Easy to grow Hemerocallis adds fringe and flowers to your garden border!
Daylily flowers, trumpets of many colors, pop open just above their long green-strap leaves every day. Amazing in large groups, you can never have enough in your garden!
On a visit to a daylily farm with some friends, the variety of flowers overwhelmed us. Planted in the parking area near a large barn we knew this was the collection.
Barely out of the car, we were oohing and ahhing when someone in the yard said, “These aren’t it. If you think these are pretty, wait ‘til you see what’s in back of the barn.”
Not taking time to explore the flowers in front of us we hurried to the back of the black wood barn, stopping on the ridge. Below us spread a huge rectangular quilt of daylilies growing in the farm field.
Row after row after row of blooming daylilies: each row a different color. So many kinds to take in. Where to start?
The farm was a dig-your-own. They gave us shovels and large bags. They gave us instructions to dig a bucket size clump of daylilies – $10.00 for the clump.
Dragging shovels and bags, we made our way down the trail worn in the grass hill. We ended in the middle of the flower quilt – cupping a bloom with our hands, sniffing for a fragrant scent.
Drawn by different flowers we didn’t know we separated from each other. In our own worlds we walked to one end of the field, each choosing this one or no – maybe that one.
“Both?” we said out loud only to turn and find nobody there. We were all just talking to ourselves.
Our choices weren’t easy. On the way to the other end of the field we walked by more rows of floral possibilities.
Was there room in our gardens for more than a few? Somehow we pretended there was, so decision made.
Dry packed dirt was tough to dig alone. Eventually we reconnected to help each other.
We dug opposite sides of the same plant and the bucket size clumps came out. We all had our treasures to buy and take home.
Why so much effort to get daylilies? They’re easy to grow, easy to care for beauties. Garden stores carry a limited variety.
Daylily farms and catalogs are great places to find a wide number of hybrids. New hybrids develop all the time.
Features
Native to: China and Japan
Name: The common name ‘daylily’ fits the flowering pattern of one bloom per day. The bloom withers. Another bud blooms the next day.
Hemerocallis Linnaeus is the botanical name.
Zones: 3-9
Leaves: Long flat green strips that form grassy- like clumps. When not in bloom the clumps make a fringe for the garden border. Daylilies are great for blocking weed growth.
Blooms: Trumpet shaped flowers in colors of white, yellow, orange, pink, purple, red and assorted combinations of colors.
The petals can be smooth, bent or have ruffles to name a few types. Some are fragrant.
Flowers with different bloom times are available: early, mid (most common) and late season. Some plants rebloom. There are many, many hybrids.
Height: 1-1.5 feet
Width: 1-1.5 feet
Grown from seeds. They develop roots which often develop rhizomes to store food and produce new plants. The full grown plant is usually available to gardeners.
Attracts butterflies.
Care
Sunlight: Full to part sun.
Soil: May tolerate poor soil, but grows best in soil that is rich in organic materials and drains well.
Water: Best to water consistently. Will dry out in summer heat, causing leaves to die. This shortens the bloom period.
Fertilize: Add compost every year around the clumps.
Propagate: Make more plants by dividing clumps in spring or fall. The center of the clump stops producing leaves and flowers after a few years. Use the newer plants growing on the outer edge of the clump.
Keep them looking good all summer. Remove dead flowers from the stem.
When finished blooming, cut back the entire plant, stems and leaves to 1/3 the height. New shorter leaves will grow from the clump adding fringe to your flower border.
Problems/Pests
No serious pests.
Uses
Border plants anywhere you want graceful leaves with summer flowers.
References
University of Illinois Extension
Copyright 2019 Juli Seyfried
