I have always thought of daylilies as being flowers that were especially temperamental in behavior. There have been days and weeks in which I would not have given a dime a dozen for some of them because of the way they looked. It is no secret how totally different a daylily can look from one day to the next, one week to the next, or one year to the next. There are many variables that come into play that cause this inconsistency such as soil, fertility, climate, sun, cold, moisture or lack of it both in the soil and in the air, first scape bloom versus repeat scape bloom, and many other things. There are often two flowers on the same scape that present two very different faces of the same cultivar. In my greenhouse with controlled conditions there is even considerable difference in the appearance of a daylily from one day to the next. One day the edge is twice as wide on petals as it is on the next and some days a second and third edging may appear. Last year the same flower that is blooming this year had a white edge that does not appear this year, but it may appear again next year.

Here’s an example of just how problematical the variation in daylily faces can be. Last year when we were quite busy with customers, a worker brought a daylily bloom to me from the far side of the two acres to see if I wanted to sell it. At one glance I knew I did not want this one and told him, “Yes, they could have it.” At the end of the day we noticed that the whole bed of Josie’s RASPBERRY BOUQUET was gone and asked the worker if he had sold all of Josie’s RASPBERRY BOUQUET. He said, “Yes, because he brought a bloom over to me and I said they could have it, and they decided to take all of it!” Neither Josie nor I were happy with the state of affairs. I took this worker to a place where some daylilies were blooming and showed him a scape that had both a gorgeous bloom on it that looked like Cinderella and another bloom on the same scape that looked like Drizella. I reminded the worker that ONLY GOD KNEW THAT THESE TWO FLOWERS WERE THE SAME CULTIVAR and from now on PLEASE BRING ONLY THE CINDERELLA BLOOMS for me to see! However, this did not make me feel much better because some people do not discern the difference between a Cinderella and a Drizella. Who could care if a daylily was 4” or 5.5” diameter , if it had wider or narrower sepals, a brighter red color, or a washed out red color? Hey! I care. I hybridize and want beautiful children!

The moral of this story - THE SLIPPER BETTER FIT, CAUSE WHAT YOU GET MAY BE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!!! I have tried to walk the two acres to see where a flower is picked and WHICH flower from the scape was picked to show me. The difference can be amazing, the difference between ABSOLUTELY NOT FOR SALE and GIVE IT TO THEM!

P.S. Josie has, indeed, forgiven me for telling the worker that the customer could buy the daylily he brought and showed me. GOODBYE, RASPBERRY BOUQUET!

In case you are wondering, $100 registrations of Jack’s have ALSO been sold as $15 seedlings! Ever wonder what is IGNORANCE multiplied by twenty? ? Cheers!