I last blogged about my ‘Wayside King Royale’ daylilies 4 years ago when I mentioned how they have been chugging along for well over a decade:
One of the unsung heroes of my daylily beds is ‘Wayside King Royale.’ Every year for well over a decade now my little collection of plants puts on an impressive several-week display of grape-colored blooms…its breeder is also responsible for some of my favorite trustworthy and heavy-blooming bird-named daylilies like ‘Cedar Waxwing’, ‘Scarlet Tanager’ and ‘Ruby Throat’.
Well they STILL continue to impress me year after year. I have three plants growing next to each other that churn out hundreds of those grape-colored flowers for weeks in June and July.
This cultivar grows 36 inches tall with 6-inch flowers. My plants anchor the back of one of my annual borders. This daylily doesn’t get the respect it deserves. It’s a workhorse. Here’s what I said about it in 2009:
“On a daylily tour last summer, I spotted what I thought was ‘Wayside King Royale’ in a yard with over 500 daylily cultivars. There was no plant tag so I asked the homeowner what it was. He seemed almost embarrassed to admit he was growing ‘Wayside King Royale’ and yet there it was blooming like crazy among all the other newer and fancier cultivars. That’s saying something.”