Hey everyone! I'm really debating on the last daylily I'm getting from Oakes. I've picked a few that I want, but I'm going back and forth on "Asterisk," so I'm curious what your thoughts are on "Asterisk" and the following daylilies:

**Golden Hibiscus**
I'm really interested in the form on this -- is it northern hardy and does it retain the tightly-recurved form on most or all blooms? Anyone know the budding/branching stats on this?

**Asterisk **
does this do well up north? Any input on this one would be appreciated because someone once recommended that I get Jocelyn's Oddity over this one, but didn't explain why.

**Diabolique**
Is this a poor-substance bloom? It looks thin in pictures, but it's hard to tell. I like the veining I'm seeing, but that's not enough to purchase it...does it have good bud/branch counts?

**Jerusalem**
Anyone know if this has a lot of buds, good branching, thick scapes, etc?

**Leprachaun's Wealth**
Does this rebloom in zone 5 (and lower)?

**Golden Prize**
Does this rebloom up north? Any idea whether this has a lot of buds or not?

Sorry but I don't happen to have any of those. On ordering from Oakes, they do have nice plants but their prices are very high, especially on some of the older cultivars that you could probably get for much less on the Lily Auction. For instance, they want $50 for Destined To See and I am sure you can get that one for half the price they are charging.

What Cindy says is true, but when I've received things from Oakes it has always been a clump. Never a double fan - a clump. I've had as many as 7 full sized fans. Only once did I get one with only 4 fans. The root systems they send correspond to that. They are so big and dense it's sometimes hard to keep air pockets out when planting them. So yes, you could well find them at less cost on the LA, but chances are it would also be less plant. This is just information based on my experience. I'm not endorsing one over the other.

Both of you are correct and your input is appreciated. I'm aware their prices are higher...I have price lists for 2-3 local daylily farms in my area and Oakes is about 4-5 times more expensive on a lot of the cultivars, but as they say "don't look a gift horse in the mouth"...it's free money. That's why I had a really hard time deciding on my prize, though...the raffle prize is for a $50 gift certificate, but if you do the math, it's about a $20-$25 value, as best as I can tell.

I figured I would wait and see what is shipped because, as Donald has said, it seems they send very large plants (whether that's extra fans or just larger fans, I don't know) and I was going to reserve my judgement for when my daylilies arrived. I can tell you that they seem to have pretty good customer service so far and I still think it is generous of them to donate gift certificates to our raffles. Their product might be superior to others, too, I just don't know, but I will find out soon!

Instead of choosing cultivars I know I can get locally for really inexpensive prices, I was going to try to get cultivars from them that aren't at the daylily farms I've been to. If the daylilies fail in my climate, I won't be as disappointed since I will be getting most of them for just the cost of shipping, so it makes it worth going out on a limb a bit to bring in some 'new blood' for hybridizing in my area.

Golden hibiscus blooms short, down in the foliage here. it was culled for me because of that. If you like it, try Mary's Gold, or Plaza del Sol.

DogsNDaylilies said:**Jerusalem**
Anyone know if this has a lot of buds, good branching, thick scapes, etc?

**Leprachaun's Wealth**
Does this rebloom in zone 5 (and lower)?

I have both of these growing in zone 4. They are growing in a field so they do not get water other than rain, are weeded only once every few years, have not been divided in more than 15 years, never fertilized, etc. They are definitely hardy to this zone. LW can rebloom even under the terrible growing conditions in that field. Since bud count, branching, scape height, thickness, etc., all depend significantly on how the plants are grown I will not offer any comments on those for Jerusalem. I like both cultivars and have no plans to discard them. Like most cultivars they do have some problems with flower opening after cool/cold nights.

@FrillyLily - thank you for the info on Golden Hibiscus! That's one of the ones I was most interested in, but it was also the most expensive. That's good information to know about it blooming in the foliage. I'm trying to hybridize for shorter daylilies, in general, as well as daylilies with larger blooms (both in 'short' and 'medium' sizes), so I can work with the plant a little in my hybridizing, I think, if I cross it with something that has shorter/more proportionate foliage. Do you remember if it had a long bloom season and/or lots of buds?

...And, most importantly to me right now, do you remember if most of the blooms were flat-faced or recurved/bagel shape? :smily:

They do have Mary's Gold, so that might end up being my 'bonus plant' that I get (they allow requests for bonus plants, which I think is great...they just can't guarantee that they'll have it, of course).



@admmad - Maurice, you are a daylily genius, aren't you? I feel like there isn't a question out there that you don't have some sort of answer to or knowledge about. Thank you, yet again.

Can you tell me how the scapes of LW and Jerusalem are in relation to other daylilies? Is LW fairly thin in comparison? Are Jerusalem's pretty sturdy? Do either of them tend to have more than 2-way branching? Have you noticed lots of blooms and/or a long bloom season on either of them? I'm having a hard time figuring out information about their hybridizing potential in my breeding program (my goals: thick scapes, lots of buds/branches) from the pictures because there's only bloom pictures...apparently scape pictures don't sell the plant to the average person.

I think Plaza del Sol will look the most close to GH.
I do not know how the blooms open on GH, just that a good deal of them can't open because they are in the foliage. I don't know about bud count, didn't notice that. Mary's Gold is tall, it is a stand out across the yard for me.

DogsNDaylilies said:- Maurice, you are a daylily genius, aren't you? I feel like there isn't a question out there that you don't have some sort of answer to or knowledge about. Thank you, yet again.

Oh, there are lots of daylily topics that I know nothing about. You are very welcome.

Can you tell me how the scapes of LW and Jerusalem are in relation to other daylilies? Is LW fairly thin in comparison? Are Jerusalem's pretty sturdy?

Because of the way I am growing them any comments I make are not likely to be true in other locations or when you grow them. LW has a thinner scape than Jerusalem and it is a bit taller. Jerusalem has a proportionately thick scape for its ploidy and flower size.

Do either of them tend to have more than 2-way branching?

I believe so here (particularly for LW) and I expect that they would with better growing conditions - that is genetically they probably do.

Have you noticed lots of blooms and/or a long bloom season on either of them?

LW has a longer bloom season than Jerusalem in my growing conditions. But because of their growing conditions here that may not be meaningful. LW was divided and lined out into a short row many years ago so it has a bit of an advantage over Jerusalem in the amount of self-competition (size of clump) it has to endure.

Maurice - thank you! As for growing conditions, I'm not going to hold you to your answers, but it does help to have some information to compare cultivars so that I'm not buying as blindly, so to speak. If it reblooms well for you up there, I hope it will do so here. Since it will be starting out as a small clump, it should be similar in performance to yours, at least at first, I would think. Most of my daylilies are planted in clay-like soil (although recent ones have been placed in my garden bed with better soil), so it's nice to know which perform well even without soil ammendments.

I appreciate the comparison of LW vs. Jerusalem. Jerusalem would fit better with my general hybridizing goals, LW seems like it would do better with my hybridizing for rebloomers, but would need a strong cultivar that matches all of my other requirements...that makes it a tougher one to work with, but doesn't rule it out just yet. Hmm...

Frillylily said:Golden hibiscus blooms short, down in the foliage here. it was culled for me because of that. If you like it, try Mary's Gold, or Plaza del Sol.

Sorry i do not grow any on your list but i have had Mary's Gold for 4 years now and i have decided it once already last year. This will always be my all yellow and while i never got any reblooms off her she is a nice multiplier and the blooms are big and showy at height of almost 3 feet.

By the way, Kevin, I was going to say something in another thread but I like your 'tag line' ("SO MANY DAYLILIES, SO LITTLE LAND")...boy, can't we all relate? Certainly I can, that's for sure! Maybe in a future daylily raffle I will get lucky enough to win a coupon or gift card to use toward more raised garden beds for all of these daylilies I'm purchasing (and winning).

As for Mary's Gold...it sounds like that one is a winner. Trouble is, gold colored daylilies are sort of a dime a dozen, IMHO. Although she DOES look gorgeous, I wasn't necessarily looking at her golden color as much as the bloom shape, plant habit, and reblooming tendencies. I feel that color is pretty easy to change/fix, but the other stuff is what's harder to achieve and what I want to really focus on. Once I get to where all of the genetics I'm working with in my hybridizing are pretty much thick-scaped, well-branched, high bud-count plants...then I imagine it will just be mostly about crossing for color (and/or patterns) at that point..

It's a little bit of a pity that I don't live close to Oakes' to where I could just go look at all of these, although I'm sure most are bloomed out. But then, whatever's blooming right now would just be all that more appealing because I need more blooms late in the season. The only thing I'm getting right now is my bud-building Royal Frosting, a bloom left on Lyonnesse, and some blooms on the rebloom scapes for Penny's Worth and Thanks Two Friends which have been holding out on me the last several days! A bloom or two a day is just not enough...I need more lates/reblooms!

DogsNDaylilys i too bought some later bloomers this year to help extend the season and have also looked at more early ones. I have the last bloom of Frans Hals today and rebloom scape on Awesome Candy open its first bud yesterday. So thats it and i am done once that scape has bloomed 7 times.
So today is Mary's Gold daylily of the day and yes plain yellow has been overused especially the small short ones. She has multiplied good in my yard full of clay(i exaggerate) and it will be interesting once more responses come in.
About the land thing i am going to make my biggest bed even bigger next year. Its either that or collect stamps haven't decided.

LoL, Kevin! Let me know how that 'stamp' thing works out for you. ;)

I guess its daylilys. I couldn't live without that 9 months or so of nervous anticipation to see all my hard work come through. Besides crossing stamps is called mail fraud.

DogsNDaylilies said:Hey everyone! I'm really debating on the last daylily I'm getting from Oakes. I've picked a few that I want, but I'm going back and forth on "Asterisk," so I'm curious what your thoughts are on "Asterisk" and the following daylilies:

**Golden Hibiscus**
I'm really interested in the form on this -- is it northern hardy and does it retain the tightly-recurved form on most or all blooms? Anyone know the budding/branching stats on this?

**Asterisk **
does this do well up north? Any input on this one would be appreciated because someone once recommended that I get Jocelyn's Oddity over this one, but didn't explain why.

**Diabolique**
Is this a poor-substance bloom? It looks thin in pictures, but it's hard to tell. I like the veining I'm seeing, but that's not enough to purchase it...does it have good bud/branch counts?

**Jerusalem**
Anyone know if this has a lot of buds, good branching, thick scapes, etc?

**Leprachaun's Wealth**
Does this rebloom in zone 5 (and lower)?

**Golden Prize**
Does this rebloom up north? Any idea whether this has a lot of buds or not?

I have had Jerusalem for years, and it has a lot of bright gold blooms. The only negative comment I have about it is that the blooms seem to all crowd at the top of the scape and it is hard to dead head. I am in NE IA zone 4B.

I totally agree with NeedRain on Oakes plants. Sometimes the clumps are so big, I have divided them before planting! I have bought plants at local DL club annual sale, v reasonable prices, but much smaller clumps/plants.

By the way - speaking of getting large clumps of daylilies, no matter the source....has anyone else come up with "gentle" ways of separating them? The best thing I have found is soaking them in a bucket of water which makes them seem to slide apart withut snapping pieces off. If someone has an easier way, would love to hear it, thanks in advance!

The larger size clumps are nice if you for some reason have a need for a large plant right then. But for the money it is better to buy a reasonable size double fan at an affordable price. If it is a good performer it is going to increase within a year or so to that size anyway and your patience literally pays off.