BEGINNER'S GUIDE
TO BUYING DAYLILIES

First, let me say that except for my once-a-year yardsale, I do not sell daylilies. I used to think that one day I would start a daylily business but have now decided that I'm going to keep this hobby just that... a hobby!

Second, I sould like to mention a book that I have been using since 1991 to help me in my quest for daylilies. Titled the Eureka Daylily Reference Guide by Ken Gregory, the current edition has sources for thousands of different daylily cultivars and includes the current catalog prices from dozens of different growers. I mention Eureka here because I will be referring to it below. You can find more info at the Eureka website .

--- DAYLILY SOURCES ---- Mail order nurseries are are my favorite place to buy daylilies. Their overhead is usually fairly low which helps keep prices reasonable and because the plants are usually grown in ideal conditions, they tend to be of excellent size and quality. Of course, there are always exceptions, so it's probably a good idea to make your first order from a company a small one. You can find a listing of daylily growers in the Eureka Daylily Reference Guide, the AHS source list, or go directly to one of the many commercial daylily growers that have their own web sites (see my daylily links page). Local daylily club plant sales. These fund raising events usually sell plants dug from local member's gardens. Watch your local paper's gardening section for announcements of local sales or contact your local daylily club. Many local clubs now have websites and the American Hemerocallis Society has a list of local clubs (see my links page). Daylily nurseries. Due to the increased popularity of the daylily, there are more and more daylily nurseries open to the public. Check with members of of your local daylily club to find out if there are any in your area. Local commercial garden and home centers. Historically, these have not be a particularly good place to buy daylilies as they often don't sell registered cultivars but instead sell pots marked 'red daylily' or 'yellow daylily'. Even when they do carry named varieties they are frequently reported to be incorrectly marked due to poor handling by employees. Never the less, I mention them here because they do frequently sell daylilies and there are some locations that sell correctly marked cultivars. Trades - Daylilies multiply and trading your excess with other daylily growers is a popular way to add to your collection.

--- SELECTING CULTIVARS --- While daylilies grow in all 50 states, from Alaska to Florida, not all daylilies will grow well in all climates. You should try and select those that do well in your area. If you live in the north where winters are harsh, I would avoid the more tender, evergreen cultivars, while if you live in the deep south I would avoid the dormant cultivars which tend to require a lengthy cold spell for them to perform well. This will not guarantee that a particular cultivar will do well in your area, but it greatly increases the odds in your favor. Select popular cultivars. If lots of people like them, there are probably good reasons (like beauty and performance). The AHS conducts a popularity poll every year and the results are tabulated by region and published on the AHS website. Another way to determine popular cultivars is to scan through the Eureka Daylily Reference Guide looking for cultivars that are sold by a lot of different growers. The guide even includes a list of the top 100 daylilies based on how many nurseries carry the cultivars. Obviously, these are the popular cultivars or so many different growers wouldn't be selling them. As I live in the deep south, I would only select cultivars that were offered by southern growers. That way I was fairly sure that cultivar would do well here. I used this method very successfully for a number of years. Select cultivars that you have seen growing well in another local garden. These make a good choice because you already know that they perform well in your area. Finally, get recommendations from daylily growers in your area. Daylily folks are a friendly lot and most will be more than happy to tell you about their favorites.

--- PRICES --- Daylily prices can vary from a few dollars for a double fan to up to two hundred dollars or more for a single fan. So why do daylilies sell for such a wide range of prices? Basically, it's the law of supply and demand. A new cultivar may be introduced at a starting price of $100.00. It can sell for this because it is rare. As more growers obtain this plant and multiply it, it becomes less rare and the price drops. If the cultivar is very popular or if it multiplies slowly, the price stays up longer. Likewise, if the daylily multiplies very fast or is not that poplular, the price will drop fairly quickly. Does this mean that the cheaper cultivars are not as nice as the expensive ones? Not necessarily. It just means that there is more of that cultivar available. You can find hundreds of beautiful cultivars in the $5.00-$10.00 range because they have been around for years and lots of growers sell them, driving down prices. Prices for a cultivar will often vary between different growers, in some cases by quite a bit. This may be because one grower has a large stock of the cultivar while another has only a little. The Eureka Daylily Reference Guide comes in handy for pricing daylilies. It gives you the prices the listed growers are charging for the different cultivars, including an average price. There are a lot of factors other than list price to consider when evaluating a mail order grower's prices. Does the grower include gift plants with the order? Most do but some are much more generous than others. How many fans does the grower send? Most will send at least two but some will send a whole clump. I have received as many as 12 fans of a cultivar for the 2-fan price. Does the grower send large healthy plants? I have received plants no bigger around than a pencil and I have received some that were over 3 inches in diameter. It is best to place only a small order with a grower you have not ordered from before. Then, if the order is up to your expectations, you can place larger orders.

--- CATALOGS --- Catalogs can be requested from the growers by phone or mail (or e-mail in some cases). Some of the growers will ask a few of dollars to help with the cost (usually the ones with color pictures) but they will allow you to deduct the cost from your first order. If you join the American Hemerocallis Society, you will receive quarterly journals which contains lots of advertisements by growers all over the country. In addition, you will receive lots of catalogs. Many of the growers send out catalogs to the complete AHS membership. Many nurseries now have their catalogs on line. The number of these on-line catalogs has increased dramatically over the past few years. My Daylily Links page lists many of these on-line catalogs organized by state for easy reference.

--- DAYLILY SEEDS --- Growing daylilies from seed to many is a very exciting way to increase the number of daylilies that you grow, but if you are new to growing daylilies, you should read steps 4 thru 6 on my Hybridizing for Beginners page before you start. If you decide that you want to try it, you can find a few sources where you can buy seed at on my links page.