Daylilies start appearing in the garden in June, but the heyday for these flowers is in July. Starting from the beginning of July until the third or fourth week our Daylily Walk is awash with color. This is happening right now at the Garden!
Daylilies are generally grown for their large, trumpet shaped blossoms that jump out at you in a mixed planting, shouting ‘look at me’. And you should; they come in a vast array of shapes, colors and sizes and there are over 52,000 cultivars to choose from–many of them garden worthy companions.
When you are navigating catalogs and descriptions to find a daylily that suits your gardening style there is a basic terminology that is helpful to know. The throat is the interior of the flower, the eye zone lies just above it forming a band of color on the petals, and a halo is a faint band of color.
Some daylilies are bi-colored, some are doubles and some have a graceful recurved (curling backwards) shapes. While size, color and form are generally the attributes that gardeners assess when buying a daylily, fragrance is another factor to consider.
This peony is named 'Kevin'. Not that far off from a moss named 'Mark'.
I have been editing a lot of articles for nybg.org recently that involve long lists of the names of the many hybrids and cultivars we keep on Garden grounds. Anyone who has ever edited a long list in HTML can tell you that it is one of those tasks where it really is okay to let the mind wander a little. It has given me a lot of time to daydream about what kind of plant I would like to have named after me, if, you know, someday I just happen to meet the right hybridizer …. And I know I’m not alone in thinking about this, because when I posed the question yesterday on Twitter, “What would you most like to have named after you? A rose? A daylily? A hosta? Tell us!” the responses came fast and furious.
BloominChick shows her wild side in dreaming of “Something hardy, strong & beautiful. A tiger/wild Lily? (Those striking orange ones).”
There were also votes for a hosta, an orchid, a waterlily, and a butterfly (not technically a plant, but since so many plants can’t live without flowers, we’ll allow it).
Today I sauntered down Daylily Walk at lunchtime. Daylily Walk runs from Perennial Way (the road that goes in front of the Conservatory), past the Garden Cafe, down a little hill, and then takes a jag to the left running parallel to Garden Way (the road in front of the Library Building where the Greenmarket is held) (map). Daylily Walk is currently a riot of color and a study in fabulous plant names. Come check out the amazing diversity of daylilies!
Daylilies start appearing in the garden in June, but the heyday for these flowers is in July. Starting from the beginning of July until the third or fourth week our Daylily Walk is awash with color. This is happening right now at the Garden!
