a link that might be useful: My website

Two people that I'd contact if you need very cold hardy daylilies would be Jamie Gossard (Heavenly Gardens) and Karol Emmerich (Springwood Gardens) Both of these hybridizers have been developing very cold hard daylilies. Jamie's CVs tend to lean toward spiders and unusual forms many with teeth. Karol's for the most part look more conventional, but are VERY pretty. I think if you contacted either of them you would get some good recommendations for your zone.

Linda

Of the more exotic in my Zone 5b garden are Belle Cook, Heavenly Angel Ice, and Constantinople. I have Gentleman's Lady coming in the spring and from what I have seen it is the best of the lot. These are from northern hybridizers in Zone 5. I am not sure how they would do in your zone but they look glorious in Nova Scotia. I also have some of Karol Emmerich's daylilies but they are not established enough to give an accurate review. I have some southern evergreens that I expect to do well but they would be far to risky for your garden: Time Drifter, Last Snowflake, and Moonlight Sail.

Edward

Belle Cook

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Heavenly Angel Ice

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Thank you all so much for your responses. It was nice to hear from some of you who are in even more vigorous climates than we are. I did a quick check of the Far North forum and will go over that more later. Also appreciated the suggestions concerning people to check with who are growers and hybridizers. Also very much enjoyed the pictures.
The bug bites us all it appears. At present we have 20 different daylilies. Some of the names are not known by us. Bela Lugosi and Sir Modred are doing strongly and have already gone through at least 1 winter. We also have a number of "Candies" and they are all doing well as well. There's a small-flowered evergreen called Raspberry Pixie that took a little while to get started, but which gave us a nice show this year. We have a "Stella" variety that was sold at a local nursery as Precious d"Oro(unregistered). This is a beautiful shimmery lemon yellow. It does very well here. We have divided it and it grows into a nice clump fairly quickly.
To those who spoke of getting 80 new daylilies this past year, I am struck with a massive amount of envy. You must have had to sell the children. Something to consider... Maybe even the grandchildren...
The bug bit us quite recently and we are in process of revamping our plans for our yard, deciding which shrubs have got to go to make way for more daylilies.
Del

My vote goes to Ruffled Strawberry Parfait.

Del,

Welcome to the daylily forum and the Far North forum! That was I on the Far North that said that I had bought over 80 new daylilies this year. Actually I just counted in my database and I got 104 new ones. :) All colors, sizes, some with ruffles and some without. I can hardly wait until next year or the following year to see all the new ones bloom. For example, some of my new ones which I hope will make it through our cold winters and do well here are...
Shores of Time
Reyna
Forestlake Ragamuffin
Darla Anita
Popcorn Pete
Wedding Band
Roses in Snow
Oceans Eleven
Unfolding Paradox
Billy Stennett
Musical Interlude
Evelyn Kloeris
Mort Morss
Spiny Sea Urchin
Spacecoase Cotton Candy
Swirling Water
Yuma
Francis of Assisi
Cameroon Night
Barracuda Bay

In the gallery on the Far North a number of us have been posting pictures of daylilies and other perennials that we grow in our yards. You need to spend a few days/weeks on there to see them all. If we can grow them, so can you! Of course, we love looking at others' pictures and would love to see any pictures you have of your yard and flowers also.

I live also in Canada. I am in Manitoba and our area is considered a Canadian zone 2b but I do grow zone 3 and 4 perennials and right by the house, over the cistern, zone 5.

To pay for the daylilies and other perennials I buy each year, I do not 'sell my kids' :) instead...I divide perennials out of my yard each spring and sell them at the local farmer's market in the summer, then turn around and use that money to pay for the new perennial purchases. This works well. This year I did spend a little more than I sold, but I bought/traded for about 600 new perennials. I am still planting and have about 100 left to put in before freezeup comes in a week or two.

I live in the country on 10 acres and so, have lots of huge flowerbeds to plant perennials in. I can't imagine trying to narrow down my favorite perennials to plant them in a city lot somewhere. It would be nearly impossible to do. There are so many beautiful daylilies, irises, lilies, hostas, sempervivums, etc etc. out there to choose from. Each of my three kids have mentioned that when they get their own homes/yards that need flowerbeds filled, that they will just come and raid my yard of their favorite perennials.

Have fun trying to choose only a few! I can't!

Brenda

Brenda- Your garden sounds like the place we would all love to come visit. Please post some pictures if you can.

lilynut- I just bought Ruffled Strawberry Parfait for spring delivery so was happy to see your picture.

Brenda - Hope to hear how your newest daylilies do next season.
lilynut - Great shot of the Ruffled Strawberry Parfait. Beautiful daylily.
Not sure how to post pictures. if I can figure that out I will post a few shots of our lilies from this year that my wife took. She is the photographer of the family.

Brenda,

You need to use a hosting service like photobucket to upload your photos to. Then use (on photobucket) the html code provided inserted to show the photo in your message.

Actually I have had an account with Photobucket for a few years already. Here is the address to my account for my albums...

http://www.valleyrimgirl.thenewtonfamily.ca/

On the left side are all the sub-albums dividing my perennials into different varieties.

I have not added any pictures from flowers that bloomed this summer for the first time...yet. That will be this winter's project. So, feel free to check back once in a while to see what is new. But with over 2200 different perennials/shrubs/bulbs, etc here in the yard and the majority of them being less than 3 years old, a lot of them haven't bloomed here yet. I can hardly wait until about 3 years from now when all the new daylilies will be nice little clumps and so will all the new irises, sedums, geraniums, veronicas, campanulas, lilies, hostas, sempervivums, peonies, etc. etc.

By the way, occasionally someone sells/trades me a mislabelled perennial and so, if you find some perennial that is definitely pictured incorrectly, please let me know so I can either remove it totally or label it correctly.

BTW, Del and others, over on the Far North there is a thread going about getting to know other Far North posters better, called the 'Far North Gardeners Roll Call'. Take a read through there and get to know some of us better. Is there a thread like this on the daylily forum anywhere to get to know each other better?

Brenda

Here is a link that might be useful: Far North Gardeners Roll Call