I'd read that rust often shows when daylilies are acquired from nurseries in the south not long after being sent and transplanted.
With Maryott's, I checked and quite of few of THEIR cultivars use some rust susceptible daylily in the pedigree. Which is one of the reasons I didn't buy one of theirs. I was tempted but knew what would happen growing them here in Florida. So that makes me wonder if because of that, they do grow quite a few daylilies that are prone to rust. For the rust to show up not long after receiving and transplanting, apparently whatever they treat them with to control the rust has worn off. So even with the chemical treatments they are doing, rust is alive and well at many southern daylily nurseries despite their rust treatment program.
To be honest, that doesn't deter me all that much, it just makes me more determined to create some rust resistant hybrids from some of those pretty faces crossed with some highly rust resistant daylily cultivars. It's a challenge that is calling my name! But wouldn't it be nice to have some of these pretty faces already be rust resistant? I don't quite get why some southern hybridizers don't breed for rust resistance. Wouldn't that make sense? I am sure some do, but I have no idea which hybridizers.
