@Seedfork
As I accumulated the long wish list, I looked at photos from multiple places. From all over the net. Newer varieties, as was pointed out, don't show too many photos. As they get older and distributed widely, there were more choices. If I decided a daylily made the wish list, then I'd select one of the photos and add it to the wish list file, but I didn't make any effort to keep up with the 'source' of the borrowed photo. That wish file still exists. I add to it from time to time, but not as often as I'm tempted. When I purchase a plant from the wish list, I move the photo to another file listing the daylilies I've acquired and wait for the plant to bloom. The photos serve as a reference for why the plant is on the list and as a reference for ascertaining that I really received the correct named variety. Mistakes happen at times. What surprised me is how well the 'borrowed' photo matches what I see when the plants bloom for me. For myself, internet shopping has been successful. Which is good because I'm not going to be able to see many blooming otherwise. Also, I don't mind taking risks with plants to see if they will grow for me. All that said, though, there are some photos that I used that are in the ATP Database. I don't think that was my source for most, but quite a few are there. So here are some pairs - my 'borrowed' and how mine compared when it bloomed.


I used the photo on the right in the database, but the database has the two combined into a single image.



It's the identical photo, but my 'borrowed' photo came from somewhere else. Where the database photo has 'TCH', the one I borrowed spells out 'GREY WITCH'.

Bright Texas sun makes the photo more pink. Shade photos don't look as pink and match the 'borrowed' photo better.


A lot of hybridizers and commercial gardens generously allow their photos to be added to the ATP Database. That helps the database. I'll leave it up to you folks to decide if the web shopping is working well enough or not.

EDIT, EDIT!! I think my post shouldn't be in this thread at all now that I think about it. I just responded to Larry. I certainly am not regretting any of these purchases. @Char can this be moved to it's own thread? Maybe along with Larry's question? Call it 'shopping for daylilies using virtual photos' or 'no regrets - virtual daylily shopping' or something!

Heavenly Angel Ice does well here.
Laura Harwood didn't like her initial spot so she was moved and is now doing well.
Royal Celebration should have been given that same chance. Sent the royalty to another garden. Time will tell.
I also save pics of plants that I bought and as soon as they bloom in my garden they are deleted.

Don, I do the same as you. When I have a list of possibles, I gather actual pics (between google and ATP) and then try to make a decision using the parentage of each selection. Hoping this cuts down on the "ones that fail to thrive". I'll keep you posted.

The question Larry posted was....

Seedfork said:@needrain.
I am sure a lot of us would love to see comparative photos. I assume you are talking about photos that are not in the database here on ATP(you can freely post any of the database photos here on ATP in your posts here on this site). Can't you freely post links to those photos?

The original thread these three posts were in can be found here....
The thread "Your most regrettable daylily purchase... what was it?" in Daylilies forum

You have done very well with your purchases Donald! Your images and the "borrowed" ones look very close in each example.

@Char. Thanks for moving the post. It was moving in the opposite direction of the thread title .

Most look pretty close to what I would expect, I bought collections for several years and seldom did I ever get a daylily bloom that looked exactly like the hybridizers photo, although most were close enough to make me happy. As you can see from the Data Base there are so many different conditions when taking photos that it's almost impossible to get to photos of the same daylily taken in different places by two different people to look exactly alike.

spunky1 said:....... there are so many different conditions when taking photos that it's almost impossible to get to photos of the same daylily taken in different places by two different people to look exactly alike.

That is so true! Photos vary among my own photos for the same bloom depending on sun vs. shade, morning, mid-day or afternoon. I know that and I think it's why I'm so surprised at how well they are matching the 'borrowed' images when they bloom. They could be made to match even closer with photo programs . Eventually I'll delete the 'borrowed' photos, but haven't yet. That will happen when I get over being surprised. As you push into west Texas, the growing conditions are vastly different from where these plants originated!

I do the same. I try to have as many photo sources as possible before I decide. Now I also try to put my wanted list away for a few weeks. Often when I come back to them I haven't the faintest why I have chosen some of them in the first place. This makes my choices less avaricious (hopefully).

I was given quite a few daylilies and their ID was suggested but unsure of when I received them. So I collected photos of all the suggested names and have been playing the game of ID the daylily for over a year now. It has been a lot of fun taking my notebook with the photos down to the garden each time one blooms and trying to find a match. I probably still have over half a dozen with the Id's still in question and will have to wait another year to try again when they bloom in the spring. A few of them still have not bloomed and a few just didn't look like any of the photos, and a few looked close but not positive. I too am replacing the collected photos with my own photos whenever I can get a nice bloom that can give me a positive ID.

In my wish list most plants were selected for rust resistance, but I want to start including a note on each one as to why I selected it. Not all the plants were selected for rust resistance and a note would sure help me when I look back and wonder just why I selected a particular plant.

First blooms on new acquisitions almost always look like the breeder's pic's--especially if bought from the hybridizer, or someone living in that same general area of the country. The new plants are initially blooming from growth made elsewhere. A year or three later---that same flower can look quite different. Soil conditions, temperature, differing amounts of water/rain, different fertilizers, different micronutrients, etc., etc., can, and do, influence how the plants grow and bloom---and how the flowers look. I really like this database because it not only can show the flowers, but also the variations that occur in different places.

"In my wish list most plants were selected for rust resistance, but I want to start including a note on each one as to why I selected it. Not all the plants were selected for rust resistance and a note would sure help me when I look back and wonder just why I selected a particular plant."

Lol, I was going over my purchases for the last couple of years, and in some cases, wondering exactly the same thing!

I am also working on my "next year" list (which has to be limited, because now it's a case of "daylily in, daylily out"), and making myself write down exactly why I want that plant - in other words, I have to justify it to myself, or it's not coming here. (The usual justifications are rust resistance or cold morning openers or possible poly genes... I am trying hard to resist pretty faces, unless they also have one or the other trait. I just have to stay away from the Lily Auction! )