So my new sweet gardening friend @fiwit suggests Daylilies -- holy wow! who knew?!? Now I'm inspired. Mary suggests I simply say: I'm new here, new at gardening, new in the lovely Zone 9B of southern California & gardening in a very small spot in pots on my little apartment patio.

Any suggestions for small fragrant colorful DL's? I've got tons of good sun & we love the bold colors & interesting flowers -- but not much space!

My favorite words are when my husband says: "I think there's space for one more pot..."

Thank you all for your enthusiasm and passion. I'm so glad to have found you!

Welcome to ATP, Julieb.

there are a few members here from California who will surely guide you in the right direction.

Welcome Julie!!

Beautiful patio!

For pots, I would start by looking at DLs that are SHORT. I just did a "search by characteristics" and put scape (stalk) height "24" and got a bajillion results.

click here to see the results of my search

JulieB, !

Hello JulieB.....always nice to have someone to new to lead astray!

JulieB

Julie great to see you here.

to the cult Julie!

I don't know about fragrant varieties but in terms of popping colors on miniatures you really can't go wrong with any of Grace Stamile's plants. Beyond that, you could see what Bill Maryott has (he's outside of Monterrey) that does well with the sort of conditions you will see in CA. Less humidity etc. Finally, I would also say given how dry Riverside can be during the late spring and summer I would make sure to water water water your daylilies especially if they are getting a lot of sun.

Julie!

JulieB!!!

Julie!!!!!

Have I got a daylily (dl) for you! Fragrant? YES! Pretty? YES! This dl takes a lickin' & keeps on tickin'. I grew it in zone 10 in coastal south Florida & it was my second best performer. It took the heat, the sun, the drought -- everything! She's a beauty. Oh & she's only 16" so perfect for your patio. And I might mention that even though she's listed as a dormant; that's relative to where it's growing & it never went dormant on me ---- maybe semi evergreen.
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Siloam Double Classic')

And my very best performer was Ming Toy. Bright, not fragrant, the first to bloom & went off & on all the way till Oct. AND it makes proliferations (baby plants on the scape). Bright pops of color & only 20" scapes so again, great for your patio.
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Ming Toy')

I found both of these to increase fast so you will be giving fans to your friends.

Welcome, Julie! Love your patio.

I went to the AHS Daylily Cultivar Search page and did an advanced search for: "small", "single", "evergreen", "very fragrant". I got 31 daylilies that matched, but I don't have any of them, so can't comment on how they perform.

Some daylilies that are listed as fragrant are not fragrant enough to smell unless one is right on top of them. But then again, it could all be in the smeller

Link to AHS advanced search:
http://www.daylilydatabase.org...

On a search like that, does it use "small" as the height, or as the bloom size?

What a great start! I understand evergreen & small @blue23rose - single because of the size? I love all of your suggestions so far! Does nocturnal mean what I think it means? Thank you all so kindly! Keep 'em coming!

Yes, nocturnal means what you think it means.

Welcome, Julie! Hooray to @fiwit for bringing you here

Can you tell us more about what you like, what colors, single or double flowers, patterns or solids?

If you like doubles, I agree with Ann about Siloam Double Classic, though it is a dormant so I've grown and admired one of its child plants, All About Eve, for staying evergreen. And I also agree with JWWC that the Stamile daylilies generally do well.

Here are some I can recommend that are smaller size, fragrant, and have done well in pots:

All About Eve
Baby Betsy
Harbor Gate
Lullaby Baby
Pink Flirt
Spotted Fever
Uninhibited

Others that have interesting patterns, exceptional color, or just solid performance that have done well for me, but lack the fragrant aspect you are looking for, include:

Bobbie Gerold
Crystal Blue Persuasion
Darker Shade
Dixie Land Band
Fanciful Finery
Frankly Scarlet
Happy Hooligan
Little Liza Jane
Monica Mead
Morrie Otte
Nordic Night
Ransom Note (currently showing in my avatar)

Daylilies are so easy to grow compared to many others, and can give you greenery year-round. Just wait till you find out how easy they are to hybridize and play with to create your own unique flowers!

fiwit said:On a search like that, does it use "small" as the height, or as the bloom size?

You are right, Mary, thanks for mentioning that. I missed that when I was searching. Small means the bloom size. One would have to enter a scape height range to get the shorter daylilies.