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Firmly rooted in the Oklahoma soil

Hemerocallis 'Flying Nun' (Elliott-S., 2013)

My daylily sickness rages on

Daylily season may be nearly over, but my daylily sickness rages on. Every year, I do at least one post on the daylily magic that happens here each June.

Hemerocallis ‘Ninja Storm’ (Gossard 2005) is officially an Unusual Form Crispate which means its petals and sepals crisp around the edge and pinch. I like the eyezone on this one which is so pretty against the throat.

Daylily season is nearly over.

Although we are past peak, there are a few late daylilies still flowering. I always know the season is winding down when H. ‘Laura Harwood’ and H. ‘Peach Treat’ begin blooming.

H. ‘Peach Treat’ with ‘Becky’ shasta daisies. Usually, the daisies aren’t this tall, but so much rain made them grow and grow.

I took some of these photos on a cloudy day last week. We’ve had plenty of those this spring. Others I took this morning as I went about deadheading. I still fill a five-gallon bucket halfway with spent blooms which go right to the compost pile.

Hemerocallis North Wind Dancer, a UF cascade and symbol of daylily sickness
H. ‘North Wind Dancer’ (Schaben, 2001) is a UF cascade, my favorite of the UF types. I love the twirly petals.

Daylily sickness has no cure.

My daylily sickness has no cure, but treatment is expensive. Once daylily season begins winding down, I nearly always pop over to the Lily Auction and buy a few cultivars. Here’s what I bought this morning.

  • WINDHAM WILD CHILD (Matzek, P. 2018)
  • MOUNT EAGLE ( Murphy 2021)
  • CARTER MOUNTAIN (Reed 2021)
  • PATRIOTISM (Murphy, 2018)
  • RED FLAMBE (Murphy-J.P., 2020)

I’m a big fan of Margo Reed and Jim Murphy’s cultivars at Woodhenge Gardens. If you went and searched for these daylilies on the American Hemerocallis Society’s daylily database–the official registration database–you’d find that all of these new purchases are UF (Unusual Form) daylilies. I’ve been on a UF kick for a while. I like the way they twist and turn in our abundant sunlight. I especially like cascading UFs because they have curls. I’m not as big a fan of the pinched crispate UFs, but I have some like H. ‘Small World Area 51’, H. ‘Webster’s Pink Wonder’ and H. ‘Chief Four Fingers.’

H. ‘Webster’s Pink Wonder’ on a sunny day. Depending upon the weather, she can be more peachy or more bluish pink. She is much more pink in the gallery photo below.

I don’t have photos of my new daylily prescriptions, ‘er cultivars, yet, but you can search for them online if you want. Below are some of my UF daylilies blooming now. They look so great in photos and in the garden. People always comment on them when they come visit. [Click on the images in the gallery to see them full-sized.]

H. ‘Big Bird’ (Griesbach-Klehm, 1978) is ancient by daylily standards. It’s one of Br. Reckamp’s cultivars and I’m guessing the UF classification came after this one was registered.
Hemerocallis North Wind Dancer, a UF cascade and symbol of daylily sickness
H. ‘North Wind Dancer’ (Schaben, 2001) is a UF cascade which is probably my favorite of the UF types. I love the twirly petals.
Hemerocallis 'Flying Nun' (Elliott-S., 2013)
H. ‘Flying Nun’ (Elliott-S., 2013), a UF Crispate, had the best year she’s ever had in 2021. I think it’s because the ‘Ogon’ spirea next to her died to the ground so she got more sun.
daylily sickness
H. ‘Small World Area 51’ (Miller-M., 2013) is a UF Crispate-Cascade-Spatulate, which basically means it does all the things.
H. ‘Chief Four Fingers’ (Roberts-N., 2002) is shorter than most in my garden, but the curled petals and sepals make me smile.
Hemerocallis 'Webster's Pink Wonder'
H. ‘Webster’s Pink Wonder’ (Webster-Cobb, 2003) is listed as a UF Crispate, but it looks more spatulate to me.
Another view of ‘Tomorrow is Another Day.’ I think everyone should grow this one.
H. ‘Tomorrow is Another Day’ (Reed, 2012), is a UF Cascade and one of my all-time favorite daylilies.

I also like other daylily forms. To learn more about daylily forms, here I am speaking with Casey Hentges, host of Oklahoma Gardening on our local PBS station, OETA. They also upload all of their shows on YouTube.

Oklahoma Gardening segment on daylilies in my garden where we talked about forms.

Too hot to plant until Fall

Right now, it’s too hot to plant daylilies so don’t be tempted. One year, early in my daylily sickness, I couldn’t resist, and I had to place children’s umbrellas all over the garden to keep my daylily plants cool. It was pretty funny, but when it’s this hot, daylily roots will rot. They also rot when it rains as much as it did this spring. I am seeing a lot of rebloom on plants that didn’t rot though. That’s also due to the water which fell from the sky. There is nothing like rain for a garden.

Daylilies other than UFs

In the gallery below are some of my other daylilies blooming this year. I have over 200 plants, but that’s not considered a lot by most daylily afficianados. I just mix in my daylilies with the rest of the perennials and shrubs because once daylilies are finished for the season, they take a backseat to everything else.

H. ‘Buddy’s Jane’ (Hall-J., 2013) is a really fine ruffled daylily with plenty of branching. It is my favorite shade of yellow, lemon yellow, and it has a green throat. I love green throats.
daylily sickness
H. ‘Cherokee Blanket’ (Bell-T., 2014) This is the best year this cultivar has ever had. Again, I think because I dug out a lot of the ‘Goldsturm’ rudbeckia, and because ‘Carefree Beauty’ rose almost died to the ground, it had more room to grow. This daylily is so much more beautiful in person.
Bible Grove daylily
H. ‘Bible Grove’ (Bouman, 2008) is the darkest daylily in my garden. It is such a dark purple it almost looks black.
H. ‘Fantasma’ (Owen-P., 2014) is such a pretty color.
H. ‘Tim Herrington’ (Elliott-S., 2014) almost always doubles in my garden which is a big deal.
H. ‘Sherry Candy’ (Stamile 2006) is one of the most beautiful daylilies in my garden, and it changes color depending upon temperature and sunlight.
H. ‘Sherry Candy’ on a shady evening. See what I mean?
H. ‘Lexi Hendrix’ (Harry-P., 2017) is also very different depending upon the weather.
H. ‘Royal Invitation’ (Emmerich, 2015). I’m also a big fan of Karol Emmerich’s daylilies, and I met her once which was exciting.

Better and bigger blooms?

To get better blooms on your daylily plants, here are my four B’s to daylily garden zen. It’s simply bud count, branching, bloom time and rebloom. Oh, and use drip irrigation if you live in the south. If you like the darker, brooding cultivars, I would encourage you to come over to daylily’s dark side. I know I have in years past. I also posted about this on Instagram a week or so ago.

If you’d like to listen, Carol Michel and I have a new podcast episode for you. It’s great to listen to while out weeding. We drop our episodes on Wednesdays each week. This week we went down a few rabbit holes. Hope you stop in to listen.

Well, that’s it for this week’s daylily adventure. Now, it’s on to the phlox, monarda, echinacea and other summer flowers. See you soon.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Robin Leja

    As I’ve probably said before, I am mostly immune from the daylily sickness. But people like you have been posting such beauties that I’m weakening. What if I broke down and got just one, a really special one? Which would you recommend for zone 6 Ohio? Bonus points if it’s in shades of peach or salmon. Feel free to Facebook message me if you have any thoughts for me. Thanks!

    • Dee Nash

      Hey Robin, I’ll be glad to message you too. I really love Missouri Morning Melody, and I love Memphis. Both are that classic peachy/pink coloration. So pretty especially on cloudy days. ~~Dee

  3. Linda Brazill

    Mine are getting shaded out. I got into the dwarf varieties when I had a small garden and I still love them. I’m down to only about 6 or so. Giving them away to friends with sunny gardens.

    • Dee Nash

      Hey Linda, yeah, the one thing they really can’t take is shade. I do love several of the miniatures too. I have probably five or six, but I’ve noticed they get crowded out more easily than their bigger cousins. I guess that would make sense. It’s sweet to give away plants to friends. Keeps us in their gardening memories. ~~Dee

  4. Kathy from Cold Climate Gardening

    Here, daylily season is just getting started. We may a few early ones the last week in June, buy daylilies are July plants and depending on the weather and variety, go into August. And I’ve never heard anyone say they had daylilies rot in the heat. Climate sure does affect how and when plants grow.

    • Dee Nash

      Hi Kathy, our garden seasons are so different. Only daylilies that are first planted here rot in the heat. My understanding is they have such shallow roots that the hot surface of the soil just melts them. Even mulch doesn’t help that much. It’s just better here to plant them in April and September. Climate is such a factor in gardens. I remember going to Minneapolis and seeing everything blooming at once. My season is staggered and long. Have a great weekend!~~Dee