The flower for everyone

If you think all daylilies are 18 inches tall and yellow like the ones growing outside the local mall, you are missing one of the most diverse, beautiful and easy to maintain perennials available to the casual gardener. Did I mention addictive? With a cast of thousands to choose from, many gardeners just can't get enough and spend their summer days planning their new beds and visits to their favorite growers.

Every year, hybridizers (plant breeders) introduce new varieties available to the gardener. With careful selection criteria and brutal culling practices, the diversity of the species Hemerocallis increases on an annual basis. Daylilies are available in a vast palette of colors, range of height, flower type and foliage.

Spider Man Durio 1982 24 EM Re Bright Red Self Dor Tet Sngl $12.00

While viewing online and written catalogs, you will often see a standard description listed like the one above.

Here is the key to those strange abbreviations:

Spider Man Durio 1982 24 EM Re Bright Red Self Dor Tet Sngl $12.00

Spider Man = Name of cultivar

Durio = Name of hybridizer

1982= Year registered with the American Hemerocallis Society

24 = height in inches

EM=Early Midseason (time of bloom within season)

Re = rebloomer will send up additional bloom scapes after initial bloom period

Bright red = Color

Self = color pattern. Self is the simplest pattern where flower segments are all the same color

Dor = Type of foliage. Dormant (DOR): foliage which dies back to the ground in winter. Evergreen (EV): continuous growth throughout year Semi Evergreen (SEV): intermediate between the previous listings

Tet = tetraploid ,genetic description referring to chromosomal count

Single = Bloom type

$12.00= price

Other information that may be included in a catalog description is whether the cultivar is fragrant and the bud count.

Daylilies are super easy to maintain and very forgiving. If they are forgotten they will still bloom and be very pretty but may not multiply as readily or bloom as prolifically than if watered and fertilized.

Shopping online via daylily farms may at first be a bit confusing. Many farms opening pages feature their new (and often expensive)varieties. This is because a new variety introduction is actually the product of several years worth of work and selection. A hybridizer begins by crossing two varieties via pollen by hand. The resulting seeds are then planted. No two offspring will be exactly alike due to the vast combinations of DNA. The seedlings will be evaluated and culled for the next several growing seasons so that only the best of the best will be chosen as worthy of being named, registered with the American Hemerocallis Society and made available to collectors. It is also worth mentioning that there are two typical ways of propagating daylilies. Root division is the accepted norm which is a slow means of propagation. It is often several years between selection of a new variety and being able to market that plant. The second way to propagate daylilies involves tissue culture and few perennial growers choose this method as many gardeners find the "field-grown" plants to be superior in many ways. The good news is that once the population of a variety has reached a reasonable level, prices typically decrease to a more affordable level. Unless you are a newest and latest type of person, you may find about any form, quality, height etc for just a few dollars locally or online. Daylilies are amazing in your garden and can be complementary to other plants or stand alone as a feature in themselves.

Daylilies are easily dug and split for trading with friends or earning some money to buy more daylilies!!!!!