Trustworthy Daylilies
Hemerocallis fulva.
Tawny Daylily.
If flowers were actors, the familiar orange daylily would be the seasoned, and still keen, member of the troupe who performs steadily on the job, shows up every day to put on the same stellar performance, almost picture perfect, not giving substandard performances, and carrying out a major role without demanding extra nurturing. The trustworthy daylily simply goes about its job of putting on a beautiful performance on a daily basis during the entire “theatre season.”
There is a broad range of wonderful colours from which to select. Most gardeners will recognize the orange daylily – the Tawny daylily, or Hemerocallis fulva by its scientific name – as being one of the daylily species. According to Rodale’s Illustrated Enclyclopedia of Perennials, the yellow H. lilioasphodelus and the orange H. fulva first came to Europe, probably from China, in the middle of the 1500s. Arabs reportedly brought H. fulva to Venice while the merchants of Portugal transported these plants to Lisbon. In due course, they found their way over to North America.
The Tawny daylily is my favourite daylily, as it is a plant that I inherited from my parents’ home garden where it flourished for about 50 years. I can still picture those tall daylilies in full summer bloom from my childhood days, and I vividly recall the impression they made, grouped in a large circle beside the driveway, their tall stems topped with handsome flowers that drew attention after the sweet yellow honeysuckles disappeared from the hedge each spring.
“Tawny” is an apt description of H.fulva’s colour. It is not a very bright orange, but rather has a slight rust-tone to it. The flowers, when massed together and growing in full sunlight, do make a spectacular showing despite the rust undertones. My “Tawnies” have been in their present location for four seasons now, reaching three- to four-feet high, and spreading out evenly along a 30-foot by two-and-a-half-foot bed between my back fence and the paving in the back lane. In a mass planting such as this, they look truly stunning. And, afterwards, when their blooms are spent and I cut back the long stems, I am left with a neat, spiked “hedge” of daylily leaves, lining my back fence and offering a tidy appearance to the back border of the yard.
Inside my yard, I have a second, small bed of orange day lilies sitting in part shade near the southeast corner of my house. As well, several years back I planted a wide bed of yellow day lilies, the award-winning Stella D’oro, in a half-circle around one of my shrubs. Over the past few years, I have divided the clumps each spring and have been widening the arc. Stella’s yellow blossoms appear throughout the summer, lasting well beyond the main flowering season in July here in Zone 3.
Walking through the garden and seeing the new flowers that bloom daily makes me highly appreciative of the hardiness of these prolific bloomers. To summon the energy from earth and water and sun to put one’s best and newest face forward each day, over a month to six weeks, is surely no easy task. I take my hat off to the great performances given by the old fashioned and trustworthy daylilies in our gardens.
Photos & Text: NK
Photo IDs: 1308_34; 1308_35
Location: Home Garden
Copyright: cookiebuxton.com
