Not Your Grandmother’s
Daylily
By Kathy
Woolsey
In the days
of my youth there were orange daylilies growing alongside of the small creek I
played in. They could also be found in ditches and along fence lines just about
anywhere. In some gardens, yellow and double daylilies could be found, but
little variety of colors. In Girl Scouts, I became interested in wild edible
plants. Daylilies, although not native, were easy to identify, plentiful and
very edible. Daylily buds were a great
little trail nibble too. Visit an Asian grocery store today and you will find
dried daylily buds often called “golden needles” or “Gum Jum”. Personally I
prefer fresh buds sautéed in a little butter; they taste like green beans.
But
a lot has happened since those days of orange daylilies in the summer sun.
Plant hybridizers have been busy--very busy. Today’s daylilies are far from the
common orange flowers of my youth. There
are now over 70,000 daylily cultivars; colors range from nearly white to deep
purple and from pink to deep red. To add to the color explosion of daylilies, new
cultivars are rarely solid colors. There are bi-colors, blends, color bands and
contrasting edges. The form of the daylily flower has also changed. Now there are re-curved petals, flat flaring petals,
ruffles and curls. Then there is something called chicken fat (not a scientific term) which is thick pale ruffling on
the edge of a petal. You can find miniatures for small gardens and giant spider-form
flowers with long strap-like petals that are 9 inches across to add drama to
the garden.
Now for some technical stuff and a little Greek. Daylilies
are not true lilies like Easter lilies. They are members of the Hemerocallis genus. The word Hemerocallis is made from the 2 Greek words:
hēmera meaning “day" and kalos
meaning "beautiful". The only
drawback to daylilies is the fact they only open for one day, but they make up
for this flaw by having many flowers. One stem, called a scape, can have over 30
blooms and there are many scapes per plant.
The biggest development in daylily hybridizing in the last
decade is extended bloom and re-bloomers. New daylilies listed as extended
bloomers open over a longer period of time--usually 16 or more hours. Some will
open up in the evening and stay open all the next day. Re-bloomers bloom early to
mid-summer and again in the fall. This all adds up to more color in the garden.
The American Hemerocallis Society website is full of information
including a data base with some 70,000 cultivars with more added every day. The
Society also lists display gardens that are open to the public. There are 26 display gardens in the Carolinas,
and they will be coming into bloom soon. If you really wish to learn more about
daylilies you will be glad to know we have a Lowcountry Daylily Club. This is a
great bunch of folks who are eager to share their knowledge and maybe a few
plants as well.
