I don't grow any of his newer intros but I do have several of his older introductions. These are from 2002 to 2003. I would always say it looks better in my garden than his website LOL.

ACAPULCO DAZE
AZTEC HEADDRESS
CARNIVAL IN BRAZIL
HALF MOON KEY
INCA PUZZLE

Julia

Thanks for posting your experience with him. His website shows some remarkably vivid colors and shapes on his new introductions. I'm glad to hear the older ones do well for you. From the lack of response though I'd say perhaps his daylilies aren't as well known or grown as other hybridizers....Maryl

Here is a link that might be useful: Petit daylilies

I have some of his slightly older ones too (2000 - 2005), but I haven't had any of them for more than 6 months yet, so too early to give opinions!

Nate

The two newest Petits I bought were not the ruffly ones, but the patterned eyed ones. They both died in pots during the wet, snowy 2010-2011 winter. My most recent ones after those were the appliqued Beyond the Sea, which has grown well and is pretty true to color to the website, and Queen of Narnia, which is definitely NOT as ruffled or white as the website photo. It's on my possible move-out list despite being very large flowered.

Debra

I have several of the Petit daylilies - they are new and I have just seen one bloom, last year - Sitting Queen. It was unique and beautiful and I am looking forward to seeing what it does this year. They look beautiful in photos - if the others look as good as Sitting Queen, I will be very pleased.

I don't have, but have seen Circus Performer, Carnival in Brazil
I have John Peat, Lady Betty Fretz, Equilibrium, Meet Joe Black, Night Breeze, Oceans Eleven, Second Millennium, Wheel of Time
All have been pretty close to shown colors as listed on the AHS website. With the variance easily explained bu different soil conditions. I have seen just awful pictures of Circus Performer, but I saw it in a garden and it was pretty. There are many more that I would LIKE to have.....

"Teds Tribute to Linda" has bloomed since May 2nd and still has another scape coming in. It is Sept 15. Incredible DL. Looks better than pic on website.

I'm in zone 5 and have six Petits.

Lady Betty Fretz
John Peat
Half Moon Key
Bohemia After Dark
Ancient Wisdom
Aztec Headdress

Half Moon Key and Aztec Headdress both do very well in my garden and are heavy bloomers. My favorite is Lady Betty Fretz, she does good enough for me and will probably always be in my garden. The others are so-so.

I would consider Ted Petit to be one of the top daylily hybridizers. I think he learned his craft from Bill Munson and most of his original plants were Munson's.
I have had several of his plants. INCA PUZZLE and JOURNEY TO IXTLAN were my favorites.
Ed

I've been reading quite a bit about rust in daylilies this year. For the first time since I began this adventure I encountered rust in my garden when I bought some daylilies from southern growers that turned out to be rust magnets. Bad enough that the new plants themselves were infected but they proceeded to spread the rust around to some of my other daylilies that I'd been growing rust free for years. When I began asking around about the disease some of the comments I received were less then encouraging. Comments such as you can't grow daylilies without rust. Really? I had been doing it for years and years. So it was interesting to me when I read that Ted Petit had taken the bull by the horns so to speak and dared to suggest that with careful selection you could have rust free plants. Whether he has achieved it I can't say as I don't have any of his newer daylilies. But at least he is bringing the subject out into the open. Below is a link to an article about some of his rust resistant daylilies. I applaud him for his efforts......Maryl

Here is a link that might be useful: Rust resistant daylilies and Ted Petit

I should have added to the above, while I don't have complaints about the colors, Wheel of Time has been here 2 years and struggles to open fully. I have not seen one good bloom. As the weather was so bad this year, it's getting another chance-but if next year continues it will need to find another home-south maybe? And I've never seen rust either Maryl-hope to stay that way.

Daylily rust appeared in America around 2000. Some hybridizers, like Matthew Kaskel, quit selling their daylilies because his plants were too susceptible to the rust.
Since that time, more customers each year demand rust free plants and fewer northern growers purchase from southern hybridizers. I'm happy to see someone realize that long term, if southern hybridizer's are to remain successful, they must address the susceptibility to rust of their plants. A little late, I think, but finally they are starting to get the message. Hope they apply the same strategy to crown rot.
Ed

One of the main reasons Ted Petit was able to do this was because he lived in a different area of Florida than the "mainstream" of the big sales gardens there. The Ag Inspector was willing to work with him and allow his seedling area ( away from the rest of the sales area) to remain unsprayed. So he was very fortunate that he had the opportunity to cull those that heavily got rust from his breeding program.

This was just good luck that he was in another part of FL and had a different Ag inspector! Yes, it is also correct that Bill Munson was his mentor. Dr. Petit's main area of study is not daylilies, but on brain research, specifically how to stop Alzheimer's.

Thanks Floota for that bit of information on Ted Petit. Alzheimer's runs in my husband's family and being able to stop this horrible disease would be wonderful.

I'm in Zone 7 and some of my favorites are older Petits with rich, saturated colors: Through The Looking Glass, Bloodfire, Executive Decision & Drowning In Desire. And both Forbidden Desires and Ancient Wisdom (John Peat's full sibling) have lush color AND bubbly edges that open beautifully even in my 49 degree Summer night climate.
I've noticed Mr. Petit does state cool morning opening in his descriptions for us colder Zone folks...

I grow 18 Petit daylilies. BEWITCHING EYES (2008)is the most recent intro that I grow and it does well. Others that do very well for me include: CIRCUS PERFORMER (well above the foliage), EYE OF THE MATRIX (2002), FORBIDDEN DESIRES (opens well on cold mornings and has the gold edge), GAIL FOX, GAVIN PETIT (also above the foliage - just wish it had more buds in my garden), HALF MOON KEY (above the foliage and is a blooming machine - takes a couple of blooms to hit its stride), INCA PUZZLE is a great plant, JOHN PEAT blooms in the foliage for me, but I keep it around to hybridize with, LIGHT YEARS AWAY saved itself this year by finally performing well after 8 years, MARDI GRAS BALL, NOW AND FOREVER, POPCORN PETE (no hang ups opening), TIME FOR ETERNITY - love this bloom and has a long bloom period.

BARBIE IN PINK and BEYOND THE SEA were added this year so I can't report on them.

David