Dazzling Daylily Days
Kathy Rood

July 3, 2002

The tall orange daylily that nestles along our roadsides, Hemerocallis Fulva, heralds the beginning of summer. Hemerocallis means beauty for a day, each blossom lasting only for a day although there are a few daylilies with blooms that will last 48 hours. The dazzling days of daylily season begins in June with at least a dozen early bloomers. DR. REGAL, a daylily introduced in 1902, had 40 fragrant yellow blossoms open on just one day. LITTLE RED SPRINGSONG covered with brick red flowers with an orange edge, and BITSY, a wonderful small flowered tall yellow, are two others that bloom very early.

Most daylilies bloom in the month of July with colors ranging from soft pinks, rose, reds, hot oranges, yellows, lavenders, purples, very dark reds, to near whites. Daylily forms come in exquisite doubles, small flowered miniatures, tall spidery exotics, classical trumpet shaped to saucer sized recurved blooms. Some daylily blooms have large bold eye zones with some newer varieties showing picotees (edges) in gold, white, red, or purple. Edges of daylilies may be ruffled, pie crusted, pinched, pleated, twisted, or picoted.

Fragrance is a desirable trait through varieties are fewer in number. H. Citrina has a perfume that hints of the exotic Arabian Nights. It is a nocturnal daylily. It begins around 4pm opening in the shape of a large yellow star and is fully opened by late evening. The bloom lasts until late the following morning although the form has begun to close by dawn. Nocturnal flowers are usually fragrant to attract night flying insects for pollination. Two other fragrant varieties are SILOAM MAMA, a ruffled yellow, and HUDSON VALLEY, a classic large yellow. ["Organic Gardening" magazine featured in their spring 2001 issue the worlds most fragrant flowers including only one daylily- KATHY ROOD, a light peach double named for the author by a Long Island hybridizer.- mg editor]

Reblooming daylilies will bloom for around three weeks, rest a couple of weeks, then another flower scape with forming buds will present itself. The rebloom will usually last until frost depending on the amount of moisture the plant received. Reblooming daylilies in northern gardens is hard to achieve due to our short growing season. Good reliable rebloomers include PENNY'S WORTH, PENNY EARNED and MINI STELLA, all very small yellow daylilies reaching only 14 inches in height. Everyone knows the reblooming habit of popular golden STELLA D'ORO. However hybridizers have been busy producing other good northern rebloomers such as HAPPY RETURNS a light yellow cream, LITTLE WINE CUP a deep burgundy, FOREVER STELLA, SUPER STELLA both gold, PAPER BUTTERFLY a peach with a violet eye zone, SILOAM PLUM TREE a dark purple and APRICOT SPARKLES an apricot colored daylily.

Late blooming daylilies help extend the blooming season and are the special target for a few hybridizers. A few good ones are GRACE'S AUGUST GOLD, SANDRA ELIZABETH a tall yellow, AUGUST FROST a near white, MY DARLING CLEMENTINE a yellow gold blend and PECONIC AUTUMN a rose pink.

The bloom season tapers off in August with a few continuing until the first hard frost. Every day the daylily blossoms will present an ever changing show. Coffee cup in hand, a favorite daily ritual is seeing which ones are open that day enjoying their colors, textures and fragrance.

Daylily culture is minimal. Daylilies require five to six hours sun and love water. A minimum of an inch a week is needed to perform well. Mulching retains moisture and keeps the root zone cool besides keeping down weeds. Seed pods that form from spent blooms should be removed. Daylilies increase rapidly and after three to five years may need dividing. A reduction in blossoming is one indication that the daylily clump is ready for dividing. They can be divided any time during the growing season up until six weeks prior to expected killing frost to allow the roots to become established before winter. It is best to leave a two or three fan mini clump although we sometimes divide down to single fans. A fan is a collection of leaves coming from one root crown. Two fan clumps will increase faster than single fans. Daylilies do not like to be planted too deep. Just cover the roots watching that they do not become exposed. Fall/winter rains may expose the roots so be prepared to recover them if this occurs. Daylilies are heavy feeders and any common liquid fertilizer mix sprinkled over the leaves will work well. Daylilies make excellent patio gardens growing in two to three gallon containers. One caution about container grown daylilies. They should be well protected in winter by either burying the pot or covering it with a very thick mulch.

Daylilies are considered the perfect perennial. They do not need special skills to grow and generally do not need chemical protection from insects or diseases. Daylilies from northern growers are winter hardy. If you are new to gardening or have just a small patch to garden, daylilies may be perfect for you.

Cornell Cooperative Extension Yates Association
Last updated: 6/21/02

top