The Daylily

For this one, I blame my mom. Her favorite flower for as long as I can remember has been the daylily. Since she was the one that got me started in the world of horticulture, it's only natural that her favorite plant would prove to be one of mine as well.

Now, I'm not going to go into all the gory, technical, scientific descriptions about what a daylily is because, quite frankly, other people have already done that much better than I could hope to do here. What I'll leave you with is the basics.

Plant information:

Botanical Name: Hemerocallis (no specific species, there are too many hybrids to list)
Common Name: Daylily, the "Perfect Perennial"
Perennial Plant: Individual clumps will overwinter year after year
Cold Hardiness: Will grow in zones 3 - 9
Culture: Does best in full sun, can do well in as little as a half-day of sun. Will tolerate most soils as long as they're not constantly waterlogged

If, for some reason, after reading all that it turns out you do actually want to know a lot of the gory details and (admittedly interesting) science-y information about Hemerocallis, take some time to check out the excellent American Hemerocallis Society website, particularly their FAQ.

Depending on what time of year it is you first spot a daylily, you may not think too much of it. For a good part of the year, it's just an unassuming mound of straplike foliage. What's so special about that?

Image courtesy of the Country Gardener blog

What's special, my friend, are the flowers. Lots and lots of flowers:

A personal favorite of mine, 'Happy Returns'

The flowers range in size from a scant two inches across on stems that are a foot and a half tall, to ten-inch monsters that approach six feet tall. Some daylilies bloom for a just few weeks, some bloom for a few weeks both in spring and in fall, and still others will put out new flowers from late spring all the way to near frost. It all depends what colors and sizes you're looking for.

This one is, supposedly, called 'Purple D'Oro

If you really like the purple flower shown above, you can get one from Direct Gardening. Should you choose to order one, however, do so at your own risk. Direct Gardening is a front company for Owen Nursery, a former employer of mine. I'll save the horror stories for another day and instead redirect you to check out their customer service record for yourself. (Hint: It's not so great)

Here's a clump-wide view of 'Purple D'Oro'

This one I got from eBay for my mom, though I couldn't tell you the cultivar name now:

Notice the lighter purple towards the center of the flower, that's known as a "watermark"

Pretty, isn't it? 

When in bloom, daylilies aren't such nondescript piles of foliage:

And here are a few more from my own garden. Sorry about the names; I don't have them:

This one is a salmon-pink, but you already knew that

This one is so yellow, by camera overcompensated by adjusting the blue levels waaaaaay up. The true color is very reminiscent of buttered popcorn from a movie theater.

Online Vendors:

Oakes Daylilies - I can personally vouch for the quality of plants purchased from Oakes. Wide selection, decent prices, and huge plants. You can't go wrong ordering from them! They're a GardenWatchdog Top 5 Company
Other companies that have good marks are:
Blue Ridge Daylilies
Shaw's Sunshine Gardens
Maryott's Gardens

My Goal:

I still want to try a native... And a night blooming daylily just sounds pretty awesome!

This one can be found at Plant Delights Nursery, Inc.