A few years ago, I visited my friend, Judy Ann’s, garden. It was early evening in late June, and the air was filled with the sound of tree frogs singing a chorus. At the back of the border standing tall in the fading sunlight, I saw my first Reckamp daylily. The color was that of a ripe tangerine or an orange dreamsicle, and although the flower was a simple trumpet shape, it glowed as if lit from within.
Mouth open, I pointed, and Judy Ann smiled.
“Ah, the Reckamp glow,” she said, “Brother Reckamp created daylilies that look like no other.”
Judy Ann is a daylily hybridizer and an avid collector of Reckamp’s work. In her garden, she showed me colors and toothy edges which were not only beautiful, but also before their time. I, soon, became a fan of his flowers, but I was even more intrigued by the man himself. Why would a monk be a daylily hybridizer?
Roy Klehm, a peony and daylily hybridizer, and owner of Klehm’s Song Sparrow Nursery, graciously spoke to me of his lifelong friend. Klehm said Reckamp bought Dutch Elm trees from Klehm’s grandfather. The elms perished long ago from Dutch Elm disease, but Reckamp maintained friendships with four generations of the Klehm family.
Born and raised on a farm northwest of St. Louis, Brother Reckamp lived his entire religious life in Techny, Illinois, as a brother of The Society of the Divine Word. When he arrived at the farm in 1927, he and the other initiates were asked who knew about farming. He raised his hand, and he was chosen to work on what was then a dairy and beef operation which helped the monks be more self sufficient.
Later, the brothers started a market garden business to serve Chicago. Reckamp began hybridizing iris. However, since iris bloomed during the nursery’s busiest time of the year, his two friends, Orville Fay and Dr. Robert Griesbach, encouraged him to try daylilies, which bloomed later. Reckamp’s first daylilies were introduced by Steve Moldovan, another hybridizer, and Klehm took over introducing them after 1970.
Most of Reckamp’s daylilies have religious names, which Klehm said often came out of the Lutheran hymnal. Four names came from the hymn, “Silent Night.” Klehm laughed when I said their partnership was truly ecumenical.
“Warm days really bring out the pink in Reckamp’s daylilies,” Klehm said, “He wanted to create varieties that glowed in the evening light.”
Every year, Reckamp encouraged other farmers in the area to dump leaf mold into his hybridizing fields, and he would rototill six inches of that leaf mold into his soil.
“He wanted his plants to have garden value,” said Klehm, “He loved the joy his plants brought to people.”
Good plant habit meant Reckamp wanted daylilies which were more than a pretty face. He culled thousands that didn’t meet up to his standards. They needed to be long flowering cultivars with high bud counts, trouble free foliage and good winter dormancy. All Reckamp daylilies are dormant cultivars which means they die all the way to the ground in winter. This makes them very cold hardy. In my garden, they also hold up well in the heat. I planted most in the shade to take advantage of their glowing colors. They light up the shady spaces in the garden quite well.
Nearly every variety I have blooms late, which helps me extend daylily season a little longer. An exception to this is this unknown sold to me as ‘Mission Madonna’ shown blooming polytepal. Most of Reckamp’s later introductions had toothy or ruffled edges. For their time period, these were unique qualities only now being seen in the mainstream of daylily hybridizing.
The Victory Garden’s, Jim Wilson, profiled Reckamp in Masters of the Victory Garden. In the book, Wilson shows how the daylily eventually came to America. I enjoyed reading about Wilson meeting Reckamp who was going strong in 1982. He also explains the revolution of dayliles in the 1940s when Dr. Griesbach began breeding tetraploid daylilies (diploid daylily seeds are treated with colchicine to double their chromosomes.) Today, hybridizers breed both diploid and tetraploid daylilies; separately of course. You can’t breed a dip to a tet. If you are interested, Wilson gives a good history of the process. Dr. Griesbach finally converted an important cultivar to tetraploid. The plant, ‘Crestwood Ann’, cost $200.00. Reckamp’s superiors let him purchase one plant to begin working in tetraploid daylilies.
According to Wilson, Reckamp noticed his cultivars began to have a “‘signature’– a combination of wide petals and highly visible sepals.” His later work incorporated the ruffled and toothy edges so desired by later hybridizers.
Although Reckamp became a hybridizer, he still kept up with his nursery duties, and his hybrids began to sell. He returned all the money to the Society which had encouraged him in his efforts. He fell in love with daylilies as a hobby and, with tremendous effort, created great garden plants. His most famous cultivar, ‘Angel’s Smile’, is still in demand today.
I enjoyed reading this article. I have known many other hybridizers who knew Br. Charles and have heard many stories about him. I feel privileged to have his genetics in the background of my own daylily hybridizing. Br. Charles made significant contributions to the daylily and did so with great humility. For those interested in knowing there is a daylily named in his honor called Brother Charles Reckamp bred by Ohioan Roy Woodhall.
Hi Eric, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I have many of Br. Charles' daylilies and love them very much. It's interesting how you've used them in your hybridizing program. I know that Song Sparrow Nursery also has a daylily named 'Charlie' in honor of Br. Charles. He touched many lives. Thanks so much for stopping by.
I am one of Brother Charles many nephews. He was the most joy filled person I have ever known. His flowers are a true reflection of him. When visiting him at Techny, he radiated a true love of nature and of people. He assured us he was doing something right as he had kept the same job for over 50 years.
Hi Paul, your comment cheered my heart. I love hearing more information about Br. Reckamp. It is so nice to know that he was as filled with God’s contentment and joy as his flowers show. I enjoy every one of them. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. It made my day.~~Dee
Absolutely fab post my dear!
Now, I like daylilies. I even have about 4 different ones including some liberated ditch lilies that I stole from a falling down barn on the Palouse. But when you get to talking dirty, like “Reckamp’s glow”, I gotta know more and soon I will own more and you get my drift. I am echoing your Curtiss Ann on this one.
That first bloom SO looks like orange sherbet!
Brenda
Daylilies are like people. There are so many different kinds of them, but they are all beautiful! I used to think that evergreen ones were the most desirable because they retained their foliage throughout the winter, but experience has taught me that the dormant varieties are hardier and bloom more prolifically (at least for me).
Honey-bunny– this is such a touching and delightful article. Thank you. You are yet going to make me fall in love and have to have a bunch of these daylilies.
Dee, What lovely, lovely flowers. And the story that goes with them is wonderful! I just love flowers that “glow.” When I grew California poppies a few years ago, I kept returning to them in the garden… just to stare at their luminous orange glow.
Thank you for a really interesting stroll!
Thanks Aisling, I love the Sunday stroll idea. We should all remember to stroll in our gardens in addition to working in them.~~Dee
Dee those Reckamp daylilies are beautiful. When I get settled in my new home (whenever that maybe) I’ll have to see if I can get some of those! Love the pics!
Sherri, I hope you get the chance to add a couple to your soon to be new home.~~Dee
Beautiful daylillies and an educational post. Since I love Harry Johnson and Bob Schick Echinipsis cactus hybrids (they are famous Echinopsis hybridizers) and collect so many, I’ve thought of hybridizing them myself, but I just don’t have the patience to wait for years to see the results. I imagine your friend’s payoff for daylillies is quick!
Happy GTS,
Aiyana
Aiyana, Happy GTS to you too. I’m not a hybridizer, but if you work hard at it here, you can have blooms in two seasons. Year round warm weather was why many daylily hybridizers moved to Florida. Now, some are moving further north due to daylily rust. I don’t have the patience to wait for results either. Roses take a long time to hybridize also.~~Dee
Never heard of him before! Great story, and I’ll keep my eyes open for his daylilies.
Thanks, Muum.~~Dee
Fantastic post! You really did your homework on this one. How great that you managed to interview Roy Klehm, who is a fascinating plant guy in his own right. Most of my Daylilies are in partial to full shade, which is not the norm for Northern Illinois, but I find they provide just enough of needed color in the summer shade garden.
Thanks, MMD. I really enjoyed talking to Roy Klehm. Such a gentleman. Talking to you on Plurk got me to finish the post.~~Dee
I agree with Carol. It’s so hard to choose daylilies and knowing the story behind some of them helps narrow down the choices. I like that they glow in the evening.
Kathy, I agree with you. Back when I was insane about daylilies, I bought everything I could find. Now, I’m culling those that don’t work in my perennial gardens.~~Dee
This is such an enjoyable post, Dee – I can remember reading stories about Brother Charles when we lived in Illinois and thinking there should be a couple in our collection. That was years ago so it’s nice to see an old gardener’s creations are still blooming.
I never acquired any Reckamp daylilies before changing zones, but we grew the ‘Techny’ Arborvitae in Illinois, which I’m pretty sure is also a Brother Charles introduction.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Thanks, Annie. His cultivars are highly collected by some folks. I have six or seven myself. I did dig ‘Sacred Shield’ this year. It didn’t like my garden all that well.~~Dee
I too have daylilies in the shade and I love they way some of them glow in the dusky light or early morning. I had never heard of the Brother. I enjoyed you bringing him and his work to my attention.
Hi Lisa, thank you so much for your kind comments. Daylilies in some shade look great because their foliage blends in with all the green. I’m glad I could introduce Brother Reckamp to you and everyone.~~Dee
I don’t grow a single daylily, and Roy Klehm (who managed to push me grudgingly into the Hosta pool years ago, and a few other deep ends, bless him big time) has certainly tried repeatedly to make it otherwise. Reading this post, though, I want to go out and buy them all, every last Reckamp. You took a great tack and added a great interview…so even though it’s about a plant I didn’t think I even liked, I’m sold. Thanks.
Hi Margaret, thank you for the kind comments. Roy Klehm is a very nice person, and he and Brother Reckamp were very close. After the interview, he made me a customer for life, and I’ve bought ferns and peonies from him ever since. You know, there was a time when I didn’t like hostas either. I used to think they were ugly.~~Dee
Now you’ve done it! I thought I wanted to buy a bunch of the “spidery” type of daylilies, but now I want Reckamps. I think they would do well here in my Indiana garden.
There are so many thousands of varieties of daylilies that I get lost trying to figure out which ones to buy. Posts like yours help me to narrow down the choices and focus in on a group that now I know the history and story of. That makes a plant more special, at least to me.
There is a daylily farm near me, I’m going to check out their website for Reckamp varieties and pay them a visit!
Hi Carol, you know, you could have both like I do. Spiders and bagel-shaped daylilies look so different they’re like two different genuses altogether. Reckamps would love your garden because it is close enough to where he bred his plants. If you have trouble finding Reckamps at your local nursery, let me know. Knowing about the hybridizer makes a plant very special to me.~~Dee