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Welcome to the Dave's Lilys web site.

I AM NEVER UNDERSOLD
Order with confidence that I will meet any and all prices of major suppliers!! I will meet any price in EUREKA or any major supplier with a printed, illustrated catalog. Just apprise me of the price and take your discount (as long as my stock lasts).. Lists printed in regional news letters and on auctions will not be honored. Lets be fair to Ole Dave!
If you have already bought from me use your credits to buy other daylilys or apply to a credit slip for next year! Offer ends March 31, 2002.


JEWELS OF THE GARDEN
Some flowers have stood out this year. I can’t remember everything that has impressed us and I always forget a few but here are some that we remember.
John Benz’s SHIELD OF VALOR is older but a fine yellow that still elicits lots of favorable comments from garden visitors. Johns reds :ROCKETEER and ROYAL TROUBADOUR are still crowd pleasers. His new pink IMPOSSIBLE MISSION is a true show stopper! Big, opulent super budcount. I like his new VICTORIAN ELEGANCE too.
Salter’s FORGOTTEN DREAMS is a special dark lavender with dark purple eye and ¼ inch picotee. Trimmer’s CROCODILE SMILE is a mulberry bicolor with sharks teeth on the sepals and it's striking . David Kirchoff’s LINDA DANIEL has impressed too. Almond with a dark eye and DOUBLE edging.
LACE COOKIES (Kaskell) This has to be one of the most ruffled yellows I’ve ever seen!
LAVENDER BLUE BABY ,diploid version lived up to all the hype .Has a blue overcast and a blue eye. I may have a few fans to offer next year.
These are just a few we remember. And MASK OF ETERNITY was first to bloom on April l5th.Here it is September 6 and its STILL blooming.


EVERGREENS, DORMANTS, AND "SOUTHERN" DAYLILYS

We've heard it alleged that daylilies bought from the lower South do not perform as well in the North due to the fact they are grown in the tropical climates and therefore won't acclimate to the cold North. Folks,we are in 34 NORTH FLORIDA where we definitely are NOT in the tropics and in fact, can have a week (or more) of freezing (or colder) temperatures. We also get Northeasters that can change 70-degree days to 3-5 days of freezing rain. We can get COLD. I believe that is why the plants we ship into Maine, Wisconsin, and other cold climates have grown so well . We have satisfied customers in all the northern tier states!
TRANSPLANTING
I do not recommend transplanting at all in hot, humid weather unless you live in an area that the humidity is extremely low so there is no stress placed on the plants.
BUGS & OTHER VARMINTS
Thrips, and spider mites are occasional pests on daylilies and if I were a hobby gardener I'd probably rely on predators to take care of these little annoyances - and not worry too much if I got more bugs than predators. But being a commercial grower and subject to frequent inspections, I have to be more aggressive. The chemicals I use are ORTHENE or CYGON 2E, which are systemic and will knock out thrips and aphids. The good thing about using a systemic is that you do not have to hit the bug directly to kill them - it gets into the plant juices and it kills them as they try to eat them. MALATHION and DIAZINON will only kill on contact. For spider mites I have found AVID, a very expensive but very good systemic for this particular pest. Driving rains will kill spider mites so I find them to be a problem only during spells of hot dry weather, so maybe with heavy watering (making sure you hit the underside of the leaf) you might be able to control these a little better. Agricultural soaps have been tried on all three of these pests and even though I do not know the success rate, it's certainly non-toxic and for that reason might be worth a try. Generally though daylilies are pest free and many survive without any spraying at all.
FERTILIZATION
My recommendations for fertilization are for people like me who have sandy soil. I use a good balanced commercial fertilizer (6-6-6, 8-8-8, 10-10-10) that's 50% organic and has trace elements. I buy the cheapest I can find early in the year and stock pile it. Daylilies do better at neutral to slightly acid soil - because soil tests are fairly easy and cheap I highly recommend you have one done periodically. Our soil is acid and daylilies grow very well for us. I do not recommend high phosphate fertilizers unless a soil
test reveals you need this. I have started to use Humic Acid, Fish Liquid, Sea Kelp Extract and certain trace elements in a foliar feeding program. I will relay my results next year.
Some like to use organic fertilizers such as MILORGANITE, but we mostly find it too expensive for our purposes. In our beds we mix our own formulas from time to time and will use MILORGANITE as a base. For those that like to garden organically but cheap like me, I suggest you start a compost pile which will amend any soil marvelously. Remember though you are going to only get about half the volume you start with so have all your neighbors save you all their leaves, lawn clippings, and vegetable or garden scrapes. Then you are going to have to be very patient since (unless you have one of those special barrels you are going to wait for up to a year to reap the benefits (so place your pile accordingly).
CROWN ROT AND OTHER DISEASES
I know of no other plant that is more universally adapted and easier to grow than the daylily! I've been growing them since 1955 and they are a fun plant, however over the years I've seen less tolerance to crown rot and other diseases. As I've said before about roses and irises when you line breed extensively you are bound to get genetically induced problems. The solution of course is to breed for hardiness. And they do not like standing water. Raised beds is the answer here.
One trend I’ve noticed in soft sand is that they tend to dig themselves in deeper after a year or two. You need to lift them up. Sand covering the crown during hot, wet weather is bad! Hard compacted soil and clay do not seem to have this problem.