Background history:

'Willow Dean Smith' is a dormant tetraploid introduced in 2007 by Rice-J..

It has earned the following AHS awards:
Honorable Mention: 2011

This plant can be found in our Plant Database at:
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Willow Dean Smith') .

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 Plant Performance Report to the database! Thank you!

Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Willow Dean Smith')

Consistently good. Not a rapid multiplier, but one is willing to wait for a bloom this ravishing. Well-spaced flowers and well budded. One of the best Rice intros to my mind.

I love this plant. The scapes are tall and blooms over a long period of time. It is a moderate increaser. Due to its height I have it planted in the middle of a bed and with it being a mid to late bloomer for me, it draws you attention away from the spent scapes of the early bloomers. The images posted are good representations of what it looks like in my garden. This is one that I plan on having for a long time.

David

Willow Dean Smith is lovely. It came in fall of 2015 and did wonderfully well in 2016, a real star. However, I did crosses with it, and last year it did not bloom as much, so possibly was affected that way. I hope to see many more blooms this year, for it's a beauty in the garden.

I agree that Willow Dean Smith is a taller beauty, it has been in my garden a number of years. While it does not increase rapidly that is fine as it does not need to be divided as often. I have had very positive results with Rice introductions they prove hardy here as does their WDS, it will remain in my garden.

I planted WDS in the Spring of 2021. She bloomed July 18-31 with 8 flowers. There was no fan increase that year.
In 2022, WDS had still not increased in the Spring and bloomed from July 14-31, with 12 flowers. By October, she was up to 4 fans, despite a moderate case of rust. The flowers are lovely, I'm hoping to get more of them next year.

I planted a DF of Willow Dean Smith in April of 2022. A others have said, this is a lovely, hardy plant and a great bloomer. This year it bloomed from mid June through early August. Blooms are consistently stunning. It hasn't quite reached its registered height here though it is close. It's both pod and pollen fertile.

It is slow to increase, and it gets a bit rusty mid-season. Those are the only knocks against it.

I have enjoyed this plant and am glad I bought it. It grows next to Gypsy Rose Lee, and they tend to bloom together, which I enjoy.

2023 update…WDS didn't have a great bloom year. She flowered from July 12-30 with 11 blooms, almost the same as last year. She also lost a fan over the winter and didn't grow it back, ending the season with three fans.