Daylilies for Easy Color
Plant Daylilies for Easy Color
My first attempts at gardening with perennials where disastrous and educational. It seemed that nothing I planted would grow. I was new to gardening and didn’t realize that plants needed more than dirt and water to grow. I learned the hard way that some plants needed sun while others needed shade – some liked wet conditions while others required dry soils. These frustrating first attempts at gardening where tough lessons but necessary for me to learn.
As I began to gain more skills and knowledge of what perennials to use where I soon realized that of all the plants I grew daylilies 
(botanical name; Hemerocallis) seem to be the easiest and provide great color with minimal effort on my part. All that was necessary for heavy waves of blooms was that I plant them in a sunny location – even if I placed them in the shade they still grew, just with less flowering. Plants are not particular at all about soils and can survive the hottest days of summer without dragging out the water hose. I have yet to find an insect that bothers them and have never had any problems with disease. After 25 years of growing a wide assortment of perennials I am convinced that daylilies are by far the easiest and most reliable plants available to the home gardener.
My first daylilies where a bright red variety called ‘Chicago Apache’ that I combined with a wonderful tall white phlox called ‘David’. The phlox has now been replaced three times but the red daylilies still live in the same spot I planted them in over 20 years ago. The only real maintenance I ever have to do (besides the dreaded weeding) with my daylilies is to divide them every 2- 3 years, and this more of a pleasure than a chore as each time they are divided I am rewarded with “free” plants. Other than that all I really do is offer the plants a little boost in the spring with a top dressing of compost - but even when I miss the adding compost the plants have no trouble at all providing a wonderful parade of color all summer long.
I have added dozens of daylily varieties to my perennial gardens down through the years. In the beginning I purchased most of my plants in one gallon containers from my local nurseries and home improvement stores. But I quickly realized that the selections where often limited and consisted of the same varieties year after year. As I began to search out different varieties I soon discovered mail order nurseries…. I was then hooked. Mail order companies offer hundreds upon hundreds of different daylilies and are often the only source for new varieties. I would thumb through stacks of catalogs for hours and hours trying to decide which plants I wanted to add to my garden. As much as I enjoyed the catalogs I now have a new addiction — the electronic catalog — the internet. I have been able to locate nearly any daylily I have ever wanted over the web and have ordered plants from all over the country.
I have grown close to one hundred different varieties of daylilies down through the years and have never been disappointed with any of them. I am often asked to name my favorites and am some what hesitant to do so, but when I am backed into a corner and have to give an answer here are the tops on my list:
- Apricot Sparkles – Everblooming dwarf with apricot flowers
- Bela Lugosi – regarded as one of the best purple dallies available
- Daring Deception – Creamy pink with a large dark purple eye
- Chicago Apache - One of the best reds in my opinion
- Barbara Mitchell – Beautiful soft pink with ruffled edges
- Rocket City – Huge orange blooms and one of the easiest daylilies I have ever seen
- Stella de Oro – The worlds most popular daylily – golden yellow flowers in early summer then again in fall
- Siloam Amazing Grace – Primrose yellow flowers that are heavily ruffled
If you would like to learn more about gardening with daylilies visit the American Hemerocallis Society.
Filed under: Uncategorized on January 18th, 2010 | No Comments »
While is always advised to practice garden tidiness and a thorough fall clearing of dead growth and debris, there are some interesting plants that can be left in place. If you cut down all the perennials to ground level you are left with nothing but a patch of bare ground.