Hemerocallis: The Common Daylily by Cherie Luke

While at a garden club meeting I was telling a fellow member that I had brought over 100 daylily cultivars with me when I moved here from northern NY.  She asked me "you mean those orange flowers?"

Nowadays daylily's come in a wide range of colors, sizes, and bloom times.  The first daylily's grown by American gardeners were native to Asia, but it was the European settlers who brought orange and yellow daylily's with them.  Sometime in the 1930's a red daylily was found in Asia and brought to the New York Botanical Gardens.  Dr. Arlo B. Stout , the "grandfather" of daylily hybridizing,  used it to create daylily's in pink, peach, and wine colors.  Now the American Hemerocallis Society's cultivar search website lists approximately 80,000 registered cultivars. 

Daylily's belong to the genius Hemerocallis.  In Greek Hemera means day and Kallos means beauty.

Each bloom lasts for one day but because most plants provide a high bud count you will see a stream of continuing blooms that will compliment other perennials in your garden.

Each year daylily's develop more fans, therefore they should be divided every 4-5 years.  By dividing them you will keep their size in check and it also gives you plants to share with your friends.  Daylily's grow in zones 3-9 and will do best in an area not browsed by critters.