Growing Daylilies Together

I love rich chocolate brown daylilies. I have a few diploids that are the color I like but I've yet to see a tetraploid in that tone. The tet browns I've seen always seem to have too much red and look almost mauve.

Here are some of my best browns-
My favorite thus far is 'MILK CHOCOLATE' (Carney, 1967) The thick overlay of diamond dusting is gorgeous in the early morning sun. My only frustration is that I've tried for two years w/o success to set pods on it. Pollen is fertile but only on selective mates. It took me all summer last year to get 3 seeds from MC pollen on BW. I got lots of seedlings from BW x an unk yellow and MC x the same unk yellow. Tried all season this year to cross it both ways with 'PINEBELT PERFECTION' but no seeds on either plant. It set a ton of seeds on 'LEMON CREME PIE'.



I like the flower on 'BROWN WITCH' too but unfortunately its foliage has not been happy here. It turned pale yellow immediately after flowering its first year in the garden. Then this spring, the second year, it stayed almost white until midseason. It straightened up as bloom started and went to bed this fall still looking good so maybe it was just a climate adjustment.



'QUILT PATCH' was gorgeous this year.


This little one was growing in the former display garden I purchased this spring. I am not sure if the label is correct as it looks very different from pictures posted at Tinkers by that name. But I thought it really might be a fun one to use in my brown lines.



And finally 'TIERED BRONZE' was given to me by someone who knows I like browns. It is a little more orange than I'm looking for but I did get some seed from it this year crossed with 'MILK CHOCOLATE'.

wow, am I really the only one here who loves brown?

Debra- I really, really like MILK CHOCOLATE. I don't have any browns but that one I would like to have in my garden. I have seen other pictures of it so I know I didn't take a fancy to one picture, even if yours is a fabulous one. This has got to be one of those oldies but goodies that stand up to the test of time and just never get old.

I think that I like Mama's Hot Chocolate more that I like Milk chocolate (have both). This is it's FFO. Crazy on fire with gold DD.

this is without the sun on it...

Someone posted in another forum (can't remember which) a cross of Prairie Blues eyes x Trahlyta. Great seedling! Right up my alley!

Dani-

MAMA'S HOT CHOCOLATE looks like it has more orange in it while HOT CHOCOLATE has more brown in it. Of course, I am basing that statement just from looking at your picture. I have never actually seen either in person. In fact this is the first I have heard of it.

I can see that one difference would be that it has an eye while MILK CHOCOLATE does not. Can you tell us why you prefer MAMA'S HOT CHOCOLATE over MILK CHOCOLATE? Is is the flower color or some plant characteristic?

Yeah! some more brown admirers posting today!

Rita, MC does have an eye. You just can't see it well from the angle of my photo. It is smaller and not as dark as they eye on MHC. You're right, it is a classic that has stood the test of time. It was registered in 1967 but didn't win an HM until 2000. It was also much taller this year than the 26" it is registered at. I didn't measure but I'd guess closer to 30".

Dani, I really like MHC! I know it is more brown than your photo that is a very hard color to capture right in my camera. The one taken in shade or overcast day is probably closer to true color? This is one that I've been thinking about getting but have never been able to find a reliable source. I like the dark edge. MC will sometimes leave a little bit of red edge where the dusted overlay color doesn't go completely to the edge. Are the flowers a little smaller than MC?

How is the branching and budcount compared to MC? Is it hardy? Which cold zone are you in?

I'll have to go check out that seedling. I am so hoping some of my MC & BW babies bloom next year.

Here is TRILITHIA, a diploid. Its color is a very nice and quite saturated brown and the form is perfect. One of my favorite.