Green Space: Daylilies show off summer splendor
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By JEN POLNASZEK
For the Herald
Tuesday, July 29, 2008 3:22 PM CDT
Summer in the Chippewa Valley is in full swing. Spring planting is long completed and we can enjoy the fruits of our labors. Many of the early-blooming perennials have completed their show.
But mid-July and August bring new beauty to the garden in the form of the daylily.
Daylilies (or Hemerocallis) typically bloom in midsummer. True to their name, each blossom opens in the morning and is spent by evening, to be followed by the opening of a new bud the next day.
You may be familiar with the “ditch lilies” that grace our roadsides and many gardens with their many orange blooms this time of year. There are now thousands of hybrids of this lily, producing increasingly beautiful scapes of flowers ranging in color from white, pinks, reds, purples, oranges, yellows to multiple colors.
They come in many shapes and sizes including doubles, spider and ruffled varieties.
Daylilies are easy to care for even for the most inexperienced gardener. They require little special care beyond a sunny location and well-drained soil. Mulching around the plants discourages weeds and maintains soil moisture. They are available at most local nurseries.
As they grow you can easily splits clumps and share them with friends. Unlike the “ditch lily” they are not invasive. You won’t have to pull them out from among your other plantings. Another advantage is that deer and rabbits show little interest in dining on the plants except under extreme conditions, a quality of which few other perennials can boast.
The Wisconsin Daylily Society (www.wisdaylilysoc.org) and the American Hemerocallis Society (www.daylilies.org) are great sources of information and sharing with others. You may also want to experiment with hybridization of new forms of your own.
Daylilies are relatively easy to cross- pollinate. When successful, a seed pod develops. This can be collected in the fall when seeds are black and fully matured within the drying pod.
Plant the seeds immediately outdoors or store and sow in the spring. Seedlings usually take two to three years to reach flowering size.
Jennifer Polnaszek is a member of the Chippewa Valley Master Gardener Association and the Northern Regional Lily Society.
Green Space is a weekly feature written for The Chippewa Herald by a team of experienced gardeners in the Chippewa Valley. It addresses a variety of plant cultivation topics.
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