Growing Daylilies Together

Other than contacting the hybridizer, is there any way to know if a certain dormant cultivar, particularly those hybridized in the north, will tolerate our summer heat, our relatively warm winters, and thrive again the next year?

My experience is mixed - - for example, Forestlake Ragamuffin has done will for me, but Spiny Sea Urchin struggles. I asked a couple of smaller hybridizers (one in Ohio, one in southern Michigan) about their plants. One said she knew of people growing them in North Carolina and they were doing fine. The other said that he simply did not know.

Some of the newer cultivars coming out of the north are breath-taking (especially those with teeth), but I don't want to spend $100 or $200 or more and end up losing the plant the first year.

Your thoughts??

Larry (I live near Augusta, Georgia)

Larry, this is sooo ironic!! I just typed up a new thread for this exact same topic last nite & got an internal error message & couldn't log back on. My idea was to start a list of what is working & what isn't, I think that would be a huge benefit to all of us.

Before moving here, I got rid of alot of dls thinking they won't make it & now kicking myself. Forestlake Ragamuffing for one & now see it's on Abajian's price list! I wish I would have caught that sooner! I stopped getting rid of them when it occurred to me to just try them, can't hurt, right? I will be able to report back on Ruffled Strawberry Parfait & a couple others soon.

I know what you mean about all those beauties up there! I really would like Barbara Watts & Bonibrae Sharky to name just a few! I see Nicole Harry selling Bonibrae Sharky on the LA, does that mean it'll make it here? Or, is she just using it for the season & selling it off before it succumbs? Did you see Trimmers Fall '10 intro COMPETITIVE EDGE? He had to ship it north so he wouldn't lose it.

My local dl society has a member that owns a nursery here & another 1 hour north of here. She reports that the 1 hour makes a difference! Because of her, I found out Lavender Blue Baby, registered dormant, is an evergreen here so I brought it's Tet version with me.

I'm surprised Spiny isn't fairing well for you, wasn't Stamile in FL when he introduced that one? I have Spiny too & thought it would make it just fine.

I email regularly with a lady in Cartersville, GA., she tells me she can grow everything. Is the climate much different? She does have a lot of the newer ones & if there is one in particular you want to know about, I can ask her for you.

Ok, I know you said outside of contacting the hybridizer, but I couldn't help myself, lol! I emailed Barry Matthie about Bonibrae Sharky & he said it is a hard core dormant, but Petit has had it for the last 2 bloom seasons & is increasing. So far so good Anyone want to buy me a Xmas present, lol! I've been good

Cartersville is in north Georgia, and the weather there is significantly different from ours. Even as far south as the north side of Atlanta gets snow and hard freezes almost every winter. There is a geological "line" that runs across Georgia from Columbus to Macon to Augusta called the "fall line." The temperature starts dropping once you cross that line. Macon and Augusta are 5-7 warmer than Atlanta almost all year long. Because of this, I am sure that the hard dormants do fine there. From having Bill Waldrop speak at our club meeting (his facility is just north of Atlanta), I know that he is working on dormants.
For your info, I grow Ruffled Strawberry Parfait. Have had if for three years now. It blooms well, but has not increased much. For me it starts blooming after almost everything else in my garden has finished. Will be interesting to see what it does for you.
As far as a given flower, no, I have no specifics in mind, but several of the recent introductions (last couple of years) by Gossard, Polston and Korth really look great.

Larry W wrote:


Hey Larry,

I lost Forestlake Ragamuffin after two years in North Florida (1/2 hour south of Gainesville) yet people in Central Florida didn't have a problem. Others I have lost are Tet. Stella D'oro and Techny Spider. Those are the only dormants that I have lost over the past 15 years.

One trick if buying the northern dormants that we learned was that you want to plant them in one area of the garden together. If you plant them between all your evergreens this will stunt their growth in the spring as the evergreens bolt out of the ground, they then shade your poor dormants. This will hurt their overall growth over the season.

JP

I also have found that slow start plants and small foliage plants can be stunted if planted north of tall foliage daylilies. I now try to pay attention to dormancy and foliage size when arranging for planting.

Another critical factor is proximity to trees. If I plant anything too near a tree, even on the south side with plenty of sun, it will not thrive.

The place I have lost the most plants is in pots through inattention. Failure to water, or failure to protect and water in winter. I found that even when the plant is dormant, the winter sun hits that black plastic pot, heats it up and dries it out. Plant dies.

I have lost two newly planted cultivars at the hands of a tiny white grub that eats the crown of the plant. This has never been a problem with established plants. Both of those were plants grown locally and I received them unwashed with soil, different years, different sources.