So looking at my overfilled garden... I started a cull list... what did you buy and it just wasnt it...

I don't have one yet... so excuse my absence lol. I just can't give the bonus plants any space...

Tet Rose F. Kennedy.

Mine would be Bluegrass Music, all the photos looked beautiful, but mine is terrible. Other local growers from my area agree with me that it is not as good as it looks in the photos.

Without naming names, anything that I bought because it was supposedly rust resistant...

...but it turned out to be anything but...

JWWC said:Tet Rose F. Kennedy.

hahaha, you'll get one this year.. I swear it.

Lol Peter...regrets!?

I am a lucky person. I do daylilies because they bring me joy. I have done this long enough to know that not every first year plant will bloom, that an introduction who's image was based on a third rebloom is something I will never see here, and that sometimes I am a new daylily's worst nightmare. I plant very close, I work them hard, and I rarely fertilize.

I have had very few disappointments. If you only see the hybridizer's introduction image on the auction, year after year, from a variety of different sellers, then a light should come on. I love the database here, with it's multiple imaging. The more information the better. I spend almost all of my daylily money with folks I trust, on plants I trust.

I am sorry for your TET RFK, James. That would be a hard one to swallow, mainly because of lost potential. I will admit that there have been one or two daylilies over these many years that were booted out of here more than tossed...lol. Understanding how quickly karma can be, I won't be naming any names. It would be hard for me read about a CLOWN bashing, or a SHALOTT slamming...lol.

Steve

Such a diplomat Steve! Thank you for the fresh perspective.

Robot Blues that I got from a seller on the Auction whose name rhymes with Bump. It turned out to be a so-so red flower--definitely NOT what I ordered. I told the seller about it, and they were gracious about it and sent me a replacement plant---that turned out to be the SAME so-so red that I got the previous year. That wasted over two years of my time--and the seller, when informed of the same result---never got back to me, nor refunded the money. I will not bid on that seller's offerings again.
As far as poor plants---nearly all the TET conversions that I ever bought were weak plants that did not last more than a year or two (even when I plucked the scape on the initial bloom). TET Connie Burton holds the record. It lasted four years---but only bloomed once, with two flowers.

I agree with Steve. Not touching this subject because of 'Karma'.

James.... My heart goes out to you on your loss of JFK. Often wondered about those tet. conversions, and how well they do in a northern garden.

I still have Tet RFK. It was regrettable because I spent way too much for it, and it has never bloomed. Not once. I bought the plant as a treat to myself when I finished my PhD and as I mentioned to a few people, I am beginning to think this is some sort of cosmic evaluation of my dissertation research!

Hard to sell seeds and recoup the cost though when you can't actually use the plant. Ever onward I guess.

James, you still have the plant. I would start sending it some very good vibes, imagining how beautiful it will look when it does bloom. Send it tons of 'light and love'. It will respond.

I have had performance issues with several daylilies, but I hate to mention them by name, because there are so many factors that could affect it. First, many daylilies do not do well their first year with me in my Zone 4 garden. I've learned not to expect much. Sometimes they don't look anything like the pictures. They're short, few blooms, crappy branching. But by the second, and definitely third year (the "magic year" IMO) without moving, they usually perk up and do well. I had trouble with a number of daylilies from two sellers on the LA - they either didn't bloom the first year, or never increased well - and I later learned those sellers use BAP. So I don't buy from them. Both my mentors, experienced hybridizers, have cautioned me against tet conversions for a number of reasons, so I have avoided them. Finally, some southern bred plants are just iffy here in Maine. If I buy them at all, I get them from a northern grower who has already determined that they are winter hardy. (I learned this after losing several southern intros my first year.) Once in a while I take a flyer on one I really love, knowing it's a risk. I bought a beautiful recent intro from the hybridizer in the deep South for spring delivery. I figured at least I could use its pollen that first summer, even if it died the next winter. Well, it grew all summer, but never bloomed (it had arrived plenty early, before bloom time in AL) and then it died the next winter. So I got no pollen, no nothin'. $50 down the hole. The hybridizer had sent a bonus, another intro of his, and that one has increased and bloomed its head off for a couple years now, so you can never know for sure. I will say that I have noticed many famous intros that have very meager branching and bud count (not just here, but in more southern gardens I've seen) and I have one where the foliage after bloom is so crappy I can't believe the hybridizer introduced it. So, seeing them in person, in a local garden, before you buy is your very best bet, if you're able to do that.

I have never regretted a Daylily purchase because the variety brings so much joy. I have favorites some more than others. Daylilies when they bloom, remind of a friend, family member or an event.

Both my mentors, experienced hybridizers, have cautioned me against tet conversions for a number of reasons, so I have avoided them.

Rob, would you please elaborate on that?

This year I bought two tet conversions, for the first time ever. One looks as though it may have already died (it did bloom... the flowers were not great); the second one did not bloom and may also have died. (I lost a couple of other plants this summer; maybe I overwatered the pots.)

I'm just curious as to why the advice to avoid the tet conversions. Reversion to dip? Longevity? Fertility problems?

ARoseblush said:James, you still have the plant. I would start sending it some very good vibes, imagining how beautiful it will look when it does bloom. Send it tons of 'light and love'. It will respond.

I'm going to surround it with candles and a small radio playing smooth jazz next spring.

But what if it only likes classical?

I don't spend the high prices on daylilies (love to but the budget doesn't allow it). The highest I ever spent was 40 and 35 dollars once only. I have come across just two out of the approx. 200 I've purchased that have given me problems. (I also do not want to mention names.) One I've had for seven years, moved it twice, and this year was the best it's done so far. Still think it needs to improve a lot but it's getting better. A second one I've had trouble with was purchased two years ago. It grew and even bloomed the year it was planted. The second year I thought it was gone but I left the spot alone and finally a few baby fans came up. Anxious to see what happens next year.
Daylilies look SO different from various parts of the country. Since I've been here with ATP, I will always look at the plant database to see what everyone's blooms look like. Then I can look further and see the zones where the picture was taken.
I just remembered there were two others from years back that I did lose. A couple years after they were gone, I dug up the spot where they were, to plant new daylilies...lo and be hold there were actually bits of roots still there. I replanted them in another spot and one of the two even showed me a couple blooms this year. You just never know...if you have the time (and space) to wait it out you could be surprised.

Betja said:But what if it only likes classical?

It would get Miley Cyrus all day, everyday, if that would make it bloom!

James, you are a better person than I am. I'd have to send that plant to someone who could actually stomach Miley Cyrus, and let them suffer through the torture!