I can totally relate to this! About 4 years ago, when I got addicted to Daylilies, I bought between 20 or 30 from a very small, local nursery. The owner told me that she bought all of them from the local daylily club when they had their annual sale, so I trusted that they would be the correct plant. When they bloomed, not one single plant was the correct one! Ones that should have been purple were yellow, the yellow ones were red, and so on. There was no way they were a little off. They were totally the wrong plant. She sent about 10 replacement plants to me, and they were all the correct ones, but none of them were newer than about 1965! So, my seedlings that are blooming this year are all dips from old parents! Oh well, live and learn I guess. I lost money, but learned a lesson.
Because of this, I've found a new source for my daylilies. She's a wonderful seller that lives about an hour from me, and digs them fresh from her garden and I pick them up and plant them the same day. Last year, when one of them bloomed, I was a little worried, thinking I got the wrong plant. It looked nothing like her pictures, but it didn't look like any others that she has either, so I thought it just needed some time to settle in. When it bloomed this year, it was perfect! I was really surprised at the difference over last year, and it really did take some time to settle in. Others have only needed 2 weeks to settle in and and looked perfect when they bloomed right after I bought them. So, I think some of it depends on the plant. Buying from a local seller also means that the conditions in her garden and mine are pretty much the same, so I know the plants will grow at my house. It doesn't hurt any that she's a great photographer, and my blooms have looked just like hers.
I do have other daylilies that I've bought from another store here that has a great garden center (not a big box store), and the daylilies come from a local grower. They have all been correct, as to what I thought they would look like, but only because I compared them to pictures that weren't from the hybridizers sites. I've found that the pictures on here are usually way more accurate than the ones from many of the hybridizers sites. Not always, but most of the time.
My suggestion would be to take pictures and send them to the person that you bought the plants from, and ask them what they think. They may tell you to give it another year for them to settle in. Or, they may say that they accidentally sent the wrong plant. Either way, you'll have some documentation about your concerns. Next year, when they bloom again, you can compare them to the pictures from this year. By then, they should have improved if needed, or they'll look the same, and you'll know one way or the other what needs to be done.
