Background history:

'Wild Horses' is a evergreen tetraploid introduced in 1999 by Dan Trimmer. Jane and Dan own Water Mill Gardens in Enterprise, Florida. For more information about their Daylily Gardens:
http://trimmerdaylily.com/inde...

A very interesting video about the Trimmer's hybridizing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Wild Horses is an early bloomer with possible re-bloom. It has earned the following AHS awards: Award of Merit: 2006, Honorable Mention: 2002, and ESB: 2006. It shows rust susceptibility. It is both pod and pollen fertile with currently 19 registered children: http://garden.org/plants/paren...

This plant can be found in the NGA Plant Database at:
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Wild Horses') .

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 NGA Plant Database! Thank you!

Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Wild Horses')

I am sometimes hesitant to buy from really southern growers since Kentucky doesn't have the same climate. Oh, we may have a few days of Florida type weather, but it may be cooler soon after. We have a phrase in Kentucky that goes something like this...."If you don't like the weather in Kentucky, wait a minute." I'm sure several of you can say something similar. However, I bought Wild Horses 6 seasons ago and it has performed well in my garden. My foliage is shorter than what is expected, but I figure that is due to either my climate or soil. Whatever the situation, it has not affected the blooms..which show up in my garden on average around the third week in June. I think they are outstanding!

Wild Horses daylily is my favorite eyed daylily! I would not want to be without it. Having said that, I think it maybe a bit tender. I almost lost it two years ago when we had the polar vortex. I had 4 fans the previous fall and it came back with only one fan the following spring. So far this year, it is coming back strong as we had such a mild winter.

The blooms on my 'Wild Horses' are beautiful, and eye-catching. As Cynthia notes above, the foliage is somewhat short, as are the scapes -- at least in my garden in Minnesota. My plant has never performed well enough even to contemplate dividing yet, and I've had it for several seasons now. But thanks to some construction and tree-removal, it will definitely get more sun this year, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will begin to flourish. Honestly? I chose it for the name ... a little silly, but the Rolling Stones' 'Wild Horses' was my high school senior prom theme ... yes, decades ago. (And the song was even an 'oldie' at the time!) Funny, some of the reasons we choose particular plants ...

nben said:The blooms on my 'Wild Horses' are beautiful, and eye-catching. As Cynthia notes above, the foliage is somewhat short, as are the scapes -- at least in my garden in Minnesota. My plant has never performed well enough even to contemplate dividing yet, and I've had it for several seasons now. But thanks to some construction and tree-removal, it will definitely get more sun this year, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will begin to flourish. Honestly? I chose it for the name ... a little silly, but the Rolling Stones' 'Wild Horses' was my high school senior prom theme ... yes, decades ago. (And the song was even an 'oldie' at the time!) Funny, some of the reasons we choose particular plants ...

Wasn't my Senior Prom but a great flower and a great song. I bought a weakling from the Lowe's death cart. Wishing for full recovery.

What isn't to love about this daylily? I adore it! But, it does much better in a warmer climate. I grew it in zone 5a first, and it didn't do well at all. It barely bloomed, even skipping years, and never increased, but it was totally worth keeping, because when it did bloom, it was amazing.

A few years after buying it, I moved it to our new home in 7a, and it is so much happier here! It was my first daylily to bloom last year, and it has increased really well! It has bloomed very well for the three years we've lived here, and I fall more in love with it every year! Can't wait to see it show off this year!

I agree with what Natalie said. What isn't to love about Wild Horses? It was the first DL to bloom this year in my
garden and despite the rain, it continues to look amazing. It increases well for me and the clump I planted last
year will need division this year! It's one of those DLs I must always have in my garden. A show-stopper!

Despite being an evergreen bred in Florida, "Wild Horses" is a good performer in Zone 6b south central Kentucky . It is not a fast multiplier but has never failed to come up even after a sub zero winter 2 years ago. The lovely blooms open perfectly every time.

I love this Beauty and I believe it is probably my most reliable CV.

It's been in my garden for a couple years now and never disappointed. Last year when I potted all of my plants for a move, I accidentally broke a part of the root system digging it up. So, two pots made the move. The small piece of Wild Horses has responded well increasing by one fan and bloomed right along with the parent. And as always, the blooms never disappoint. Standing well above the foliage on very sturdy scapes.

I used this unedited iPhone photo in a banner titled 'Running Wild'


I'll have to dig up more photos and edit to add later.

edit: I rounded up a couple more wild horse,



Photos taken in different areas of the lawn and different light.

I planted Wild Horses in my garden about a year ago and it has done nothing. I'm not sure what the problem is, possibly not enough sun.

I planted Wild Horses several years ago. I live in north Florida and saw where it is considered rust susceptible, but I haven't seen it on my plants. Like Nancy, part of the reason I purchased it was the name but also because the photos of it looked so dramatic. It has been a happy performer in my garden, not as many flowers as the stats predict nor as tall, although the scapes are among my tallest, about 2 1/2 ft and well above the foliage. It's bloom season for me is on the early side of prime flowers and that may be because it lived until recently under 3 large oaks so it got fairly dense shade from 10am until 4 which undoubtable led to the shorter scapes and fewer flowers. I'll be interested to see how it does in its new location although it does get a pass this year since it just got moved a few weeks ago. I LOVE this flower, one I will always keep. Mine is more of a cream color with striking dark purple eye and a big flower. Daylily's photo looks a lot like mine so thanks for posting that one Daylily.

Wild Horses--beautiful and such a dramatic bloom--couldn't resist buying. Five years ago we planted it in what we considered a prime spot--alas, WH didn't know it was supposed to do well there. It sat for three years doing virtually nothing and I was going to toss it, but gave it a reprieve and a new home. Now it is going into year three in its new home and doing so well. It gets much more sun here, the sun hits it fairly early in the morning. All we can surmise is that was the problem in the old place where the sun didn't shine on it until noon. It has never reached the listed height, but the flowers are above the foliage. Maybe some day it will make that 37".

I received a whole clump of Wild Horses a month ago and am having my fingers crossed that it will bloom this season




Mayo

I have grown Wild Horses for several years in my zone 3a garden, the first 3 years it did poorly, slow increase, few blooms and most were not very attractive. It is looking really good this year and I am hoping that because of our milder winter and warm spring it will produce better looking blooms.

I bought Wild Horses about ten years ago. It grew well here for about three years, then started a slow downward spiral. I think it was because the Winters got harder, and it got less sunlight because the trees surrounding the garden got taller. at year six, it did not come back. I really loved it while it was here! I made a cross with it that turned out pretty good. I crossed it with a seedling that I got from the late Jim Jeffcoat: (Red Suspenders x Primal Scream). The first two pics are of the seedling Jeffcoat pod parent. The next pic is of two different seedlings from the cross. The final four pics are of the red seedling from the cross. That seedling literally glows on a sunny day. It looks like it is on FIRE! I may register it this year.

Primal Scream and it's progeny are beasts to work with. It took over a hundred tries to get the cross with Wild Horses. I am glad I was persistent. Wild Horses did not want to make crosses either. This was only the second cross using it that actually made seeds. Sometimes plants can be real picky as to which flower they are going to go the distance with. (not to anthropomorphize too much---HA!) Here are my pics of Wild Horses:

One of my favorite daylilies!

I have had this one since 2009. It had been a bit slow for me to increase. I moved it to a new location last year and it performed better than ever for me. The blooms were outstanding last year..

This year it is really lagging behind and I do not understand why. Last week I dug it up to check it out and replanted it. I gave it a bit of fertilizer. I have little hope that I will see blooms this year. If this one were to die on me I would probably replace it.

Same Here As for Wild Horses I Love the Blooms Rec'd 2 fns back in 2008-09 from friend in Trade & No matter what I Try Or where I Put this one Just dose not want to Multiply but it will Put on a show of Blooms .

Slow grower here that does not seem to like our repetitive freeze/thaw winter with no snow cover as it struggles in the spring. Blooms are always beautiful when I get them - Has skipped a year before.

Greg, love your Wild Horses seedlings! They are gorgeous! I got a seedpod from Wild Horses 3 years ago. I planted the seeds and only one sprouted. Hopefully I will get a flower from this seedling this year. The other parent is unknown.