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Nov 29, 2015 6:01 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Becky
Sebastian, Florida (Zone 10a)
Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Daylilies Hummingbirder Butterflies Seed Starter Container Gardener
Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Garden Ideas: Master Level Lover of wildlife (Black bear badge) Birds Ponds
Background history:

'Moonlight Orchid' is a semi-evergreen diploid introduced in 1986 by Dave Talbott. Dave did his hybridizing at Dave's Lilys (Dave's Botanical Gardens) in Green Cove Springs, FL. He passed away in 2008. His obituary can be read here: http://www.legacy.com/obituari...

Moonlight Orchid is an early to mid-season extended bloomer with possible rebloom. It earned the Honorable Mention: 2001 AHS award. It is both pod and pollen fertile with 2 registered children: http://garden.org/plants/paren...

This plant can be found in the ATP Plant Database at:
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Moonlight Orchid') .

Please join in, if you own this plant! We would love to know more! I award an acorn for performance information posted to this thread.





Also, please consider adding a "Local Report" to the ATP Plant Database! Thank you!

Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Moonlight Orchid')
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us.
Garden Rooms and Becky's Budget Garden
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Nov 29, 2015 6:34 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Becky
Sebastian, Florida (Zone 10a)
Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Daylilies Hummingbirder Butterflies Seed Starter Container Gardener
Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Garden Ideas: Master Level Lover of wildlife (Black bear badge) Birds Ponds
I acquired Moonlight Orchid the end of August this year (2015). It is in a new raised bed with 41 other new cultivars. Some of those cultivars have shown rust susceptibility. I had a rust outbreak in November (lots of rain and warm temps). This cultivar has been very rust resistant so far. No rust whatsoever on it! I can't wait to see it bloom. Looking at photos in the database, it is a lovely large lavender bi-color bloom.
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us.
Garden Rooms and Becky's Budget Garden
Last edited by beckygardener Dec 1, 2015 3:53 PM Icon for preview
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Nov 29, 2015 7:20 PM CST
Name: Betty
Bakersfield, CA
Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Birds The WITWIT Badge Garden Ideas: Level 1 Roses
Irises Daylilies Cat Lover Region: California Region: United States of America
I've had MOONLIGHT ORCHID for a couple of years now and really love the true lavender shades of this beauty! Although I have it in a 2 gal. pot, I've placed it in a flower bed so I can move it around and it seems quite happy. And I'm about to try some crosses in the spring. I give it a Thumbs up

Thumb of 2015-11-30/Betja/2b0699
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Nov 30, 2015 6:22 AM CST
Name: Cynthia (Cindy)
Melvindale, Mi (Zone 5b)
Daylilies Hybridizer Irises Butterflies Charter ATP Member Million Pollinator Garden Challenge
Birds Region: Michigan Vegetable Grower Hummingbirder Heucheras Lover of wildlife (Black bear badge)
Moonlight Orchid does well for me even though I have it planted about 6 feet from my gigantic blue spruce tree. I am sure it would do even better if not so close to this tree. Flower size and scapes are true to stats. Increase is slow but it is in shade part of the day. One thing unique about this plant is that when it sets pods, the seeds that develop stay white. I have never tried planting the seeds so I don't know if they are viable. The same is not true though when its pollen is used to set pods on other plants. I love the color and always look forward to seeing it bloom. For some reason, it decided not to bloom this past summer.
Lighthouse Gardens
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Nov 30, 2015 6:29 PM CST
Name: Maurice
Grey Highlands, Ontario (Zone 5a)
The seeds, even though white, should be good, viable. They are missing the black pigment and that could make them quicker to dry out - so one might have to be careful about how one handles the seeds (don't let them dry out too much).

There is at least one other daylily cultivar that produces white seed and I expect that there are several that carry the characteristic but hidden. The characteristic is a pod parent one so it will not appear when the pollen from Moonlight Orchid is used. It would appear in Moon light Orchid's seeds no matter what cultivar's pollen is put on Moonlight Orchid flowers.
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Nov 30, 2015 6:31 PM CST
Name: Cynthia (Cindy)
Melvindale, Mi (Zone 5b)
Daylilies Hybridizer Irises Butterflies Charter ATP Member Million Pollinator Garden Challenge
Birds Region: Michigan Vegetable Grower Hummingbirder Heucheras Lover of wildlife (Black bear badge)
Good to know. I wasn't keeping any of the seeds because I thought that they were not viable. Thanks.
Lighthouse Gardens
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Nov 30, 2015 6:43 PM CST
Name: Rob Laffin
Mariaville, Maine (Zone 4b)
I've had this plant in my Zone 4 garden for 4 years. It's a beautiful flower, but I have not had alot of increase, and would not describe it as excessively floriferous. I should add, though, that I have it in a place where it does not get as careful culture as some of my other beds, so it may be due to culture, rather than the plant. In any case, it's really pretty.

Thumb of 2015-12-01/RobLaffin/700fa4
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Nov 30, 2015 10:46 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Becky
Sebastian, Florida (Zone 10a)
Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Daylilies Hummingbirder Butterflies Seed Starter Container Gardener
Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Garden Ideas: Master Level Lover of wildlife (Black bear badge) Birds Ponds
Maurice - Thank you for that information about the pod producing white seeds. VERY interesting! I can't wait to try some hybridizing with this cultivar!
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us.
Garden Rooms and Becky's Budget Garden
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Sep 30, 2016 10:29 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: Becky
Sebastian, Florida (Zone 10a)
Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Daylilies Hummingbirder Butterflies Seed Starter Container Gardener
Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Garden Ideas: Master Level Lover of wildlife (Black bear badge) Birds Ponds
This year Moonlight Orchid produced it's first bloom for me on June 21, 2016. No stats recorded. The raised bed that it was transplanted into is receiving a lot more shade than I originally anticipated due to a neighbor's tree. Despite this, MO still bloomed for me! No re-bloom. Clean foliage. No rust noticed on this cultivar.

It currently has 4 compact fans, with 1 of the fans producing a small fan on each side of it for an additional 2 fans. Total fans is 6! So nice increase in 1 year. I believe some cultivars do well as shade plants and I suspect that Moonlight Orchid is one of them.

Here is one of the blooms from this summer:
Thumb of 2016-09-30/beckygardener/bd864c

It's a keeper for me!
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us.
Garden Rooms and Becky's Budget Garden
Last edited by beckygardener Sep 30, 2016 10:30 AM Icon for preview
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