I expect a lot from my garden plants, and I get a little impatient when things don’t deliver as promised. With daylilies that’s usually not a problem, but there are some cultivars that need a year or two to get established before they will bloom. Others might bloom right away the first year after you plant them, but the blooms will look a little funny at first and make you wonder why you purchased the thing in the first place.
I saw ‘Ram’ (pictured above) on a garden tour three years ago and bought the cultivar that same summer. When it didn’t bloom the following year I moved it, which only made it more ornery so it didn’t bloom last year either. I was almost ready to give it away last fall, but I decided I would leave the plant where it was and see what happens this summer. It’s no longer angry with me because it has exploded in gorgeous 7-inch yellow flowers.
‘Coleman Hawkins’ also took three years to bloom, but this time it wasn’t my fault. I left the plant in the same location, it apparently just needed some time to adjust to its surroundings. I’m sure glad I didn’t get disgusted and give this one away:
I received ‘Satan’s Passion’ as a bonus plant from a daylily order several years ago. The only photo I could find of it on the internet at the time wasn’t very flattering. Whenever I needed to make room for a new daylily, poor ‘Satan’s Passion’ was the first to get moved to make way for it. It never had a chance to get properly established. It finally bloomed this summer and I regret not giving it a permanent home earlier because the bright-red, 7-inch flowers are stunning:
‘Fire Thrower’ has been in my garden (and been moved around) for so long now that I don’t remember where it originally came from. Like the others I’ve mentioned, it showed off for the first time this summer. When I saw it I exclaimed outloud (apparently to the earwigs and katydids), “Wow! What is that?!” The rich orange-red blooms cannot be ignored and were certainly worth the wait:
