Daylilies

Every one of the 50 United States has a designated state flower that best represents their state.  Here in Vermont the flower that comes to my mind can currently be found along almost every ditch on every roadway.  Those lovely orange tall scaped plants that everyone recognizes as the common daylily.  As common as it is one would think that they're native to North America but most of them hail from Asia and they are everywhere.
And neither is the daylily the state flower of Vermont.  That honor goes to, believe it or not, red clover.  Further inquiry brought me to another stinger;  the daylily isn't the state flower of any of the 50 states.
Oh Well...
With over 60,000 varieties and counting, this is clearly one popular perennial.  They're so popular they even have their own society!  Check out The American Hemerocallis Society for more information than you'd probably ever want to know.  I must admit though,  their database is pretty remarkable.

I've gardened most of my life but it wasn't until I moved to Vermont that I dove head first into perennial gardening.  The very first perennial that I owned was a plant that a friend purchased for me from a local nursery... and, fittingly enough, it was a daylily.

That very daylilly whose name was never known moved with me to my current garden by means of a small division and has grown (by quite a few more divisions) to occupy several prominent placings throughout the property.

The bloom is considered a spider daylily meaning the petal is at least 4 times longer than it is wide.  A stunning dark red with yellow throat,
if you think you know which variety of daylily (of the 60,000) this one is.... please call me!!

Another favorite of mine is this apricot colored with ruffled edges that came to me while working as a landscaper.  We were 'renovating' an existing perennial garden that had run amuk which required pulling every plant, re-preparing the bed, dividing, sorting and re-planting.  There were tons of plant material left over that the gardens owner encouraged us to take...which we happily obliged.
This is considered a bitone meaning the sepals (the bottom 3 segments of the flower) and the petals (that would be the top 3) differ in shade or intensity of the same basic color.
See, you learn something new everyday!

Hemerocallis 'Holiday Delight'

A local greenhouse grower told me that if she had to have one daylilly, it would be this one... Holiday Delight.
I bought it bloom unseen.

My friends, the deer, ate the buds the following year so it wasn't until season 2 before I ever saw it's 'delight'.

H. 'Leonard Bernstein'

I have this daylily courtesy of my friend, Judy, who has more daylilies than you could shake a stick at... seriously.
I pass by her house up on the hill every day on the way home from work and all I see is color.  It's a sight.

Leonard is a deep red with a green throat and has an extended bloom time.

H. 'Strawberry Candy'

 The AHS conducts a famous “Popularity Poll” each year, to determine which are the big favorites in North America and for several years now this daylily, Strawberry Candy, has been near the top of the list.
I didn't know when I first saw it and had to have it that it was such a popular choice.
I guess that's what makes something popular.... everybody likes you.



Daylilies are incredibly easy to grow and super reliable.  Even if you're a novice gardener... especially if you're a novice gardener, you won't be disappointed.  And even though the bloom times can seem so fleeting, before you know it another season of blooms comes along reminding us of what makes them worth the wait. 
Seize the day...lily!