Daylilies August 12th

Wild Child (Salter 2002)

The daylily season is gradually winding down. Many of the early bloomers are finished for the year and late bloomers are now flowering, along with a selection of excellent plants that bloom over a long period. One of my favorite daylilies is a late bloomer, Wild Child, shown above. This hemerocallis is aptly named. With its large, spidery shape, brilliant colour, spotted sepals and fancy petal edges, it does look wild. I smile every time I walk past this rambunctious flower. The curly edging on the petals, by the way, is sometimes called ‘chicken fat’, not a very flattering name. Some daylily growers dislike the effect, but I quite like it, at least on a few flowers.

Pink Super Spider (Carpenter 1982)

I noticed this flower on Pink Super Spider a few days ago. While Pink Super Spider usually has the usual 6 sepals and petals of the standard daylily flower, on this day it turned out a giant flower with extra petals and a touch of doubling at its centre. Pink Super Spider is wrapping up the season with a florish!

Vesuvian (Benz 1992)

Vesuvian is an excellent daylily. It begins blooming well into the season and produces many flowers on strong, sturdy scapes that stand about three feet tall. I have a large clump situated in front of the Tiger Eye sumacs, where the rich, velvety red of Vesuvian shows off brilliantly against a lime green background.

Stephane Grappelli (Hanson 99)

Stephane Grappelli was new this year. It takes several years for a daylily to really fill out and hit its stride. Some people pick any buds off first year plants so that the plant will concentrate its energy on growing roots and settling in. I usually just let mine bloom and enjoy a little taste of what the future holds. I purchased Stephane Grappelli because this namesake of the famous jazz musician reminds me of my violin-playing daughter.

Suddenly Blue (Lambertson 03)

Suddenly Blue was also new this spring. I liked this attractive flower. There are no blue daylilies, and the quest to breed a blue flower continues with hybridizers. Most daylilies with the word blue in their name require an act of imagination to really see the blue.

Northern Fancy (Stamile 02)

This is the third summer for Northern Fancy and I have been pleased with how it is coming along. It bloomed pretty well, and it has gorgeous flowers. I think it will be a future star.

Blue Voodoo (Rice 2005)

Blue Voodoo was also purchased two years ago, so this is its third summer too. It performed well and I have enjoyed its lovely flowers.

Flaming Wildfire (Rasmussen 1996)

Another late bloomer is Flaming Wildfire. The brilliant flowers bloom on 36 inch scapes and it is among the most vivid flowers in the garden.

Here is a sampling of other daylilies that have been flowering over the past week.

Still Night (Stamile 1992)

The Goldilocks Effect (Hanson 05)

Laura Harwood (Harwood 1997)

Autumn Wood (Dougherty 1991)

Borderline Crazy (Mason 2004)

Golden Tycoon (Klehm 1988)

Jean Ivelle (Branch 1989)

Tigerling (Stamile 89)

Read Full Post »

This Week in Daylilies

Misty Morning

Here’s the garden on a misty, moisty morning one day this week. We finally had a small amount of rain, with scattered showers passing through. In spite of the dry season, the daylilies have put on a good show this summer. A few of the plants showed signs of stress, producing smaller and fewer blooms than usual. But many weren’t deterred by the drought at all.

Scarlet Pansy

Scarlet Pansy has been like a certain battery-powered bunny. It has just kept blooming and blooming and blooming its gorgeous, glowing flowers that catch your eye and beckon to you from across the garden.

Notify Ground Crew

Some of the tallest daylilies are late-season bloomers, taking longer to reach their full height. Here is Notify Ground Crew, showing off its trumpet-like flowers atop 5 foot tall scapes. It is a little below its registered height of 72 inches, perhaps due to the lack of rain.

Sears Tower

And here is Sears Tower. It is similarly registered at 72 inches but is blooming on 5 foot scapes this summer as well. Its flowers are a bit more showy than those of Notify Ground Crew.

Autumn Minaret

Autumn Minaret, an old Stout introduction registered in 1951, produces a bouquet of petite flowers every day. It has reached close to 6 feet this year, the tallest daylily in the garden.

Priscilla’s Dream

Sadly, the daylily season is winding down for another year. Here are some of the daylilies that were showing off this week.

Eloquent Silence

Laura Harwood

Dragon Dreams

Give Me Eight

Tigerling

Nile Plum

>

Read Full Post »

Singin’ in the Rain

Flaming Wildfire

On Monday, we were blessed with a beautiful, soothing rain, a steady daylong drizzle. You could almost hear the overheated earth sigh with relief. The fine mist of rain was perfect for the garden, with no driving downpour to beat down stalks; just a gentle wash of much-needed moisture.

Laura Harwood

An overcast day, even with a bit of rain, can be great for capturing photographs of brightly coloured flowers that can look washed-out in full sun. The vibrant reds and deep purples seem to shine even more brilliantly in the gloom. Here are photographs of some of the flowers that were singing in the rain.

Alabaster Angel

Nile Crane

Texas Gal

Beautiful Edgings

Starman's Quest

Tigerling

Scarlet Pansy and Catherine Neal

Read Full Post »

This Week in Daylilies

Anne-Evan

Well, the daylily season is beginning to wind down. While there are still lots of blooms, the peak has come and gone and a number of plants are finished blooming for the year. Daylily season was a bit early this year, and compacted, perhaps, by the very hot weather we have experienced. Nevertheless, the flowers were gorgeous, a new treat for the eye to enjoy every morning. Here is a selection of plants that are still blooming.

Asiatic Pheasant

Autumn Wood

Cat Dancer

Country Melody

Give Me Eight

Mystical Rainbow

Nile Plum

Palomino Moon

Purple Storm

Quality of Mercy

Raspberry Bouquet

Roswitha

Tigerling

Read Full Post »

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

Read Full Post »