Debra:
No, it was not Maryott's. I can't get Maryott's plants to bloom for me up here in Vermont. I have tried to no avail, so I don't order from them anymore. I know how much Maryott's is respected on this forum, but for some reason there plants don't grow well in my climate. It's really about 'trial and error', and what works in your garden.
As far as the other 2 hybridizers, here is my thoughts on these mistaken plants sent to me. If you are buying the newest intros and paying big bucks for them, you, the buyer, are completely dependent on the hybridizer sending you the correct plant. It's impossible to know when the fans arrive what they are even if they are tagged with the name on it. All fans look alike, so to speak. And, not all plants bloom the first year you plant them. In the case of Nicole, I ordered 10 plants from her during the course of the Winter in 2011-2012. I am a BIG fan of Nicole's plants. I consider her an artist with her creations. And she is only 29 yrs old to boot. One of the plants I brought from her on the LA was 'Adv. with Jellymaker'. She explained to me on the phone that AWJM was planted next to 'Ceaser Augustus' in her garden. What I got was 'Ceaser Augustus'. When I posted a picture of it on 'July Blooms' here on ATP, Michele immediately saw the error and posted on the forum, that the plant I posted was not 'AWJM'. So I wrote to Nicole with a picture of the 'noid' growing in my garden. She phoned me later, and apologized for the mistake,explained what had happened, and sent me the correct plant.
In the other instance, the hybridizer was Pete Harry. I had ordered 6 daylily plants from him during the same time period. During that time, Pete had just brought out Frank Smith's business, and had to move thousands of Frank's daylily's to a new location. It was a grueling job for him moving all those plants to Pete's new location. This is when the mix-up occurred. I got 8 fans of 'Keep On Looking'. It should have been 4 fans of 'KOL', and 4 fans of 'Keep On Keeping On'. I also ordered 'Indigo Edge', a new intro of his at the time, and mistakenly got 'Who's That Girl'. Imagine my surprise when both these lily's bloomed this summer, a year later, and they weren't what they were supposed to be. I couldn't believe it happened twice to me. So I called Pete on the phone and told him about the mistaken plants. We spoke for about an hour on the phone. A nicer person you will never meet. I learned a lot from our conversation on the phone about daylily hybridizing, and all things daylilies. I wish him all the luck in the world, in his new endeavor. Last week, Pete wife's, Rossen, phoned me to get my correct address. She not only sent me the correct plants, but sent me a single fan of 'Your Place or Mine' as a gift plant. When the plants arrived, they looked like they had just been dug out of there gardens an hour before, so green and healthy. Each plant was 3 fans. I spent Labor Day weekend, planting, and relabeling these plants. For those of you who may not know, Pete Harry is the father of Nicole.
Mistakes happen. But my advice to all members buying daylilies when buying plants on the Internet, make sure you buy from reputable dealers, who will back up there plants and there businesses, with good customer service. In my case, everything worked out just fine, even though I had to plant in the Fall, which as a rule, I don't like doing. Fingers crossed that we have a late frost in October, so these new plants have time to establish themselves in the garden.
