Daylily...Hemerocallis 'Orchid Candy'

You are correct dheppel about the 20 seedlings being named different names. The hybridizer can call them what ever he wants when he registers them as long as the names follow the American Hemerocallis Society rules(such things as number of letters and so on). Some daylily breeders do use a "prefix" as the first word of the name, such as all of the Pauline Henry daylilies had the prefix Siloam at the start. But this isn't a requirement. I live in Canada and we have purebred registered holsteins. All breeders must have a prefix and this must be the first word of the cow name. I agree that daylily naming seems kind of random to me. The breeders that use a prefix to me are getting extra advertising because you can always tell who bred them. But there is no rule to say that someone else can't use the prefix you use as the first word of a name they pick as well. For example James Gossard uses Heavenly as the first word of many of his daylilies but there are many daylilies that are already "Heavenly something" bred by other breeders. It is very confusing but I guess that's the way it's been for the whole time and no one has seen a reason to change it.

Laurie, somehow, I just can't see your DH being thrilled to get daylilies for Christmas, even if you do plant them for him. Maybe a tool or two or hockey tickets instead. :) Although he does seem to be happy with how the yard is turning out (daylilies, irises, etc and all) when I have been to the yard on Westman Gardeners tours. I suggested to my DH that I would give him daylilies for Christmas and he came back with the idea that he would then give me a hunting trip...then we could exchange after Christmas. The only thing he stipulated was that the value of the daylily gift had to be $25 while the hunting package would be $2500. I don't really think that would be fair. I also don't think he has any idea of the cost of daylilies either. Brenda

"The map isn't really for keeping the names of the cultivars straight on a day-to-day basis, it is in case your grandchild, a dog, a squirrel, etc., decides that they like the markers for their own purposes and you need to start over with the garden markers." Last year, a garden center had a sale, with fantastic prices. I snagged all the metal plant tags I could. These would not work well in a display or commercial garden, as they're supposed to be tied around branches of trees or shrubs. But I've been using them as daylily labels. I incise the name with a ballpoint pen and, for a while, you can see the ink. Even when that fades, the incised letters remain legible. But anyway, it was that comment about squirrels that made me laugh. We have a new bed, long and wide, with a path down the center, and with room for perhaps three cultivars per side, maybe even four. I don't recall how many daylilies I've got in there already, but they all had their metal tags. I went out one morning, and every single tag was lying neatly on the ground, in front of its daylily. I stuck them back in. Went out the next morning, and what did I see? Correct. Every single one lying in front of the plant. I now have them jammed so far into the soil that I have to feel around to find them. So, yes, maps are a VERY good idea!