Your last remark is too funny, Ginny!
Your story is very similar to mine. When we moved here in 1992, I moved quite a few plants from my previous perennial beds, but I don't think I moved any daylilies. I moved mainly irises, true lilies, and assorted perennials. The first year we were here, we dug the long south border, and I placed an iris order. The iris catalogue had a few pages of daylily and Siberian iris cultivars at the back. I ordered 4 daylilies and 4 Siberian irises to round our my iris order. I still have those four daylilies. They are Cape Cod, Darius, Red Fountain and Shadyside. I visited many nurseries in those days, as more beds were dug and our gardens grew .... and grew.
However, the turning point was visiting Whitehouse Perennials for their daylily Bloomfest. I discovered daylilies in all their glory, and I never looked back. I now have about 270 cultivars and 550 seedlings (oh my goodness!!!). I have purchased about 25 new cultivars for delivery this spring, so I have been fairly restrained. I started ordering by mail order fairly recently, prior to that I haunted any nurseries within easy driving distance.
I had never thought of hybridizing until I joined this group in 2015. I admired all of the seedlings being posted and thought that would be fun. I joined in August, and it was too late for me to hybridize that season, and Cindy (Hemlady) graciously sent me seeds for postage. I am hoping to see some of those bloom this season. In 2016, I hybridized and planted about 200 seedlings. This year, I have over 300 seedlings growing, some of my own seeds, and some from forum members (thank you, everyone!).
I am sometimes unhappy about not being able to easily bring in daylilies from the U.S., but other times I realize that it is the only thing that saves me from certain disaster
and the LA, that would be my road to ruin
