In third place, there was a tie between Best for Last and Teddy Bear's Picnic. Both cultivars had scapes with 28 buds.

Best for Last

Teddy Bears Picnic

Fourth Place finisher was Sugar Magnolia with 27 buds on the best scape. The other scapes had 21-26 buds.

Cool Hand Luke reached the fifth place spot with 26 buds.

Debra

I generally don't count but Summer Hymns is always in my top budding dayliliesl

Sherry - Autumn Minaret is one tall daylily. It does have nice lateral branching.

Dick - Summer Hymns sounds like a good one!

Sixth place in my garden was a tie, with Kentucky Lucky and Tiffany Shade both having 23 buds.

Kentucky Lucky

Tiffany Shade, 23 buds

Three were tied for 8th place with 21 buds:

Last Chance for Romance

Willow Dean Smith

Strolling in the Roses

There were several with 20 buds including TNT, Cherokee Star. Fighting Fire on a reblooms scape, and Sangria With Mia.

Debra

Debra: I really like Sugar Magnolia! Desperado Love is interesting too. Glad you kept it!

I don't generally count buds but I keep track of how long they bloom and know which gave a great show almost daily. Here's some of the top performers:

Past Forgetting

Purple Riot probably had the most buds but bloomed itself out quickly, but what a show!

Noid

Also top performers that I've already posted a couple of times: Carmen Renee [probably the 2nd most buds], Jungle Butterfly, Lilly & Petals, Kent's Favorite Two, & Priscilla's Rainbow.

Ah there it is, one of my favorite annual threads! And.. I am not ready, so lazy this year. It's too late for some, but at least I can still count on WDS ;) The only one I counted buds on was Sherry Lane Carr, on one scape :) It has rather short scapes this year except one. Tall like previous years with 29 buds. It used to be my bud queen one of the years don't remember but what I've noticed is when they get bigger they usually have lot more scapes but way less buds. Still the total number of flowers remains the same. I am counting flowers as usual this year, and thinking about recording what blooms when to see the duration (a bit time consuming but I have a small collection). I have a one bud wonder nominee - Gilded by Grace :)

Love this photo of El Desperado!

Too many daylilies here to count buds but I notice that it's the same ones from year to year which are always my champs in the best-budded category. Most are those which are considered 'older' but when seen in a clump blooming like crazy, they stand out. Since re-bloom is almost non-existent here I count on these to bloom for a long time and they deliver.

Early Days

Cheddar Cheese

Jolyene Nichole

South Seas

Ruffled Apricot

Incendiary

Treasure of the Southwest

Buttered Popcorn

Castle Camelot

Robins Tuition

Inherited Wealth

Lavender Heartthrob

Spiritual Corridor

Freedom's Triumph

Flutterbye

And for the late-bloomers which haven't started yet, the best:

The Jury's Out

VT The Last Melon and VT Sophie (from Olallie)

I just want to say that this is always, hands-down, the most useful thread on this forum...so great to see information and match it to our locations.

Thanks you sincerely to all who contribute.

I'll try to find time to go count scapes...it's the last day of summer vacation for us here in Indianapolis...I gotta get the kids to the spray park while I still can ;-)

Cheers!

~Anika

Nat - I find it interesting that you find that as a cultivar clumps up, the buds go down. I think it is true for many evergreens and semievergreens, but less so for dormants. The dormant El Desperado is in an insanely large clump here, but the outside scapes that receive the most sun continue to have bud counts around 30. Likewise, Teddy Bears Picnic and Suga Magnoila,bothdormant, are large clumps with excellent bud counts.

Brad - Thanks for sharing your top performers.

Celeste - I find it interesting that Freedom's Triumph performs so well for you. How long have you had that one? I lost is once during a wet winter, and it is down to one fan and barely alive here. If Spiritual Corridor and Flutterbye do that well for you, I better get them in more sun, since bud counts of those are sort of mediocre here.

Ruby Grandeur--mid twenties. Willow Dean Smith and We Are the Champions--lower twenties. Women Seeking Men--upper teens. But I value instant rebloom often more than high bud count (on some cultivars, the flowers tend to come in clusters, which does not make for a long season). For example, In the Heart of It All is still blooming on rebloom scapes.

I kind of go along with Celeste. My best mass bloomers are the older types.

Top Prizes go to:

Yesterday Memories

Pandora's Box

Joan Senior

Sherry Lane Carr

Leslie Renee

Coral Corduroy

South Seas

Coral Majority

Happy Returns

Bela Lugosi

Tuscawilla Tigress

There are others of course that do amazing things one year and a little less the next, but for reliability in the landscape these are my go to guys.....Maryl

Mantis - Could you post a photo of Ruby Grandeur? I don't remember seeing that one. We can start another thread on Best Rebloomers.

Maryl - Pandora's Box is another one that never did that well for me. It had lots of scapes, but not that many buds. I gave it to my sister who seems to like it quite well. I'm glad to see Leslie Renee doing well for you.

Debra

Here is the photo of Ruby Grandeur from Mantix. I think I need that one for the red bed, if it puts on that much of a show. Just look at the branching and budding on that front scape.

Also Mantis, I forgot to say that I'm pleased Willow Dean Smith is performing well for you too. Mine only gets 5 hours of sun now, but it still produces plenty of buds.

Debra

Celeste, I have 2 from your list, Incendiary and Lav Heartthrob, and they are sadly not among the best budded or even those with seemingly a lot of flowers. Incendiary only had one scape which either dried or something broke it but sent up a rebloom scape, and LH doesn't have a lot of flowers but what I like about it is the bloom size and that it is taller than registered 33 (22)

I didn't really check for the best bud counts this year, although I did count the ones on my best seedling & the count was as good as past years, from 21 to 29, despite that I always seem to set lots of seed pods on it. I think it must be really easy, because I don't think I used it that much.

Sherrygirl, I have had what I bought as Autumn Minaret for years, the picture always looked right, but recently I read that it is supposed to be tall. Now I see yours & looked up the stats, I am sure mine is not AM, not nearly that tall.

First place with 33 buds - a tie
Lullaby Baby and Tim Kornder
other scapes on LB 31 22 (10 scapes total), other scapes on TK 25 16 (3 scapes)
2nd place with 30 buds
Willow Dean Smith
other scapes 26 14 IR-17, IR from the same fan with the most buds :)
3rd place with 29 buds
Sherry Lane Carr (and noid dip)
other scapes are shorter with just a few buds
4th place and 27 buds - a tie
Forty Days and Forty Nights & Strawberry Candy
FDFN other scapes 19, IR 10 & 9 (10 scapes), SC other scapes too dry, IR 10
5th place with 26 buds - a tie
Joan Senior and Xon Valdez
JS suprised me! other scapes 18 17 17 (4 scapes) and XV's 18 14 (7 scapes) but it's very top budded

Notes: Only Lullaby Baby is consistently in the top all years, but last year best scape had more buds
Sherry Lane Carr was among the best budded once
My previous bud queens such as Bombay Silk that had 38 buds with 2 scapes now has 13 scapes and the best budded is only 17; Iowa Summer Evening with 39 in the beginning has only 11 buds on the best scape, but 20 scapes in comparison with just 3 etc
The largest clump is Soul on Fire, and it has 30 scapes, but the best budded scapes only have 12 buds
I counted buds (& scapes) on 91 daylilies today and I am tired now :)

Nat - It's great to see Willow Dean Smith doing so well for three of us, and Sherry Lane Carr is on at least two lists. Lullabye Baby really stands the test of time! But the most amazing thing in your post is that you have a clump with 30 scapes!!! Soul on Fire must be on fire with its multiplying. What are you feeding that one, and how long did it take to get that many? Most daylilies need dividing by the time they have 8-10 scapes to keep the higher bud counts. I think El Desperado must have the most scapes in my garden. It has about 16, and I really shouldn't have let it get that big. But it has - even though I've shared divisions with several friends over the years. Only the scapes on the outside of the clump have the high bud counts though. Finally, I can't believe you counted scapes on 91 daylilies today. I take stock all through the season on morning and eveniing garden walks, and I have a general idea which ones are in the top 12-15. So those are the ones I double check before I post bud counts.

I adore Willow Dean Smith so much that I'm going to post another photo of it.

Debra

I'd go count scapes but my Blue-Capped Cordon-Bleu is STILL bud building.

Darn thing won't give up this year! I don't know if it just loved the cold or the last 2 years or what as I don't know anyone else who grows it.

Cheers!

~Anika

Annika - Blue-Capped Cordon-Bleu always looked so pretty in your photos. What a nice one to have bud building!

Debra

Probably not a good year for bud count here as the high amount of rain we had this year and late start to the season really skewed the numbers. Plus other daylilies are just starting their second year here so I'd hate to mislead anyone. Enjoying reading everyones comments.

sorry,didn't even think about counting buds, I had a bunch that didn't bloom this year. guess they didn't like being moved. maybe I will have better luck next year with them. didn't have very many to rebloom either like I ususally do.I have to try and repot a bunch of them, too.

Julia and Jean - This seemed to be a year of challenges for daylily growers. I hope next season will bless you with more blooms. Many of mine had low bud counts and poor rebloom this season, and at least 20 didn't bloom at all.

Debra

The more I see it the more I really like Willow Dean Smith!

I love Willow Dean Smith, and its on my wish list for some time in the future., but,Debra has shown plenty that I just love them, and they are on m,y wish list too.a few uf's I like a lot.

Cherry Cheeks with 36 and then Yellow Monkey with 32. I don't think any others broke 30 this year.

Wow, Ed. My Cherry Cheeks has never done that!

Debra, Thank you for posting Willow Dean Smith again.I just love that one, and wish I had it growing here.Its beautiful.but you also have a bunch of beauties I really like, but, that one just steals the show.

jean

Ooh love this pic of Cherry Cheeks with all those buds!

Debra, WDS is so pretty! Mine is already blooming on its one rebloom scape. Soul on Fire is huge, yes. 5 years old never divided. Still has some scapes in the center. I did not fertilize that bed (and several more) this year :$

Edward - That is one pretty scape on Cherry Cheeks! Mine is in too much shade to do much these days.

Debra

I have Cherry Cheeks, mine has never produced that many buds! That is just awesome. I really like Tiffany Shade.