Sent EMail

While working out in my beds today, I was taking a ripe pod off of When My Sweetheart Returns and I got to thinking about this thread. I felt I had to post. It really bothered me a lot that some people think that Dr Apps was able to retire by using some slick marketing and I think that it is unfortunate that someone would say this about him. He has brought many fine daylilies to market during his hybridizing career. I just can't see where having his name connected to a group of "oldie but goodies" daylilies is a bad thing. I have personal experience growing many of the Trophy Taker's and mine have NOT come from the TT marketing. Some I have purchased from daylily farms, many I have received in trades with friends, and one was a bonus I received when purchasing at a local daylily farm. When the owner told me it was an "Apps" that is a good rebloomer, I took it. I have grown myself or have first hand experience with many of these Trophy Takers. Dark Eyed Magic, an Apps intro, I bought at a big box store several years ago. It does not have a real long bloom season, but to be fair, my plant has been sliced and diced for trading, and moved several times. It sits near Siloam Ury Winniford, and between the two of them, I like DEM much better. Janice Brown was a purchase this year from Aren't I Pretty Daylilies. It was a triple fan and bloomed in a pot for me. I received a small clump of Jen Melon in a secret pal daylily exchange last year. She bloomed last year, was dug up and replanted when we moved. JM blooms fairly late here and added some nice color when alot of the plants were done for the year. She is becoming one of my favorites. Miss Quinn's World was the bonus plant. I fell in love with the smokey plum eye that is just a shade darker than the rest of the flower. It has already sent up increase fans after being planted the second week of July. I'm still hoping for a late rebloom. Moonlit Masquerade was a gift from a poster to this board, Royce (who I haven't seen posting lately) and it just a wonderful plant. I wouldn't be without it. I saw Royal Frosting at a local friend's house. I was with her when she purchased it at a local daylily farm, and it has increased to a nice sized clump, blooming vigorously it's first full season in her garden. It's still blooming now. My friend is quite impressed with it. I just received Siloam Ethel Smith from a friend, so I can't comment on it yet. Siloam Double Classic is just that - a classic flower that is a garden staple for many daylily lovers. I love mine, be it a single flower or a double. I grew Strawberry Candy for many years, and one year, I stopped counting scapes at 30. It did not bloom the pretty pink color that I had hoped for, but many of the "pinks" do not bloom true in our area. I could not find fault with how well it grew, multiplied and bloomed however. I just picked up a single fan of Strutter's Ball in a trade this year and it is already a double. Even as a single fan, it sent up a scape. I received a small clump of Final Touch from a friend last spring and it lived in a pot, moved with us, and was replanted in the heat and humidity of last August. It has increase beautifully and is still blooming here right now. I love it. I grew Happy Returns when I was first starting to grow dayliies and it performed well for me. I also have another Apps daylily, Big Smile, that I received in a trade with a friend and it is definitely a favorite with me and people who come to visit. When My Sweetheart Returns is a new purchase, from a local daylily farm, and I already have several increase fans. And last but not least, I bought a pot of a daylily called Fragrant Treasure from a local box store probably 6 years ago. It is registered as an Iverson daylily, but Dr App's name was listed on the info about this plant. Fragrant Treasure turned out to be a real treasure, blooming several times during the season and most times until the frost gets it in October. It is by far my most prolific bloomer and rebloomer of all 300 plus daylilies that I have in my yard. It is very nice 4 inch pale yellow flower that has a wonderful fragrance. When everything else is done, Fragrant Treasure is still putting up scapes. Do my daylilies grow in average conditions? What exactly are average conditions? A year when August weather is so dry that we have no rain for several weeks at a time along with 80 and 90 degree heat? A spring that surprises us with a late hard freeze that lasts a week and causes the death of many established shrubs, flowering trees and perennials? A summer so wet and cool that locals don't get much use from their pools? We've had all of those. I water once a week if we don't get any rain in a 7 day period. I feed my plants Hooker's Formula that I mix up myself, once in the spring. New plants that are added to my beds get some Peter's All Purpose right after planting. I try to keep up with removing sprent scapes. I save seed pods of the nicer plants to share with other gardeners. And I like to keep prolifs on the mother plants until I see roots form. I don't think that there are any daylilies out that will grow pefectly in EVERY part of the country. I think you have to experience the plants for yourself to find out which ones will work for you. Many of the Happily Ever Appsters and the Trophy Takers, however, are good ones to start with. Almost all are modestly priced, and are available from daylily farms and don't have be purchased as part of an expensive group. Just my two cents, Linda

Despite the common name, daylilies are not lilies.......in fact, they are not even related to true lilies (Lilium species). You will very likely get a much better response to your question if you were to post it in the Daylily forum :-) It is pretty active and there are some very knowledgeable daylily growers and breeders there.

Dormant seeds need to be cold stratified. The next time refrigerate the seeds for a couple of weeks. You do know the seedlings will not be true to the parent, don't you?