Daylilies July 19th

Mokan Butterfly (Lenington 1984)

I haven’t posted any daylilies since Monday. Lots more daylilies have bloomed since then! For the hemeroholics out there, here is another batch of pretty faces.

Old King Cole (Moldovan 1995)

Trahlyta (Childs 1982)

Blonde is Beautiful (Harris Benz 1985)

Siloam Little Girl (Henry 1970)

Border Sentry (Whatley 1995)

South Seas (Moldovan 1993)

Banned in Boston (Simpson 1994)

Alpha Centauri (Hanson 1992)

Outrageous (Stevens 1978)

Ruby Spider (Stamile 1991)

Wisest of Wizards (Salter 1994)

Karen’s Curls (Reinke 1997)

Blue Voodoo (Rice 2005)

Ghost of Thunder Road (Hanson 2001)

Seminole Ruby (Kirchhoff 1993)

Pandora’s Box (Talbott 1982)

Chance Encounter (Stamile 1994)

Scarlet Pansy (Stamile 1986)

Troubled Sleep (Hanson 1998)

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Happy Faces

Country Melody (Klehm 1987)

I love the spring season in the garden, when new growth is everywhere. It’s very exciting and inspiring. But for brilliant, happy, boisterous colour, there is nothing like the midsummer daylily season. These easy-care no-fuss perennials come in a wide range of colors and shapes and sizes, and brighten the garden for weeks. As each individual flower blooms for just one day, every morning brings a new bouquet. Here are some of the daylilies blooming right now. Each flower is labeled with its name, hybridizer, and the year the hybrid was registered with the American Hemerocallis Society.

Angelic Grin (Joiner 1992)

Giggle Creek (Culver 2000)

Ghost of Thunder Road (Hanson 2001)

Cameroons (Munson 1984) with Chance Encounter (Stamile 1994)

Serena Dancer (Marshall 1986)

New Series (Carpenter 1982)

Key West (Trimmer 1999)

Karen’s Curls (Reinke 1997)

Big Smile (Apps 1999)

Mata Hari (Brooks 1981)

Troubled Sleep (Hanson 1998)

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Daylilies All Day

Daylilies are so named because each individual flower just blooms for a single day. Thus, every morning there is a fresh crop of blooms to admire. Walking through the garden to see what flowers are open today never gets old. Here are a few of the daylilies that have been lighting up the garden this week.

Brookwood Lee Causey

Chance Encounter

Choo Choo Fantasy

Coyote Moon

Earth Angel

Galena Gilt Edge

Karen’s Curls

Key Lime

Mata Hari

Rose Emily

Starman’s Quest

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This Week in the Garden

Today’s photographs feature some of the beauties that have been stealing the limelight around the garden this week. Lest you should think that I have nothing but daylilies, I have added a new page to my blog, a garden inventory of plants. Many of these plants are new this year, so won’t reach their full potential for another year or two. Meanwhile, the daylilies continue to be the stars of the July garden.

Ruby Spider

Umbrella Parade

Autumn Mineret

Frans Hals and monarda

Siloam Little Girl

Chance Encounter

Bonanza and hostas

New Series

Trahlyta

South Seas

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Collecting Daylilies

When we moved to Willow House, I left my garden behind. We had lived at our former residence for 30 years, so I had many years to work on the garden there. It featured many perennials, but at its core was a collection of some 200 varieties of daylilies, or hemerocallis. They are so called because each flower blooms for just one day, but the plants produce many blooms so there is a constant display over the daylily season.

Mokan Butterfly and coneflower

Unfortunately, events conspired to make it necessary to leave most of the daylilies behind. I brought about 50 varieties with me to Willow House, which you can see on the daylily page that is tabbed above the Willow House header.

Knockout, with dragonfly visitor

It was my sister who got me started in collecting daylilies. She has a lovely selection in her Oakville garden and gave me my first daylily, Knockout. Knockout is an older variety, introduced in 1971. It is not very tall, about 18 inches, but produces lovely big, pale apricot flower, 6 inches across.

Canary Feathers

Her gift was the beginning of a passion. Each year, I added a few more. There are so many beautiful colours and shapes and patterns to pick from, it is hard to choose.

Gentle Shepherd and Chance Encounter

Like the seed season, the daylily season starts in the winter, when the catalogues arrive. You can purchase the more common daylilies at local nurseries, and may even find a few unusual ones. However, to really indulge yourself, look to daylily growers, who specialize in a large selection.

Tigerling

A few places send out catalogues, but many have online catalogues, where you can browse to your heart’s content. A good place to learn more about daylilies and see cutting-edge plants is at your local daylily club. In Ontario, the regional club is the Ontario Daylily Society (ODS). On their website you will find a listing of Canadian daylily sellers.

From top, Yesterday Memories, Siloam Cinderella, Gypsy Jingle and Little Gypsy Vagabond

Daylilies are shipped with their roots bare, usually in the spring. Plants are usually sold as a double fan of leaves with its attached tuberous root. While the original daylily species could be invasive, modern hybrids form neat clumps.

Angelic Grin

Daylilies are tough, disease and pest resistant plants, and combine beautifully with other perennials such as daisies and liatris.

Birdgirl and friend in the daylily garden

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Daylily Admirer

When I went out to see what was blooming in the daylily patch last, someone else was already admiring the flowers. This little garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) prepared to make a swift exit as he kept a wary eye on my approach. I have to admit to having no desire to pick up or otherwise interact with snakes, but I’m glad to have them visit my garden, even if they’re not so eye catching as Kenton and Rebeccas’ corn snakes! Here are some of the blooms the snake and I enjoyed.

Prague Spring (Lambert 1989)

Chance Encounter (Stamile 1994)

Cameroons (Munson 1984)

Trahlyta (Childs 1982)

Starman's Quest (Burkey 1989)

Starman’s Quest is an offspring of Trahlyta. The family resemblance is easy to see, with Starman having a more spidery form. By the time I had visited all the flowers, Little Snake had decided I was no threat and settled down to enjoy the garden in peace.

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