This is one prolific bloomer
The month of May starts off the daylily craze in my neck of the woods. About mid-May they start their show and it will continue for another few weeks, depending on the type of daylily you may have. Until I moved to Louisiana, I never grew daylilies. Well, maybe I had a few of the wild daylilies (which I've heard called 'tawny', 'common' and 'ditch' daylilies). But they were never very showy and I felt they didn't really go with the garden I had at the time. Our current house came with an assortment of daylilies, although I have no idea what their cultivar names are, if they even had one. Since that first year when they bloomed, I've become smitten by them and I'm afraid I'm going to fall into the obsessed category soon. Someone save me! Without further ado, here are the ones that are currently blooming in my yard. There are a few more that haven't opened yet, but I think I better just stop here for now.
'Crimson Pirate' daylilies in mid-March
'Crimson Pirate' daylilies today; this is an old-fashioned variety from the 1950s that I bought at a big box store in a bag
Daylilies for sale at our farmers' market
These more flat, open ones are not really my favorite (but to each his own of course)
Very open with curved petals; again, not my favorite
I have a number of daylilies like this one scattered here and there
My latest purchase, 'Betty Warren Woods'; I like how the yellow ones brighten the landscape
How's this for a wild color? One of my Master Gardener classmates bred this.
A peachy one
This is my all-time favorite; I call it 'dreamsicle' although the folks I bought it from said it didn't have a cultivar name
I'll know if I've tipped over into the daylily obsession bucket when I start learning more about all the different varieties. I'm scared to go there though. :-)
This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2009. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.
Hi Jean, lol your ditch lilies there are way darker than ours here. I like 'em! (Well, I like our orange ones, too.) Mine are in bud and ready to rumble any day now. You have some pretty ones.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it funny how certain daylilies speak to one person and not another? I just love the violet-purple daylily your classmate bred and Betty Warren Woods is a keeper. I grew nearly 50 different hemerocallis in Illinois but am down to 8 kinds now - guess I've passed through my daylily phase while you're just getting revved up, Jean!
ReplyDeleteI photographed the open flowers, too - maybe they'll turn into a post if I can get off genealogy sites long enough to write one.
Happy June!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Hi Jean,
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I love Day Lilies too. The bold colours are my favourite.
Your daylilies are gorgeous. I love the darker ones but then I love the softer palate too. So many different shades. I have never added to the ones I put in 8 years ago but have been sorely tempted recently. Saw some at HD yesterday but resisted. What fun it would be to breed your own and what a surprise when they finally bloom. I wonder how long that takes? Love your dry stone wall. You must have the same rocks where you live as we do!
ReplyDeleteJean, don't be afraid of your daylily obsession. Be brave, continue on and never stop posting about them.
ReplyDeleteI'm crazy nuts about the purple one bred by your classmate.
I have a few daylilies that have started to bloom. Don't ever remember this happening in May...everything in the garden is early this year.
donna
Love that red and all the others, especially the one bred by your friend. There will not be another exactly like it, ever.
ReplyDeleteI like them all: the old ones from the 1950s, the doubles, the bagel shapes, the lights, the darks, the home hybridized, the plants that were profilerations off the scapes of someone else's daylilies, the surprises when what you bought isn't.
Hi, Jean, Your daylilies are gorgeous! I like your blog and am adding it to my Google Reader! :) Thanks for stopping by my blog!
ReplyDeleteJenny (Lancashire Rose) - We actually don't have any rocks here, except for some small ones called 'iron ore' that turn our water rusty. These rocks came from Arkansas I think.
ReplyDeleteDaylilies are some of my favorite flowers. Mine are being slow to bloom, this year.
ReplyDeleteI love those in your header. Just lovely.
That first shot's a stunner Jean.
ReplyDeleteIt's a slippery slope, my friend, a slippery slope. I haven't been out to my fave daylily farm here in a couple of years. I should remedy that!
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely daylily time of year, isn't it? I tend to fall for their names. Your 'Crimson Pirate' appeals to me for that reason.
ReplyDeleteI plant ditch lilies in every inhospitable place on the property. They happily bloom so, of course, I love them. That MG bred purple one is just gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteOh, I can understand how easy it is to become obsessed with daylilies! My friend Beckie and I visited a daylily farm last summer for the first time, and I came home with several new ones. Then I decided I needed a new flowerbed just to showcase them all! Like Pam, I tend to fall for their names--I have a 'Prairie Blue Eyes' and a 'Canterbury Tales' just because of their names, not necessarily their blooms. If I find a 'Shakespeare' or 'Emily Dickinson', you can be sure it will come home with me:)
ReplyDeleteThe purple one bred by your friend is a stunner!
It starts innocently enough with one or two plants, grows a little more the next year as you add a few more in different colors or shapes, and then you realize that you're completely and irrevesibly hooked. I've dug up and moved my daylilies from Michigan to Illinois to Connecticut, gotten them from friends across the country during visits and put them in my suitcase to fly them home, and dug up sections from strangers yards who said "What, that old thing? Sure, help yourself." when I asked if I could take some (you know you're totally hooked when you're willing to ask a complete stranger for part of their plant!!). I love photographing them too. Here are a few of my latest acquisitions (from a garden in New Hampshire). http://wp.me/pNP3S-1j
ReplyDeleteDay lilies were my first garden loves! Join the local day lily society~You'll meet the nicest day lilies and gardeners! gail
ReplyDeleteI grew up picking ditch daylilies up in northern Ohio. What fun to watch them return and flower up and down the dirt road we lived on.
ReplyDeleteThe Stellas are starting here. My least favorite for sure but your photos give me hope for what is to come.
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful! I've just jumped on the daylily bandwagon in the past couple of years. It is amazing to me that they need absolutely no care, even with heat, sun and drought!
ReplyDeleteThose red daylilies are the most beautiful shade, especially against the gray stone wall. It's a red that I've been looking for! Nice.
ReplyDeleteI love daylilies too. I thought I was over it when we moved to this garden 5 years ago -- I left about 30 different varieties of daylilies there, all carefully labeled. But now, I'm slowly sliding down that slippery slope again! I am trying to limit myself to red ones and yellow ones, but that purple one is stunning. You'll like Betty Warren Woods -- she's a reliable keeper.
ReplyDeleteHappy Gardening,
Elizabeth
Jean,
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I know its two year removed, but I have heard (and am currently a part of) stories af this particular daylily varietal. This type has been passed down and around the state of Texas for over 100 years. As far as the cultivar goes, I doubt there is one. They look identicle to the reds that we have that were passed down from my grandfather decades ago.
ReplyDeleteHi Grackle,
ReplyDeleteWhich daylily are you saying has been passed down for so long? Is it the red one at the top of the post? I love all plants that are heirloom!
Thanks for visiting,
Jean