I used to have a handful of daylilies in my garden. They never really amounted to much because I had little respect for them and would relegate them to less-than-ideal locations like deep shade, or the back of a bed of exuberant annuals. The one daylily that did manage to score a good location was ‘Mauna Loa.’ I put it in an all-perennial bed with some coneflowers, globe thistles and liatris in full sun. I was a little worried that its bright orange color would clash horribly with the other plants, but I was pleasantly surprised. I loved how Mauna glowed from across the garden, and it had a heavenly scent. Maybe daylilies weren’t so bad after all. Two years later I divided it into three plants. Then they really began to put on a show.
I never understood the draw of a plant with blooms that last only one day, and that was one reason I was never really interested in daylilies. But once you have an established plant or clump and realize that you can have blooms for weeks and even months, daylilies become much more appealing. And after bunnies gnaw off your rudbeckias and zinnias, hail pounds the hosta leaves until they look like they’ve been shot and squirrels dig up and eat 100 of your asiatic lily bulbs in one season, a plant that gives you new, fresh blooms every day no matter what is a stroke of genius. Not to mention that daylilies have few disease or insect pest problems and are drought-tolerant. What more could you ask for?
Once you’re a believer, daylilies become addictive. There are over 60,000 registered cultivars in just about every shape, size and color (except blue, although hybridizers are working on that). In three years I went from 15 daylilies to just over 330. I live on a small city lot so my planting space is limited, and I’m not ready to give up growing annuals (I’ve got to have my long-blooming, bold colors). Let’s just say it’s not a good time to be a fussy perennial or a poor-performing annual in my garden. If you don’t behave, I’ll find a daylily cultivar to take your place!