Creating modern hardy hybrid daylillies...
especially for gardens in northern zones!

Daylily: Up the Creek*

Due (in part) to its bud-building nature, this plant can top out at just under 70”. That’s “up there”, alright!!! I forgot to document the fact that in its mature form (by getting photos of proof) though, so 58” is what I’ve registered it - the height it hits the first year after being divided the previous Fall (as in photo). Thick (and well branched) scapes have NO trouble standing, which is GREAT to see… literally “eye to eye”!

This plant is a child of my previous “Down by the Creek”, and since it was so immediately tall (a FAST flow, for sure!), “Up the Creek” seemed befittin’!

I really like these dips that “bud build”, as the bloom season is SO much longer on them… and this one is a prime example. In the “standing scapes” shot, you can pretty much see that in spite of its mid/mid-late start, it keeps blooming even beyond “very late” (there’s a lot of other dl’s in that shot, and they’re all completely done – while this one has an additional 2-3 weeks of building/blooming to go).

The yearly cycle of plant requests is SO predictable: In Winter and Spring, everyone is looking for early bloomers. They’re not “all that”, because late frosts/freezes (which are becoming more and more common) can really effect their bloom season (not to mention gall midge destruction of early buds). Then in late season, everyone is crying that their daylilies are DONE… and “what do you have that blooms really late???”. Well… these bud builders solve a lot of customer problems for me, and I’m hoping more people will soon see the light??? Almost all of my new intro’s are of the ilk now - even those of the tetraploid persuasion! The weather is changing my dears... and if it takes me 6 years to develop any new cultivar, you'd better believe I've no choice but think NOW about how to deal with it. Gardener to gardener: You should, too. ;-)