Stella really is tough!I have it around my mailbox.They repaved my road and the paving machine burnt Stella to a crisp,but up through the wreckage came tons of scapes!What a Gal! Betsy

I'm like you Kay, If it is a new one, I let one bloom open so I can verify it is the correct plant, but then I cut the whole scape off rather than just pinch back the blooms. IT IS SO HARD TO DO but pays off the next year for sure! Nancy

I guess this is as good a place to post as any. I haven't posted here before but I was reading and researching all summer to decide what plants to buy and where to buy them, so I know you folks have some good advice. I started with a few daylilies in May and knew that I needed more. After reading glowing reviews here and elsewhere, I got a last-shipping-day order from Maryott. It should be no surprise that I received plenty of bonus plants (plus, nothing beats finding out that you have even more plants than the invoice shows once you start pulling the rubberbands off), and they were all in the ground by Sept. 30. I suppose it's a good problem to have, but I'm not sure whether to let the new scapes grow. A single fan of BOLD MOVE (it was a double fan but one of the fans hasn't recovered...the only fan I lost on over 20 Maryott plants) put up a scape in late October, and I decided it was worth it to let it bloom. It has at least seven buds showing so far, and I think it will start opening around Nov. 12. But on Nov. 6 I noticed a scape starting on a big 7-fan DARK REFLECTION. This probably won't bloom until around Thanksgiving, and being in Houston, the weather might hold up, but it might not. Is the smart move to cut it off and let the plant conserve its energy? I'm not sure what kind of temperatures or short daylight hours will stop it from blooming nicely since this is my first year with daylilies, but it's rare to get a real hard freeze here. Thanks, Nate

I'm no expert but it seems logical to me considering that plants expend energy to produce leaves, flower stalks/scapes, seed production and roots, that any energy that is not used/saved could/would be redirected elsewhere. Take us humans for example, any unused energy turns to fat. So the energy saved could potentially be redirected into the production of more leaves before it gets too hot or into the roots when the temperature cools down after a hot period. If the hosta is an early flowering variety, then the energy could/would be used for leaf production. If we are dealing with a late flowering variety the energy would/could go to the roots. NOT SURE I'm on solid ground regarding my last three sentences because I don't quite understand the role of temperature in root development. I do know that hostas need warmth to emerge and that they need a cold spell to go dormant. What goes on during this dormancy? Re energy I was of the understanding that you don't let a tulip flower go to seed, so as to redirect the energy into the bulb. You don't cut off the foliage because they are required for energy storage. Sometimes hostas for various reasons (lack of sufficient sunlight/energy) don't send up stalks/ flower at all due to a lack of energy. Secondly, I've never seen my hostas get a second flush of leaves, either because I have never cut my scapes before flowering OR because I've been unobservant. So, if hormones trigger certain events to take place, the hormone starting seed production just cannot do its job if the scape has been removed but the saved energy surely has to go somewhere. SO now I've thoroughly confused myself because I don't know what conditions trigger the hormones to do their job and because I don't know how many hormones are involved. If only one hormone controls the scape formation, flower formation, seed formation cycle, energy still has to be used at each stage of this cycle because changes occur. Any energy saved at any stage of the cycle is left for the next cycle. NOW, last summer I dug up a Sagae that didn't seem to be growing. It had great root development but hardly any top growth. So, what happened? Was it lack of hormones or lack of energy. I would assume lack of energy/nutrients because Sagae was competing with tree roots. Humans go into starvation mode when not enough nutrients are available. What do plants do? Eventually they die but how do they decide whether to produce leaves or roots. Surely, this is dependent on the type of nutrients/energy available. I guess this interplay of environment and heredity is really complex. I was ready to delete these ramblings but have decided to post instead as there might be someone out there who can point out any fallacious reasoning or throw more light on the subject of the potential of harnessed energy in the development of the hosta.