In the Garden Articles

Daylilies

by Joan S. Bolton

Queen for a day.

Such is the fate of the regal daylily, whose blooms last just one day before dropping cleanly from the stem.

Fortunately for us, however, many daylilies (Hemerocallis) pump out such a stream of flowers above their mounds of strappy foliage that it's scarcely apparent that an individual blossom offers such a fleeting glimpse of glory. That's because a typical stem bears a series of flowers, each politely waiting for the next to open.

Most older daylilies bloom only a couple of months over the summer. But hybridizers are working to extend that, creating plants that bear flowers for 7 or 8 months and in a seemingly infinite number of colors and combinations of cream, yellow, orange, pink, purple and red.

How to Find These Miracle Bloomers

Ignore the mongrels that are labeled plain orange, yellow or red. Instead, look for plants with names. Named varieties may be more expensive, but that's because breeders spend more time creating those particular plants, and growers spend more time keeping successive generations true to their name.

Here's how it works. Many growers collect daylily seed from one generation to produce the next. Rebloom is a recessive characteristic. So unless the grower constantly crosses old stock with new stock, future generations of plants risk losing the reblooming trait. Another method of propagating daylilies -- by dividing older stock -- is time consuming, labor intensive and more expensive as well.

Some daylily growers compare the current state of their industry to where rose growers were 60 years ago. It's hard to imagine, but back then reblooming roses weren't all that well known. Instead, roses were sold by color. All-America Rose Selections and the gardening press helped to change that, publishing articles highlighting the size, shape, form, blooming characteristics and names of various roses.

Daylily growers have taken that model to heart. While the American Hemerocallis Society was formed in 1946 and has judged daylilies and registered cultivars for years, growers more recently created the All-American Daylily Selection Council to promote superior plants. The first winner -- Black-Eyed Stella -- was announced in 1994. Since then, 14 other daylilies have been named All-American winners.

The designation is helpful, given that some 50,000 different cultivars have been registered with the American Hemerocallis Society. But by the same token, if you start exploring specialty catalogs and nurseries, you may find that there are dozens of other daylilies that you cannot live without. With their many colors, contrasting eyes and frilly edges, the ooh-aah factor kicks in, and you're a goner.

Practical Considerations

At their most basic level, daylilies are evergreen, semi-evergreen or deciduous perennials with tuberous roots.

Evergreen daylilies stay green all year, although their older leaves turn brown and wither over time. They need a good cleanup once or twice a year.

The semi-evergreens go dormant for 3 to 6 weeks, or barely at all, depending on how chilly any particular Central Coast winter might be. As such, they are often lumped with the evergreens.

Some local evergreen favorites include Coming Up Roses, which is a rich pink, and Morning Cheerfulness, which blooms in a rosier pink. Mountain Violet is a repeat bloomer in a rosy-mauve-purple; Lavender Dew is more demure, with ruffled edges; and Russian Rhapsody is a semi-evergreen, big purple bloomer. Mambo Maid bears bright orange, ruffled flowers, each with a dark "eye" around its yellow throat. Coral Moon bears pastel, streaked coral flowers.

In the red tones, Rojo Alto is a big, bold bloomer that tops my list. Eye Yi Yi and Lacy Scarlet are also good bets. Acapulco Nights is a very dark maroon. In yellow, Pandora's Box is a creamy yellow semi-evergreen with a maroon ring around a yellow eye; Betty Woods bears double flowers; and Starburst Yellow is more intense. There's a whole series of Starburst daylilies -- they're all reliable, medium-sized repeat bloomers.

Bitsy and Miss Victoria, both of which can bloom more than 275 days out of the year, fall into the miniatures category, with grassy mounds of foliage reaching only a foot or so tall. Tiny Pumpkin blooms in apricot, above stiff, fan-like leaves, while Little Bobo bears soft red flowers with ivory edges and stays tidy for edging walkways.

Deciduous daylilies generally go dormant for 3 to 4 months, which allows just enough time to interplant them with spring-blooming bulbs, including daffodils, anemones and ranunculus. The daylily foliage disappears around the time the bulbs begin to emerge. By the time the bulbs finish their spring display, the daylilies return to cover the withering bulb foliage.

One of the first repeat blooming daylilies to take the garden world by storm some 15 to 20 years ago was Stella de Oro. A deciduous golden miniature, it pushes up new leaves in March, begins blooming in April or May and goes dormant after Thanksgiving.

Other deciduous varieties to look for include coral-pink Judas; dark, burnt-orange Europa; and brilliant orange Lady Lucille, which was named for the color of Lucille Ball's hair.

Growing Daylilies

Daylilies are generally easy to grow. They prefer loose soil, but will tolerate clay, provided there's at least some drainage.

At planting time, work in a generous dose of organic material. If you're planting bare-root, make sure the crown -- the point where the roots meet the fan -- is slightly above the soil line. Then mulch the area with at least an inch of compost. Plan to reapply the compost every year, as it will slowly break down, releasing nutrients into the soil.

Divide your plants every 3 or 4 years, or whenever they get crowded. Lift them out with a gardening fork, then pull apart the clumps to make more.

Perennial companions for daylilies include black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia), blanket flowers (Gaillardia), coreopsis, dianthus, lavenders, roses, salvias, Shasta daisies and yarrow. Bright yellow coreopsis, for instance, will pick up the yellow throats of the daylilies, while multi-hued black-eyed Susans and blanket flowers will provide interesting contrast to some of the more brightly colored daylilies.

Annual marigolds, portulaca and dwarf zinnias are compatible as well.

Water your daylilies with drip irrigation or overhead sprinklers, matching the watering needs of whatever else is in the planting bed. While daylilies are sometimes labeled "drought tolerant," that aspect really only applies to the plants staying alive. In my garden, infrequent irrigation results in green leaves but few flowers. Bring on the water, and the blooming begins.

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Where to Find Daylilies

It's best to buy daylilies from local nurseries or mail-order companies based in the west. Growers in eastern or southern states offer beautiful, enticing varieties. But the results may be disappointing because their plants are typically chosen for cold tolerance first, rather than color or rebloom.

In addition, the composition of our soil can cause flower colors from those eastern and southern varieties to shift. Pink can become peach, and lavender can tend toward brown.

Start with the following:

Daylily West, 2420 Green Place, Arroyo Grande, CA, 93420, (805) 481-5344, www.daylilywest.com.

Greenwood Daylily Gardens, 8000 Balcom Canyon Rd., Somis, CA, 93066, (562) 494-8944, www.greenwooddaylily.com.

Maryott's Gardens, PO Box 1177, Freedom, CA, 95019, (800) 522-3198, www.daylilygarden.net.

Amador Flower Farm, 22001 Shenandoah School Rd., Plymouth, CA, 95669, (209) 245-6660, www.amadorflowerfarm.com.

Gold Coast Daylilies, 3775 Clover Valley Rd., Rocklin, CA, 95677 (916) 624-4409, www.goldcoastdaylilies.com.

Daylily societies are another terrific source of plants and information.

An annual membership in the American Hemerocallis Society costs $25 and includes a subscription to the Daylily Journal, a quarterly magazine. Contact Pat Mercer, PO Box 10, Dexter, GA, 31019, or visit www.daylilies.org. The national convention is July 25 to 28 in Bloomington, Minnesota.

The All-American Daylily Selection Council offers growing tips and information about its 15 award-winning daylilies. Contact All American Daylily Selection Council, PO Box 268, Corryton, TN, 37721, (865) 219-8967, or visit www.daylilyresearch.org.

Seeds of Wisdom

Most daylilies prefer all-day sun, or at least six hours of sun a day. However, daylilies that bloom in darker colors are often at their best with more shade, such as on the east side of a house or in dappled light beneath a sycamore tree.