Product Description

It's no exaggeration to say that daylilies are the premier flowering perennial. From a handful of wild species belonging to the genus Hemerocallis, breeders have produced tens of thousands of hybrids in a dazzling array of colors, patterns, and shapes. Adding to their appeal is their hardiness, ease of care, and ability to combine well with other plants. With so many daylilies currently available, a pictorial guide to the best and most exciting cultivars is essential. More than 1700 daylilies—1400 of them new to this edition—are illustrated in close-up, detailed photographs. Each photograph is accompanied by a comprehensive description that includes information on color, size, bloom season, and parentage. Also included are chapters on daylily physiology, the history of the genus, the history of daylily hybridizing, hybridization techniques, and cultivation. Peat and Petit have created an authoritative reference and essential resource for anyone—nursery professional, hybridizer, designer, or enthusiast—who wishes to explore the vast potential of these beautiful plants.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #77502 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 408 pages

Review
"[The book] is an authoritative reference for anyone who wishes to explore the wide world of daylilies." (Michigan Gardener )

"The book isn't just a bunch of pretty pictures … The instructions on how to make your own daylily hybrid sound so easy that I am planning on trying it next summer." (Creators Syndicate )

About the Author
Ted L. Petit, professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Toronto, breeds daylilies at his Florida garden, Le Petit Jardin. He is a member of the American Hemerocallis Society and co-author of The Color Encyclopedia of Daylilies.

John P. Peat of Toronto, Ontario, is a research technician in biology, daylily hybridizer, and nurseryman. He is the owner of Cross Border Daylilies. He is a member of the American Hemerocallis Society and co-author of The Color Encyclopedia of Daylilies.

Customer Reviews

Fall from Grace for Timber Press
OK, I gotta do this! I just received the new Encyclopedia of Daylilies
(Peat and Petit 2008) and am extremely disappointed. To start with, the
printing quality is very substandard and the colours range from
washed-out to overly dark. Part of this is due to mediocre fotos, but
most is due to poor preparation of the material; saturation, colour
balance, contrast, etc. Then, some of the pictures are clearly doctored
and not to the best for true presentation.

I've noted quite a few mistakes, such as 'Betty's Pick' with an
illustration of what may be 'Toothpick', an extremely unsuitable picture
of Clayton Burkey's 'Lola Branham' (as well as other wonderful cultivars that
are represented by sub-optimal shots), as well as the lack of many fotos
that apparently should have been included and didn't make it in the
book, but the descriptions did, some with pre-editing remarks still
attached! I'm afraid to go further for fear of what I'll find! One
can't blame the fotographers, here, rather whoever did the editing.
After all, an illustration should be representative, shouldn't it!

I must ask myself, what happened? The book was delayed in printing for
what ever reason, possibly waiting for fotos, but to actually print such
a poor product is simply irresponsible!

On the positive side, I find the layout much preferable to the first
edition, being chronological, plus the book starts with a retrospective
of what came before, but the actual chapter organizazion and design is
somewhat loveless. Someone wasn't doing their job! As this book will
certainly sell a few copies and hang about on the bookshelf as one of
the few references for the modern daylily, I find it a real shame that
such a potential was simply wasted. Wish I knew why! I have to admit,
since Timber Press was sold, the quality has dropped to below sea level.

Do I sound P.O.ed? You bet! This was not a cheap book to purchase and
I had it shipped over to Europe. A real waste of money, IMO. The first
edition may not be up-to-date anymore, but it is far superior in quality.

A Significant Advancement from the First Edition
I have now purchased three copies of this outstanding book. I was alarmed when I read a review that noted poor printing quality in the copy they had. I noted the same shortcoming in the first book I received, which I bought within a week of its release. The second two were 'normal', that is, stunning! But the best part of this new edition is the expansion of sections such as the patterned eyes and the inclusion of more hybridizers' submittals, especially the 'Future Daylilies'. This is, quite simply, THE definitive book on the daylily of our day.

A worthy publication
Considerably expanded and updated on the original The Color Encyclopedia of Daylilies, published in 2000, The New Encylopedia of Daylilies follows very much the same format. Authors Ted L Petit and John P Peat, both daylily hybridisers amongst other things, have also made several changes and additions to the original. Firstly it is considerably enlarged; there are around 100 additional pages, and many more pictures, over 1700 of which 1400 are new to his edition. There is a very large chapter on daylilies of the future, and looking the other way there are more of the older varieties of significance included. While the chapter on Hybridizers of Today is noticeable extended, much of the information however in other chapters under the main headings The Daylily Plant and The History of the Daylily remains basically the same, with just some minor edits.

With around 60,000 registered daylilies to choose from, up by some 20,000 since the original publication, the authors not surprisingly admit to the difficulty of choosing which to include. They explain that their choice is based on those which, through their own experience, they believe are the most worthy and worthwhile cultivars. They have also considered other sources such as the popularity polls of the American Hemerocallis Society and winners of AHS awards. They have also taken into account those plants which are most widely grown based on information in the Eureka Daylily Reference Guide. With the seeming popularity of Spider, Variants and Unusual Forms it is a little surprising that this particular section is no larger than the original edition. I suspect Messes Peat and Petit have a preference for the rounder and ruffled forms. The section Daylilies of the future is very large and contains many beautiful unnamed seedlings, but showing so many is rather like putting child in a sweet shop and telling him he can't have any, for without the names we will never in fact be able to have them.

This book is certainly a valuable addition on the subject of the Daylily, and it is a handsome and generally well produced volume. I have a coupe of criticisms, firstly for some reason the alphabetical arrangement of the cultivars appears in places to have been abandoned; secondly, and this was a criticism of the original edition too, that a few of the pictures are of suspect quality with either poor focusing or lighting. The reproduced colour of some of the daylilies might also be call into question, but they are notoriously difficult to photograph accurately being very subject to the effects of the lighting; the colour and form is also affected by climate and even the length of time the plant has been growing - so it is difficult too be to critical here. However I cannot help but think some of the colours are optimistically clear and vivid; while we are used to seeing better than real colours in nursery catalogues, one would hope that an encyclopedia would aim to be honest in the portrayal of colours. But that aside it is a worthy publication.