It's time for the annual thread, even though many of us have most daylilies showing their lowest bud counts ever. I know many Northerners won't be able to participate until later, and that's fine. We're looking for single scapes with the highest bud count here.

I had three dormant daylilies tied for second place that each had 26 buds on their best scapes:

Clarification had much taller scapes than the registered height and beat the registered bud count of 25 by one bud. All the scapes had some lateral branching. Pretty good for a plant that appeared to have died the first year I had it. (Edited after I discovered Blue Swallowtail had 28 buds.)

Serrated Sentinel impressed me in its third year to bloom with great branching and bud count. It also multiplied very quickly and had one instant rebloom scape. It was a bonus that I thought I had tossed, but it turned out to be what I labeled as Lee's Loss. What a fortunate mistake!

El Desperado returned to its former glory this year, after four or five years of repeated grub attacks had kicked it off the Bud King list.

I'll post my second place Bud Kings tomorrow. Please let me know which ones did well for you this season!

Debra