I just wrote a page about Daylilies, and then saw Kathy Purdy’s post on Facebook with a delightful portrait of  a variety called “Going Bananas”. It got me thinking about what colors of Hemerocallis I like best.

Time For Daylilies, on Ilona’s Garden

Daylilies in My Memory

From earliest memory when visiting old fashioned gardens that often had a circle of daylilies somewhere in the yard, it was the “Lemon lily” that I always liked best. That might explain my preponderance of choices that lean toward a clear yellow cultivar.

I can recall that the old fashioned ones always had a sweet fragrance, and I’m sure that weighed in in favor of them. I didn’t realize and maybe you didn’t, just how old Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus is! Noted in 1570, and called the “Yellow Tuberose” in 1733. That makes it perfect for restoration gardens.

One cultivar that I can highly recommend is the old faithful, ‘Hyperion’.

Hyperion is close to the color of the old lemon lily, but reaches about 36″ tall with very elegantly shaped trumpets; it also has some fragrance.

Naming Names in the Hemerocallis World

Another cultivar I love, though it does not grow as strongly, is ‘Swansdown’. It has creamy yellow, full flowers. I don’t see it available in recent years, but it has been around since 1951, so I imagine it is offered for sale somewhere.

One of the first cultivars, recommended highly in one of the garden books I had read (can’t remember which one now, so many years later) was ‘Catherine Woodbery’.  Sometimes seen as ‘Catherine Woodbury’, but that was not how I purchased it and learned of it long ago.

The recommendation was well advised and has remained one of my favorite daylilies of all time. It survived the planting in an unpromising spot, and does much better where I moved it, even though it has to compete with maple roots.

At least it doesn’t get mown over! I am always moaning over the over zealous mowers around here. they will remain unnamed, but have been various family members through the years.

I Inspired Myself

Yes, after writing my page on Daylilies and looking through my old photos, what could I do? I was inspired to add new daylily cultivars to a couple areas of my garden.

I already had ‘Paper Butterfly’ with my ‘Diablo’ ninebark in the driveway beds, so when I came across ‘Salieri’ on sale, with its dark maroon red flowers and gleaming limegreen eye, it seemed as though it would add a dramatic note to the array of purple foliage.

The other varieties also discounted were ‘Endless Orange’ and ‘Pardon Me’ (another red, smaller and of a rosey shade), and they were added to the cart.

Normally I don’t like red shades of Hemerocallis. But I made exceptions, and think that the pairing with other colors and plants will make all the difference in my opinion.

And you, readers, do you you snap up sale plants? Then, go looking for a place to put them?

Already growing these midsummer bloomers, or thinking about it?