Natanya- I bought from Isabel Hibbard here on Long Island. If your thinking its a daylily farm, forget it. Its a persons backyard in a very suburban neightborhood. She is out of stock of many of the intros because she really only has clumps in her backyard in a garden setting, nothing lined out for sale or things like that.

Thinking out loud is good, I am always posting about my ideas and what I am doing in the garden.

I don't know how sucessful you will be with the early bloomers. I tried for early bloomers too last fall and was very unhappy with the results this spring. From now on, I am going to forget adding extra earlies and just concentate on adding late and very late.

If its a matter of choosing early or late to extend the season, the late bloomers have a heck of a lot more impact than the early do.

When I add a new daylily, unless its an absolute dog, I never judge it the first year. Branching and budcount will be poor that first year compaired to the established plant. If you dig them and divide them you start from year zero again.

You already know about Olallie Daylilies. But the most impact for your money would be too buy the Dale Thomas late to VL intros. They are so very pretty.

Here is a link that might be useful: Isabel Hibbard Gardens

IMHO the most impact for your money would be to first join the local daylily club nearest to you and then buy from or trade with its members for your season extenders. :)

This process may take more time than would merely filling out an order and sending it in, but it has many advantages. First and, from what you've posted, probably most important, you'll have the chance to get cultivars that people in your area will have vetted for you as it were -- the season extenders will in fact really be season extenders, and you can get opinions on how good the plants are.

Second advantage is that, if you want even greater certainty that you'll love the cultivars you're thinking of getting, you can visit members' gardens and see them for yourself....HUGE lesson for me, that I apparently need to relearn year after year, is that photos do NOT always tell the tale! I can't tell you how many times I've passed by cultivars in catalogs only to have been wowed by them in a garden. Or vice versa....love the picture, saw it, said, "eh," then walked on by lolol.

Third advantage is the opportunity to get great plants that are not widely available commercially, but that would fit your criteria.

Fourth advantage, you can often get the plants you want at bargain basement prices....leaves room in the budget for some really spectacular things, if you want!

Why am I pushing local club membership? It's fresh on my mind I guess....yesterday was the day that one of the clubs I belong to preps donated daylilies for next week's sale to the public. It was an all-day affair, and lots of work....and LOTS of fun. Not to mention, we could buy plants at a nice discount off the public price + bid on silent auction plants. I came home with (once again!), too many plants, most at $4/DF. Yup. Four dollars a DF. And no shipping charges. I bought what I liked, not what was necessarily the best deal, but even so, I suspect most of my buys were 50% off average selling price. And one of my criteria for choosing was season extenders, starting with midlates. Most were MLs, but I did pick up a couple of lates as well.... Someone just posted AUGUST FLAME, and coincidentally, that was one I bought. I also got HEIRLOOM HEAVEN, a red Apps intro registered as a late. Darrel's nursery was in south Jersey, and it might have been donated by a club member from around there, so it might not be quite as late as one might like, but it will be at least kind of late. I hope. :) And another cheapie....JOHNNY REB. Never heard of it, but a 50" ML red for $4/DF sure seemed worth trying. And, if I don't like the plant, I can always donate it back next year. And one of the plants I won in the silent auction is SURFIN DUDE, a Murphy intro registered as a late...and a bicolor! and tall! and a large flower! and a dormant....be still my beating heart! Still listed at $80/DF on Woodhenge Gardens' web site, but I got my TF+ at a VERY small fraction of that price. Very, very small. Color me happy. :) I did pick up one EE, NORTHERN LEMON STAR, which is an older Kirchhoff (1981) that I know nothing about. It's yellow, something I'm trying not to buy much more of, but for extra early, it'll be fine I think. It also fit one of my collecting criteria - very fragrant. Worth trying at $4 IMO.

(Alas, I had TOO MANY criteria.....there are certain hybridizers I like, I want more of certain colors, I suddenly decided to collect doubles and picked up some wonderful Herrington "cupcakes." I'm sure you understand the problem!)

At any rate, I realize I'm moving this discussion off the topic, something that drives me nuts when anyone else does it but is OK when I do it LOLOL....

I bought some of Dale Thomas' things from him before he sold his operation, and they are nice. I don't have lates/VLs, so cannot comment on them. They may fit the bill exactly. But I don't think you need to buy only from one place. Since you want to add just a small number of plants, I really, really urge you to take the time to seek out your season extenders from whomever happens to have them....For example, I've mentioned elsewhere that Curt Hanson has lates/VLs, and he has wonderful plants. Another example, of a daylily that you must add to your list IMO is RUFFLED STRAWBERRY PARFAIT, a beautiful toothy late Reckamp-Klehm. No idea how much this one is anymore, but it should be reasonably priced and pretty widely available all over. You definitely should have it, assuming you like the color and look of course. I recall a conversation I had with Vic Santa Lucia I think it was (Iron Gate Gardens), and he said that, if Roy Klehm were better known, this cultivar would be on everyone's short list for great plant.

This has been a very long-winded way of suggesting that you seek out individual cultivars, not just buying down the list from one or a few sellers! Take your time, buy what you love!

IMHO the most impact for your money would be to first join the local daylily club nearest to you and then buy from or trade with its members for your season extenders. :)

This process may take more time than would merely filling out an order and sending it in, but it has many advantages. First and, from what you've posted, probably most important, you'll have the chance to get cultivars that people in your area will have vetted for you as it were -- the season extenders will in fact really be season extenders, and you can get opinions on how good the plants are.

Second advantage is that, if you want even greater certainty that you'll love the cultivars you're thinking of getting, you can visit members' gardens and see them for yourself....HUGE lesson for me, that I apparently need to relearn year after year, is that photos do NOT always tell the tale! I can't tell you how many times I've passed by cultivars in catalogs only to have been wowed by them in a garden. Or vice versa....love the picture, saw it, said, "eh," then walked on by lolol.

Third advantage is the opportunity to get great plants that are not widely available commercially, but that would fit your criteria.

Fourth advantage, you can often get the plants you want at bargain basement prices....leaves room in the budget for some really spectacular things, if you want!

Why am I pushing local club membership? It's fresh on my mind I guess....yesterday was the day that one of the clubs I belong to preps donated daylilies for next week's sale to the public. It was an all-day affair, and lots of work....and LOTS of fun. Not to mention, we could buy plants at a nice discount off the public price + bid on silent auction plants. I came home with (once again!), too many plants, most at $4/DF. Yup. Four dollars a DF. And no shipping charges. I bought what I liked, not what was necessarily the best deal, but even so, I suspect most of my buys were 50% off average selling price. And one of my criteria for choosing was season extenders, starting with midlates. Most were MLs, but I did pick up a couple of lates as well.... Someone just posted AUGUST FLAME, and coincidentally, that was one I bought. I also got HEIRLOOM HEAVEN, a red Apps intro registered as a late. Darrel's nursery was in south Jersey, and it might have been donated by a club member from around there, so it might not be quite as late as one might like, but it will be at least kind of late. I hope. :) And another cheapie....JOHNNY REB. Never heard of it, but a 50" ML red for $4/DF sure seemed worth trying. And, if I don't like the plant, I can always donate it back next year. And one of the plants I won in the silent auction is SURFIN DUDE, a Murphy intro registered as a late...and a bicolor! and tall! and a large flower! and a dormant....be still my beating heart! Still listed at $80/DF on Woodhenge Gardens' web site, but I got my TF+ at a VERY small fraction of that price. Very, very small. Color me happy. :) I did pick up one EE, NORTHERN LEMON STAR, which is an older Kirchhoff (1981) that I know nothing about. It's yellow, something I'm trying not to buy much more of, but for extra early, it'll be fine I think. It also fit one of my collecting criteria - very fragrant. Worth trying at $4 IMO.

(Alas, I had TOO MANY criteria.....there are certain hybridizers I like, I want more of certain colors, I suddenly decided to collect doubles and picked up some wonderful Herrington "cupcakes." I'm sure you understand the problem!)

At any rate, I realize I'm moving this discussion off the topic, something that drives me nuts when anyone else does it but is OK when I do it LOLOL....

I bought some of Dale Thomas' things from him before he sold his operation, and they are nice. I don't have lates/VLs, so cannot comment on them. They may fit the bill exactly. But I don't think you need to buy only from one place. Since you want to add just a small number of plants, I really, really urge you to take the time to seek out your season extenders from whomever happens to have them....For example, I've mentioned elsewhere that Curt Hanson has lates/VLs, and he has wonderful plants. Another example, of a daylily that you must add to your list IMO is RUFFLED STRAWBERRY PARFAIT, a beautiful toothy late Reckamp-Klehm. No idea how much this one is anymore, but it should be reasonably priced and pretty widely available all over. You definitely should have it, assuming you like the color and look of course. I recall a conversation I had with Vic Santa Lucia I think it was (Iron Gate Gardens), and he said that, if Roy Klehm were better known, this cultivar would be on everyone's short list for great plant.

This has been a very long-winded way of suggesting that you seek out individual cultivars, not just buying down the list from one or a few sellers! Take your time, buy what you love!

BTW I had to change the title to my post....having trouble getting this to post, and it wouldn't accept it as originally titled. How irritating. :(

Despite my suggestion to seek out the plant, not the seller or the hybridizer, here's an idea for adding earlies....check out Mike Huben's things, as that's one of his hybridizing goals:

http://hubendaylilies.blogspot.com/

Someone I know here picked up his VANILLA STELLA this year. I was thinking of getting that one, so I'm interested in seeing what it looks like in her garden next year. I think Mike is one of my clubs' speakers this fall, so that should be interesting, too. See....yet another reason to join a club! :)

psst, lynxe, your daylily taste and gardening style might be different than mine, but just wanted to say I have Johnny Reb and love it. It's by Robertson from Missouri and is a ML with extended bloom and for me here has a while yet to keep blooming. I bought mine as a large clump for like $10 from a lady with a sign in her rural front yard one summer on a country back road. I avoid interstates in traveling as I loathe semi trucks, it's given me a chance to find some really small but fun places to see and buy from.

Excellent news, justmetoo. Thanks for the two thumbs up on that one! (Said with huge sigh of relief, as it means that I haven't added yet another dog to my collection LOL.)

There you go, natanya....it's also got an extended bloom, such a nice feature. I'd gift you a piece, but mine is just a DF of course. But it must be out there, if you take the time to look. Or wait til next spring & remind me that you'd like some.

Two other MLs I got yesterday are Dennis Anderson's INDY RHAPSODY and INDY DREAM. INDY RHAPSODY is red, short scape (19") but bloom would be in proportion (4.5"). Very popular and widely available. INDY DREAM I don't know. Orange-gold with burgundy eyezone. I'm not allowing myself oranges or golds, but the burgundy lets me cheat LOL. Not widely available, apparently, or so a brief internet search suggests. Lots of people like the Anderson plants for their lovely color and pretty faces. I recall a hybridizer/seller telling me that many of them are top-branched. But sometimes you just want a pretty face! If I hate the plants -- which I won't -- I'm out all of $8.

Excellent news, justmetoo. Thanks for the two thumbs up on that one! (Said with huge sigh of relief, as it means that I haven't added yet another dog to my collection LOL.)

There you go, natanya....it's also got an extended bloom, such a nice feature. I'd gift you a piece, but mine is just a DF of course. But it must be out there, if you take the time to look. Or wait til next spring & remind me that you'd like some.

Two other MLs I got yesterday are Dennis Anderson's INDY RHAPSODY and INDY DREAM. INDY RHAPSODY is red, short scape (19") but bloom would be in proportion (4.5"). Very popular and widely available. INDY DREAM I don't know. Orange-gold with burgundy eyezone. I'm not allowing myself oranges or golds, but the burgundy lets me cheat LOL. Not widely available, apparently, or so a brief internet search suggests. Lots of people like the Anderson plants for their lovely color and pretty faces. I recall a hybridizer/seller telling me that many of them are top-branched. But sometimes you just want a pretty face! If I hate the plants -- which I won't -- I'm out all of $8.

Excellent news, justmetoo. Thanks for the two thumbs up on that one! (Said with huge sigh of relief, as it means that I haven't added yet another dog to my collection LOL.)

There you go, natanya....it's also got an extended bloom, such a nice feature. I'd gift you a piece, but mine is just a DF of course. But it must be out there, if you take the time to look. Or wait til next spring & remind me that you'd like some.

Two other MLs I got yesterday are Dennis Anderson's INDY RHAPSODY and INDY DREAM. INDY RHAPSODY is red, short scape (19") but bloom would be in proportion (4.5"). Very popular and widely available. INDY DREAM I don't know. Orange-gold with burgundy eyezone. I'm not allowing myself oranges or golds, but the burgundy lets me cheat LOL. Not widely available, apparently, or so a brief internet search suggests. Lots of people like the Anderson plants for their lovely color and pretty faces. I recall a hybridizer/seller telling me that many of them are top-branched. But sometimes you just want a pretty face! If I hate the plants -- which I won't -- I'm out all of $8.

what the heck is happening here? What I say might be helpful sometimes, but it ain't repeating twice, much less once! This web site has apparently been invaded by gremlins!

Johnny Reb looks great!

Thanks for the HubenDaylilies link. That's definitely my taste! I loved reading his blog and how he describes his seedlings, etc.. I will definitely have to get some of his in the near future.

lynxe - thanks for all the suggestions as well. As far as joining the local AHS, well, I have 3 small kids and I just don't have the time for planned events. We're very spontaneous in the summer time - we go camping if the weather is good, stay home if it isn't, visit family, and so on. I know once they get older I will want to join up and be a part of AHS actively.