I love Daylilies, part 3

I’m crazy about daylilies. I have a ridiculous number of them already and I have a sick compulsion to get more every year. Fortunately for me, there are thousands and thousands of cultivars out there. And we have two acres. Think of all the gas we will save on mowing! Anyway – the first 2 parts of my series on daylilies are here and here.

One of the most amazing things about the daylilies that we have today is that they all came from just a couple of kinds of plants way back when. There are maybe 20 original species [most of them not native to North America] that can be classified as daylilies. I only own one of them – hemerocallis fulva. Around here, people call them ditch lilies because they grow in huge drifts along the road. These ones are along our creek.

There are lots of pictures of some other originals if you are interested, but you will have to Google the names to find the pics – I can’t put them here, because they aren’t my photos. Google images for these names: hemerocallis thunbergii, hemerocallis citrina, hemerocallis fulva kwanso, and you’ll find examples of them. Go ahead – we’ll wait for you to come back.

Those orginals all look very similar in a lot of ways and there are only a few colors – yellows, oranges and sort of dark orange or rust. One of my favorites actually resembles those quite a lot. It is called Sammy Russell, and it’s pretty old, having been bred back in 1951. The form is very simple with colors not far from the originals. It makes huge clumps and has tons of blooms.

But look at this one! This is South Seas, bred in 1961 – quite a difference. I’ve only had this one a year, so I don’t know much about it yet, but I love the color.

Go forward about another 10 years and we have Ruffled Apricot, hybridized in 1972. This is a pretty popular daylily – I got it free as a bonus in an order last year. A lot of daylily sellers give bonuses on their orders. It’s just one reason I love them and want to throw parades in their honor.

Chicago Apache was hybridized in 1981. Another very popular plant. This one is blooming despite my benign neglect and the fact that I was an idiot when I bought it and planted it in a spot that is too shady for it. I am not certain, but it may have even been the very first one I bought. Remember before when I told you that they need to be lifted and split every 5 to 7 years? This one has been here, in a too shady spot for at least 10 years, and still blooms every summer. I promised it that I would move it this year.

Forward about another 10 years and Moonlit Masquerade was hydridized in 1992. This has won awards for being the most popular daylily so often that it may qualify as the most popular daylily ever for all I know. Now that I have it, I am not as crazy about it as I thought I would be. It does make a nice big clump and blooms fairly early, compared to most of the ones I have. [I am sure you have heard the latest groundbreaking research, telling us dandelions and nut grass are excellent companion plants for daylilies, right?]

I thought I had at least one plant that was hybridized this decade, but right now I can’t for the life of me remember which one it is. It may be one of the ones I bought last summer, in which case I would not have any pictures of it yet. I don’t have many from the last 8 or 10 years though because new introductions cost about a ba-jillion dollars. Seriously – go Google “daylily breeders” and go to some of their sites. Look on their sites for “new introductions”. Then sob uncontrollably as you decide whether to buy a new daylily or make your mortgage payment this month.

If you are looking for places to buy some daylilies yourself, I can help you out. Ebay is a great place to get them – probably half the ones I have are from sellers there. Just be really careful to check their feedback. And when I write about daylilies, there is usually a listing of daylily retailers in my ads over there —–>. I can’t tell you to go click on those ads, but I have bought from most of the places advertised and I can tell you they are good places to buy. And shop local people – keep a few bucks in your local economy and pick the brains of people who are growing what they sell.