Daylilies: Beautiful and easy to grow
Other than weeds, daylilies (Hemerocallis spp.) are some of the toughest plants around. They're perfect for beginning gardeners, those who are "gardening challenged," but for master gardeners, too. The size, color and growth habits of daylilies vary as much as dogs do: there are big fancy ones, little yappy ones, some that spread quickly by root, others that grow as slowly as turtles in November.
All have blossoms that last for just a day, but blossoms will open daily if you pick a stem with several good-sized buds. And did you know there are also nocturnal daylilies that open in late afternoon? Or that the buds of the plant are edible — and tasty?
I recently visited Davis Brook Farm (www.davisbrookfarm.com or 525-4728) in Hancock to talk to George and Rennie Timm who grow and sell over 600 named cultivars, including some beauties that George hybridized himself.
Let's start with a menu from Rennie Timm. First course: Make a big green salad and add daylily petals for color. Don't use the stamens and pistil (the little stuff inside the blossom) as they're not tasty. Chop or tear the petals. Toss in a few buds, which taste a bit like asparagus or green beans.
Main course, vegetable: Sauté chopped onions, shallots or garlic in olive oil and butter. Add a little chopped tarragon and black pepper. When the onions are almost cooked, drop in buds from those common orange daylilies you have been meaning to manage, but haven't. Select buds an inch to an inch and a half long. They will start to open when they are cooked — in just a minute or two.
Dessert: Take a champagne glass, and place in it a fully open, brightly colored daylily blossom. Put in a scoop of sherbet and garnish with a few fresh berries and a mint leaf if you have one.
George and Rennie told me that although the common orange daylily will bloom in shade, most hybrids — the fancy ones — will not. They need 4-6 hours of sun, minimum. The more sun, the better. And daylilies love water, which may be why we are having such a good summer for daylilies, what with all that rain. No rain? Give them half an inch of water every three days and they will reciprocate with bigger blossoms.
Common orange daylilies send out stolons, or roots that spread quickly, George explained, giving gardeners the wrong impression: most daylilies stay in nice neat clumps that gets bigger and more floriferous each year, but they don't spread the way the common ones do. Plant big daylilies 24-36 inches apart and the midgets 12-18 inches apart unless you want what Rennie calls an "Insta-garden." Then plant them closer together, knowing that in 5 years or less you will need to divide them.
Daylily aficionados like the Timms talk about diploid daylilies (which have single pairs of chromosomes) and tetraploid daylilies (which have twice as many chromosomes). The "tets" (as they are known in the trade) have wider, thicker foliage and bigger flowers. The scapes, or flower stems are thicker, too, so they are best for windy hillsides or places where other plants will lean on them. "Dips" have grassier foliage and thinner scapes. But diploids multiply faster, so you can divide clumps sooner and make more plants.
When should you divide daylilies? Spring is generally best, but you can do it anytime up to 6 weeks before frost. If you do it in the heat of the summer, cut foliage down to 4-5 inches and remove all the flower scapes. Some daylilies diminish in size and vigor after five years if they are growing too tightly. Adding fertilizer each year will help them stay vigorous.
Me? I give them rich soil, compost and some bagged organic fertilizer at planting time and rarely divide clumps. If I want to give a chunk to a friend, I use a 6-inch serrated knife to slice out a wedge of pie — daylily — roots, crown and foliage. The missing wedge is barely noticeable.
George explained how he hybridizes daylilies. When the flowers have opened in the morning, he picks one of the 6 stamens from a blossom. Stamens are the male parts, and have yellow pollen on their shield-shaped tips. Then he goes to another daylily, and touches the pistil with it. There is just one pistil, or female receptor. It is longer than the stamens, and has no bulge on its end. As soon as it's touched — boom, babies on the way.
Pollen sticks, the sperm go down the pistil, say hi to the eggs, and seeds will be ready in about 6 weeks. To get all one type of seed on a scape, repeat the same cross each day, or cut off the other buds.
George labels the scape with a piece of plastic surveyor's tape, tying it around the scape and labeling with a grease pencil. All his hybrids have "Monadnock" in the name. You can't hybridize diploids with tetraploids.
Growing daylilies can be addictive because they are beautiful and so easy to grow.
Now is the time to visit your local gardening center, or travel to Davis Brook Farm to get some nice new varieties to add to your collection.
Henry Homeyer's new book is "The New Hampshire Gardener's Companion: An Insider's Guide to Gardening in the Granite State." His website is Gardening-Guy.com.
Nocturnal: Lemon Lollypop, Flames of Fortune, Doctor Darrow Fragrant: Siloam Double Classic, Catherine Woodbury, Dublin Elaine Miniatures: Monadnock Double Daffodil, Raspberry Pixie, Baby Tiger Paws Large (blooms over 7 inches): Monadnock Melon Moon, Nicholas, Red Ribbons Tall (scapes over 30 inches): Monadnock Hot Flash, Michelle My Belle, Bela Lugosi Spiders: Lady Fingers, Wilson Spider, Orchid Corsage Rebloomers: Stella d'Oro (which blooms consistently all summer) Monadnock Victorian Princess, Red Rum Late bloomers (into September): Appalachian Sunset, September Gold, Chicago Apache My New Favorite: American Revolution - a red so dark it borders on black