The new daylily
16.04.2008 00:22
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- Source: Home Envy
If you still have wimpy daylilies in your garden, with stems as limp as old celery and flowers that look like wet crepe paper you're living in the past. The newer daylilies are robust specimens with cosmic coloured flowers, and stems sturdy enough to club a mugger. Daylilies are the perfect perennial according to the modest claims of the American Hemerocallis Society. They are drought resistant, cold tolerant, adaptable, multi-coloured and sized from zero to xxx-large. Daylilies are in the lily family, wedged in there with onions and hyacinths, and forked tooth ookow. Their proper name is hemerocallis meaning "beauty" and "day". Yes the beautiful flower lives for just one day, fleeting as a shooting star, but has maximum impact. When you compare the newer style daylily (tetraploids) with the old style (diploids) it's like putting a Hummer next to a Suzuki Sidekick. The big, fat, new and improved ones have extra chromosomes, making them sturdier, stronger, heavier and more vigorous. When you really get swinging with the daylily people, it's like being in a locker room, with all the talk of vigor, stamina, bud count, low branching, nocturnal and diurnal traits. But connoisseurs have not turned their backs on the older types either. Some of them have a grace missing from the new varieties, and may be better at multiplying. I like daylilies because they integrate so well in the garden, and with the new, strong, clear colours they hold their own against other screaming perennials. "People are turning their backs on pastels, and miniatures are dead," says Jack Kent, daylily poobah at The Potting Shed in Cayuga. In a big windswept field at his nursery, Jack has hundreds of daylilies clamoring for attention. There are ones with trumpet shapes, triangular shapes, star shapes, ones with ruffled edges, contrasting edges, banded and eyed daylilies, even ones with diamond dusting which looks like sparkles. "They really are the ultimate low maintenance plant", Jack says as we soldier through the field. True you can almost ignore them in the garden, but for maximum performance, most types should be divided every five years or so. That gives them root room so they can really develop the flowers to there gorgeous potential. Another task that improves the optics for daylilies is removing the spent blossom at the end of the day. Otherwise some of them just hang on the plant like those fake, mushy worms. But that job is a perfect way to spin down your hard drive after work. Just shuffle along the daylily patch, deadhead and get yourself into a "mindful" state. With wise planning, you can have daylilies in bloom in the garden from spring until autumn. The Potting Shed even puts together collections specifically for the beginner, for the cottage or for the fan of double flowers. When I was plotting out the design for my hot, sunny, hillside garden, I made room for big romantic sweeps of daylilies. I used some of the old fashioned types with clear yellow flowers and a citrus fragrance. They have done an admirable job of controlling erosion and also multiplying with no attention from me. But the persuasive Mr. Kent has also convinced me to update my look. So the first new daylily I added was 'Bela Lugosi', I mean who could resist? But now I have to make room for the new Kathy Renwald daylily. Jack asked if I would pick out a favorite from his unnamed seedlings, and lend my name to it. I was flattered. The one I chose is a deep orange - like the ripest part of a peach. It glows like a forest fire at night. How lovely to have a daylily named after you. Much better I think then lending your name to a forked tooth ookow.
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