Daylillies

Hemerocallis species, hybrids and cultivars

Daylilies are promoted as a good flowering perennial for a subtropical climate. Note that some types are more suited to a cooler climate, so take this into consideration when selecting your plants. Hopefully your nursery or supplier will be able to supply appropriate information for your region.

Some people suggest daylillies be used in general landscaping, and sometimes large garden beds are seen in parks etc filled with daylillies. Is this very successful? The flowers can't really be appreciated viewed from a distance, and without regular removal of dead leaves and old stalks plants can look tatty. This is made worse when a mixture of different cultivars of different heights and colours are used. The whole thing ends up looking messy.

Try them as specimens or in groups of a single cultivar, but where they can be given a little extra care and attention. The flowers can then be appreciated up close, and if the foliage is kept fresh and healthy, it will compliment the flowers. It makes sense that you should seek out superior cultivars for such special treatment.

Years of breeding by Hemerocallis enthusiasts around the world have created fabulous flowers which almost rival orchids in some cases. You will have to go to a specialist nursery and pay a few extra dollars for these, but they should give you years of pleasure.

The the "day" of daylily tradionally refers to the short life span of individual flowers, but modern breeding has again has a hand here, with some cultivars claimed to last longer. In any case, a good plant should have a succession of blooms coming on to replace old flowers.

Daylilies in the Landscape

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