Some plant nurseries and  big box stores have been known to sell daylilies with 'garden' names or no names at all, with perhaps only their color printed on the sales tag. Does it matter if you buy unnamed or unregistered daylilies, or should you only buy those registered with the American Daylily Society?

There are three schools of thought on this topic:

1. Who cares? If the plant is pretty and it gives me pleasure, I could care less if it has a name. Furthermore, I don't display name tags by my daylilies.
2. I only plant registered, named daylilies in my garden. Unregistered daylilies are not eligible for any American Daylily Society (ADS) awards or can't be mentioned in the ADS Journal. I appreciate knowing who hybridized my plant, if it has won any awards, and its parentage. I like having all the available statistics about my plants. Before I buy any daylily I research it thoroughly in the ADS Daylily Database. And I love name tags!
3. Both option #1 and #2 work for me.

As you can probably tell from my blogs, I fall into the #2 category. Where do you stand on this topic?

Daylily pictured: Bill Tonn

Here's the ultimate party girl, 'Holiday Party,' showing off her stuff. This vibrantly colored daylily is planted in a flower bed close to our driveway, and just about everyone who drives up has to stop and take a closer look.

Holiday Party is a hardy dormant tetraploid that thrives in Wisconsin. Hybridized by the late Frank Kropf in Missouri, and introduced in 1996, this consistently double daylily grows  32" tall and has 6" blooms in my garden. Holiday Party started blooming on July 4, and will no doubt continue into August. She's a keeper!

American Daylily Society Award: Honorable Mention: 2007

'Scarlet Pimpernel' came to me from my friend Priscilla. I had  always admired this daylily in her garden, so I could hardly contain my excitement when she gave me a division of her plant, all potted up. This cultivar has grown in leaps and bounds and clumped up in no time for me. The 10" garnet red and yellow blooms are showstoppers! Everyone who sees Scarlet for the first time usually gasps in astonishment, and asks "What is THAT?"

Hybridized in Iowa by Nan Ripley (2006), this semi-evergreen tetraploid is winter-hardy in Wisconsin. Scarlet Pimpernel is an Unusual Form (UFO) crispate, which means it has pinched, twisted, or quilled floral segments. Sometimes the blooms appear as polymerous (more than the usual amount of segments). In one of my photos, note that it has four petals and four sepals. Although the  scape height is registered as 35 inches, after three years in my garden it only grows about 30" tall. This award-winner is one of my early bloomers. This  year it started blooming on June 22 and I expect it to continue through the end of July.

American Daylily Society Awards:

• Stout Silver Medal: 2019 - The highest award a daylily can  win
• Award of Merit: 2016 - An award that signifies that a cultivar is not only distinctive and beautiful, but also performs well over a wide geographic area
• Honorable Mention: 2013 - The first official “stamp of approval” by the American Daylily Society where good performance goes beyond the regional level
• Ned Roberts Spider/Unusual Form Award: 2013 - The most outstanding spider or Unusual Form cultivar blooming in a clump in a convention tour garden
  

I'm not at all fond of orange ditch lilies (Hemerocallis fulva) as I've spent countless hours digging their invasive rhizomes out of my flower beds, but I'll be the first to admit that they look pretty darn good in roadside ditches.

'Dancing Summerbird' is in full bloom right now reminding me, once again, how much I love this dainty lilac-lavender daylily. Hybridized by Marc King-Lamone and introduced in 1997, this dormant diploid never disappoints. Every 5.5" bloom is consistent and looks picture-perfect, rain or shine. Dancing Summerbird is categorized as an Unusual Form (UFO) crispate (includes floral segments which have sharp folds giving a pinched or folded effect) and spatulate (segments are markedly wider at the end like a kitchen spatula). This gives all the flowers a very unique look -- they seem to be happily dancing in the breeze.

My plant grows 27" tall and although it is registered as a midseason bloomer, here in Wisconsin it is one of my earlies. Typical bloom time is from late June through the end of July. What a great way to start the season off!