Dazzling daylilies

It’s peak daylily season in the Genus garden at the moment.  Daylilies (Hemerocallis), are reliable rhizomatous perennial plants that bulk up quickly providing newly planted borders with rapid cover.  Hemerocallis is a Greek word comprising two parts: hemera meaning day and kallos meaning beauty, getting this name from the flowers that only last one day.

Interestingly all parts of the plant are edible.  The flowers are good for adorning salads but the roots can be boiled and eaten and the young leaf shoots sautéd in butter and garlic.  Their rapid growth brings the need for control and the clumps are easily divided with a spade or fork in the late autumn and shared with friends or spread to other spots in the garden.  Being vigorous growers we always like to feed them well with a thick layer of homemade compost applied in the autumn.

We have an orange flowered species known as Hemerocallis fulva but with nearly 20 pages devoted to them in the RHS Plantfinder and with almost any colour a possibility we suggest you spend some time researching the best variety to suit your personal preference and colour scheme.  Pure white ‘Gentle Shepherd, ruby-red ‘Mallard’ with hints of gold and the amazing black ‘Longfield’s Black Magic’ are on our list as additions to our garden next year.