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So how many daylilies do you have?

18 years ago

Five years ago I went to my first daylily farm. At that time I was looking for "just a few" to put in a certain spot in my garden. Well, I left with half a dozen (should have guessed then that I was going to get addicted to them) and I've been buying them ever since...

I just counted all my daylilies this past weekend and found out I have 86 daylilies. They're now everywhere and I'm already planning some new areas. Just a tad more than the 6 I started with!

So, how many do you have?

Dagmar

Comments (71)

  • 18 years ago

    I have 562 registered daylilies, but who's counting. It's not about how many you have, but how many you have acquired this year. I don't know how many seedlings I have, I don't count them until they prove themselves and most don't. Unforntunately I had some knee problems this year and my total purchased this year has been -0-. I average around 100 per year, so my suppliers tell me they had a bad year, because I wasn't around. So I really have to make it up to them next year.

    Tom

  • 18 years ago

    LOL Tom, you've been financing a lot of nurseries! I did order three more daylilies just last week, and I will probably order another small handful for the fall. My "also rans" are going to my parents' house, in their large unnamed daylily bed (a.k.a. the driveway turnaround), to make room for the new ones here.

    Gonegardening, getting a decent sized mostly sunny lot is tops on my priority list when house hunting - am I crazy, or what? But I figure I can DIY myself out of almost any "not so perfectly perfect" house issues. (If it's too big to DIY, we wouldn't get the house anyhow.) I CAN'T change the size of the lot once we purchase it! We'll have to wait and see how the recent floods affect the housing market here - right now sellers rule, and buyers have bidding wars, and hundreds and hundreds of houses in our area alone are condemned or in need of major repairs. Decent rentals are getting scarcer than hens' teeth.

    I would LOVE to add a large dedicated daylily bed or two, and large seedling bed, to my garden, but our 60x100 suburban lot can only handle so much, and if I get rid of any more grass our kids won't have anywhere to play. I love too many of my other perennials to convert any one bed to daylilies only - right now they're all part of mixed borders. As it is I really don't know where I'm going to put all my seedlings after I plant this year's crop of seeds - I might be looking at a container community on the last scrap of unused patio. I've got a dozen and more pods just tempting me to plant ALL the seeds, and I just can't do that. I'll have to limit myself to maybe 3-5 from each favorite cross, and trade the rest of the seeds elsewhere. I can't imagine having hundreds of seedlings potted up or lined out, waiting for them to bloom in the next spring or two - what delightful anticipation that would be!

    Laurel

  • 18 years ago

    Laurel: You are just going to have to make a decision. Kids or daylilies?

    Or you can take me up on the offer I made my sister, who is land locked also. At a very reasonable price I will rent you a piece of my property to grow your daylilies. You would have to hire a local to make a bed, plant your daylies and take care of them and I could send you pictures once a year (So far my sister has not taken me up on my generous offer).

    Tom

  • 18 years ago

    This is my third season- started with a small patch of Suzy Wong (20 fans), Lavender Illusion, and Brocaded Gown over at ebay.

    At the end of last year, I purchased about 8 from the local farm, and a pile of about 70 unnamed hybrids from ebay.

    This year I've gotten about 1/2 dozen at the farm, another dozen at ebay, and maybe 6 at local retailers.

    So I'm up to about a measly 36 named varieties. This fall will be spent making more space for MORE!!!

  • 18 years ago

    ha ha ha ha Tom,,I can't imagine why not :)

  • 18 years ago

    Hey Scholli, this "is" a fun thread! I am in Massachusetts too. I am new to daylilies, I've been buying and planting them for about 3 years. I have approximately 25 daylilies now, most of which I got from Ebay or at Tranquil-Lake in Rehoboth, MA. Have you visited that nursery yet? It's fabulous! Where do you buy yours?

  • 18 years ago

    Hey Lisaday! Nice to see someone from Massachusetts :> I've never visited Tranquil-Lake in Rehoboth. I will definitely have to check them out! Where are they located? (I don't know Rehoboth at all)

    The daylily farm that's close to me is Seawright Gardens located in Carlisle (I live in Chelmsford). I think that they are a tad pricy for many of their daylilies but I love going there and seeing what they have. Many times I've gone there, seen something I've liked, and gotten it somewhere else! Of course, I've also bought tons of daylilies from them too!

    Here is a link that might be useful: Seawright Gardens

  • 18 years ago

    I started about 5 years ago by buying a few daylilys (when my husband & I bought our first house). My cousin found out and she sent me some more (and introduced me to gardenweb!).... Since then, I've been mostly trading to get to the 34 daylilys I currently have. My husband also loves to garden (he prefers native plants), but has made room in our small backyard for more daylilys this summer! With limited time and money (and a 2 year old to chase after) I'll have to fill up my new spots with trades!

    Cyndee

  • 18 years ago

    Yes, Tom...I am sure the daylily farms are suffering from your lack of purchases! You will just have to make that up....100, no, now you need to acquire 200...thinking through that, there is probably a penalty for not purchasing this year, so make that 250...that should be about right!

    Mollyd, I just meant that even planning to visit three places and come away with only 20 was amazing! I dare not say what I have purchased...even with good intentions of being restrained.

    I had a bit of a wake up call this year when I visited a favorite daylily farm. Every year, of course, they add new daylilies and have this huge listing...I think this year it is up to 650 (not including all the rows of lined out daylilies and the seedling patches). It is a wonderful place. I'm sitting there waiting for my daylilies to be dug and making conversation...and one of the owners says to me, "So, what are you up to now, 100 or so?"

    I did the old hand-over-my-mouth-mumble and sorta said 500. The look on the faces of the people around me was clearly "what on earth are you doing buying more?"

    That is the question, isn't it? LOL!

    (to which the answer would be....I have a long ways to go to get to 60,000....just kidding!)

  • 18 years ago

    Here's a link to the same question asked back in June.

    Here is a link that might be useful: how many?

  • 18 years ago

    Gonegardening (LOL) you do know what road is paved with "good intentions" ?

    I'm taking cash with me in the feeble hopes that if I only spend what I'm carrying I won't go hog wild. Saturday is the hard one since a)I don't know what they'll have and b) I hear the prices will be low. Sunday morning it's Cottage Gardens and I've already given them my shopping list. I go in with blinders on, grab my stuff and run!!!!!!!!! If I look around I'll be lost.
    The last place I know little about. I saw a few on their list that I want but not too many. We'll see. And then of course there are always mail order and the auction :-). If I only get 20 it means I probably fainted or something and couldn't shop!

    Molly D

  • 18 years ago

    LOL Tom, today is NOT the day to ask me to choose between the kids and the daylilies!! Ask me again after the kids are asleep tonight (they're a LOT cuter then sometimes!), and you'll get the "yes-I-really-like-being-a-parent" honest answer. If you'd asked me earlier this morning, I'd have had to think twice, LOLOL!

    Laurel

  • 18 years ago

    I thought I was an addict.... now I feel better, I realize that I just have a small daylily problem!!

    I am in the same boat as Mary Lu-- I was bad enough witout the help of the daylily and rose forums. Now I have 256 roses, and am getting up to the same point with 189 named daylilies. I keep track of all on a spreadsheet as well, which I find is helpful to keep track of # as well as names.

    The other benefit of a my spreadsheet method.... If DH runs across it, it only lists one of each named variety. I have neglected keeping track of divisions/starts/seedlings. This keeps me out of the doghouse....

  • 18 years ago

    None, yet.
    I was watching an episode of Rebecca's Garden and one of the segments was on these, so now I'm here to learn all about them because they caught my eye. Anything that pretty and easy to grow is a definite yes to a new gardener like myself.

    I'll catch up with some of your counts next year :)

    Carrie

  • 18 years ago

    Aaaaaaaaaabout 800 give or take a few..........:)

    Rick

  • 18 years ago

    Carrie,,they are easy to grow,,they just have to be watered here in hot Texas,,I grow most of mine in big pots,,but everyone else grows theirs in the ground,,its just easier for me to container garden,,I have hard clay soil and my flower beds all have mostly irises that have been there for years,,welcome to Texas,,the heat will be the problem here, just don't get dormant daylilies,,they don't do well here,,get evergreen or semi-evergreen varieties,,they take the heat better,,

    Dot in Fort Worth

  • 18 years ago

    Well, it sounds like I'm just starting my collection, compared with some of you. I have around 100 so far, and it's my first year to try pollinating. I have no trouble disciplining myself when it comes to buying more daylilies - my car is the problem. It veers off the road into driveways of nurseries, garden centers, etc. At least that's what I tell my DH. He's a mechanic, and I tell him he must do something about that steering!

  • 18 years ago

    I have somewhere getting close to 500 named varietes. I just picked up 10 new ones yesterday and I haven't counted the unknowns yet, just off the to on my head, I think around 30 or so of them. A fun thread!

  • 18 years ago

    I really have no idea, I did count the ones in the little bed in front of the house and there are 48 there. The back yard is about full and there are about 1000 seedlings I have to plant at my friends house, he has 5 acres. There are about 700 seedlings in a bed out back. The driveway is full of new arrivals in pots, and so is the isle between the two bed out back. I'll be getting rid of a lot of older cultivars in September,and I can extend one bed by about 20 X 5 feet, then I'm finished here unless I have a very large maple tree removed and that will cost almost $4,000.00 so that probably won't happen. I guess the answer right now is....too many.....nah!

  • 18 years ago

    I have 47 daylilies and don't have much room for more - my lot is small and I can only put deer fence around my backyard. Also I want to have some room for other flowers too. But everyone makes it very hard for me by posting such pretty photos!

    Juliet

  • 18 years ago

    I have about 280 varieties. No seedlings, no pollen dabbing, no growing in pots for me. My 272 hostas plus lots of other perennials have packed my gardens to overflowing. May have to start a new bed...again.
    Marlene

  • 18 years ago

    I started out in '85 buying 20 from Wild's......today I have 650 here and 200 at another location and about 200 seedlings. Can't kick out the beds anymore, so for each one in, I have to take one out! It is tough to make that decision. (They are like all my kids!) I keep track of their names in an address book. Works well so I don't buy the same one twice!)

  • 18 years ago

    byrdlady - good idea with the address book. Maybe I'll try that when I start to get close to the triple didgets everyone else seems to have!

    Christine

  • 18 years ago

    "Too Many" according to my wife & daughter

    Jim

    Here is a link that might be useful: My website

  • 18 years ago

    i have slightly more than 450. i usually add another 25-45 every season.

  • 18 years ago

    "i usually add another 25-45 every season."

    I should do that. Except that it requires so much self-control.

  • 18 years ago

    This year I had to replace over 60 plants that died from crown rot. I also added some others I didn't have I know I have over 200 plants and each one is named plus the ones I have in the ground that the names were lost or kids pulled them out. So a good guess would be to say over 200 but under 300.

  • 18 years ago

    I became interested in daylilies about 5 years ago and started out with a few unnamed ones. I was so amazed when they bloomed and were so pretty. Then a friend told me about a daylily farm about 25 miles away and that I should visit every couple weeks during bloom season and try to get some early, mid and late bloomers. I had no idea what he was talking about. Well I did visit and every time came home with a few more. These had names. Then I found they were on the internet!! Oh My!! I never imagined such beautiful ones!! So now I have about 150 and am running out of room. I really didn't have any idea how to choose so went to the AHS and started buying the ones that were the winners. Most of them were older and not too epensive and thought this would be a good way to build a good base. Now I have decided that I would rather spend my money on just a few each year and get really special ones rather than 10 $10 ones. So this year I made a trip to Florida in May and came home with 3 nice ones from Stamile's. And have ordered a couple more that I saw on my trip.

    I have just loved this forum and all your beautiful pictures. It inspired me to take pictures of all mine as they bloomed this year.

    Thanks to all of you for sharing. You are an inspiration!!

    Carol

  • 18 years ago

    took a count a few weeks ago about 700 plus about a few hundred more seedlings

  • 18 years ago

    So I have 4 mature daylilies right now. My husband was interested in "Something kinda grassy to plant along the house to make it blend better" and now I am hooked. (All 4 of these were bought from Home Despot, so they are probably tissue cultured.) I also bought 100 seeds off e-bay and right now, 24 have sprouted. I am staggering the planting so that I don't get overwhelmed, and there will be many more seedlings by spring. And oh yeah, my wish list is over 1,000 strong. We are getting ready to move out into the country this month, so I think once we get out there, I will go on ahead and start ordering more for spring delivery.

    Monica

  • 18 years ago

    Good for you Monica. We addicts have to stick together.. I have about 20 coming in the spring, so far. I live in the country and we have 8 acres BUT, there are so many trees. I don't know exactly what I am going to do for beds yet. I am up to about 650 now....Ellie

  • 18 years ago

    I have 78 registered varieties, 10 of other people's seedlings and about 135 of my own seedlings. i think I am at my max for reistered. Any time I add on I have to remove one. I have 4 coming in the spring and I have already picked out three that are going.

    Edward
    Timberlea, NS

  • 18 years ago

    I try to keep the number of named daylilies that I have to between 100 and 110, plus whatever seedlings I am growing.

    Because daylilies some perform so much better than others, I prefer to concentrate on quality rather than quantity.

  • 18 years ago

    I started collecting at our old house and in three years I was up to about 70. I moved all of them up to my mother in laws garden-field and moved into our new house. I have a blank slate to start with at my new house. I will be digging beds all winter ready to move them here. :D
    My mother in law is not even charging me to leave them there. lol
    I have about 80 or so seedlings growing in her garden and about 200 in the basement under lights. I just started bidding on seeds at the lily auction. Did I mention I am an addict. People kid about taking all of their daylilies with them when they move.... but I actually did. I left everything else LOL. I have to give a shout out to Edith, A wonderful lady in the North GA mtns who is so sweet and has a daylily farm.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Ediths website.

  • 18 years ago

    I had to give up my whole collection 5 years ago when I moved to a place with no real growing room. It was one of the hardest things I've done. I hated it. Now me and my wife are buying a house with lots of outdoor growing room so all is well in the world again. Well sort of.

    Can you imagine my wish list with 5 years of new intros I had never seen! I think I experienced beauty overload. So many 'got to haves'. Plus I love to dab the pollen so I'm also checkig out potential parents. Aarghh. My head is exploding. Digging beds, setting up seedling sites, putting together indoor seed growing lights, and on and on...

    And you know what? I'm enjoying every moment of it.

    Charles

  • 18 years ago

    Way too many. I am slowly getting rid of the ones that are "just OK" and that includes many that are only a few years old. The ones I am keeping are the seedlings that I have kept over the years because they were unique. If I have a "look alike" seedling that is better all around than the cultivar it matches, that cultivar is history. I have so many like that and just plain don't have the time or patience to care for varieties that are even a little bit inferior. BTW, I see no reason to register a look-a-like even if it is superior. I know many do, but I just don't see the point.

    I sell my daylilies at Farmer's Markets locally and people really don't care if they are registered.

  • 18 years ago

    Had to bring this thread back, just counted and I can't believe it but, I have 94 different kinds of daylilies! Not as many as some of you, but I had no idea that I had that many. I think I have added about 50 new ones just this year. I am unfortunatly running out of room, and have babies scattered around also. (must have missed some seed pods last year.) Whens the last time you counted? Just figured a lot of us have more than we thought we did. Boy am I going to be in trouble when all these double fans become Lg. clumps! But, hey thats what the Lily Auction is for! -Jessica

  • 18 years ago

    I only have 25, but I just started.

  • 18 years ago

    Interesting that this thread popped up again.
    I posted back in early Aug. that I had around 100 varieties. Just now realized that in the past 10 months I purchased 110 more through various venders and on the Lily Auction. Now that's scary, esp. since I also have 200 of my own seedlings growing under lights in the basement. I also have plenty more lawn areas that could be dug up, and I have enough money to purchase MORE, since I'm still working.

    When does this STOP?

    Julie

  • 18 years ago

    Im not sure when it stops! I know in the winter months, my obsession is buying shoes, since I can't do anything in my yard. I don't know what id do if it were warm up here in MD all year round. I would not have any lawn left at all, and then I could sell my lawn mower and use the money to buy more daylilies! My husband gets mad at me cause when ever we get in my car to go somewhere, there is never any gas in it, cause ive spent it on DL's. Im starting to think ive got obsessive compulsive disorder. I am now adding a bigger yard, and a bigger closet to my wish-list!
    I even asked my mother the other day if I could mow her yard for $50! My obsession grows with the lilies in the spring and goes dormant in the winter! -Jessica

  • 17 years ago

    I never counted up the number of daylilies I bought and planted in 2007. Maybe ignorance is bliss but it was a lot of money and a lot of plants. I know I have about 80 new daylily plants ordered for spring. I keep thinking of how gorgeous it will all look when they all bloom.

  • 17 years ago

    I have no idea, and I don't really care. I was told that there are 41 in the small bed in front of the house, and that In another year or so I will be able to cut the grass in the back with a weed wacker.

  • 17 years ago

    Plenty haven't done an inventory in well over a year there were upwards of 500 registered and at least that many seedlings at that time. New cultivars have been added in the meantime and more will arrive in spring too busy gardening to keep an exact count. Haven't even updated my program that contains info on each cultivar maybe will get it up to date this winter it is nice for reference.

  • 17 years ago

    I used to have over 300 registrations. Each year I get rid of some as I increase my number of my own hybrids that are worth keeping.

    I am keeping only the prettiest and best over-all plants now whether registered or not and each year, a new one comes along to outshine many of the registrations.

  • 17 years ago

    I didn't realize I had so many planted or to be planted this spring[over 500]...:)...oh, my..when did this all happen?...And that is not counting the seedlings...Well. from now on each plant will have to justify its place in the garden...LOL...cheers, lloyd..Has anyone found a cure for this sickness???

  • 17 years ago

    I had thought I was at my limit when I had 78. Well, I am at 100 now. I do plan on removing about 5-10 when my spring arrivals get here. The seedlings are still about 130. I haven't added any and I don't know my total losses.

    Edward

  • 17 years ago

    You guys are so lucky to have all those daylilies. I never liked dayliles, but then I didn't know they had so many different ones, and ones that reblooms. Now I am hooked. A friend gave me some, but she didn't keep up with the names, the only one that I know for sure is ones that I bought, Pink Whispers, Strawberry Candy, Little Missy, Little Business, and Salmon Sheen, I was given a bunch of them. Besides those, I probably have about 20 different ones. Some very nice people from here sent me a lot of seeds and I have successfully germinated some of them, can't wait to see the results.

    Sharon

  • 17 years ago

    :D Not as many as I will have come spring!

    Let's see, up until now I had Stella de Oro, H. Fulva 'Europe', a yellow NOID much like Stella but different shade of yellow & bloom time, 5 surprise NOIDs from a local AHS sale- non of which have bloomed yet, a red NOID that hasn't bloomed in several years, then last fall I planted Breathless Beauty from WalMart and Wineberry Candy from a plant exchange here on the forums.

    Now I have ~100 seedlings started, another couple hundred seeds coming, and 32 ordered for spring so far.

    Not too bad for the first few months of a new addiction. I'd say from reading the rest of these posts that I've been fairly disciplined- though a good deal of that has to do with not much land to plant them on and being addicted to other plants too (OGR for example).

  • 17 years ago

    900 and counting plus at least that many seedlings :) but who's counting right? LOL
    Jan

  • 17 years ago

    hi my first entry to this was in nov.2006 at that time i had about 700 now as of last fall i had about 1000 with a few hunderd more seedlings in pots over wintering under the snow ,jest a few feet thick.i will be putting in a new bed this year and have a few more seedlings started inside with a few thousand seeds to start outside ,my garden takes up most of my day but the results are outstanding. i only have two or 3 hundred named ones and other 800 or so are seedlings are from 2 to eight or nine years old ,will keep you updated. DICK

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