Dreaming of Daylilies
And so begins another season of daylilies. Early varieties are in bloom and hundreds of scapes foretell of another wonderful daylily season. One of the first to bloom is the species daylily commonly known as the Lemon Lily. Rather plain compared to today’s flashy hybrids, it is simple yet elegant. The next to appear in my garden is an older variety Butterscotch Ruffles with it’s lovely butterscotch yellow flowers. Pennysworth is a dwarf daylily with charming little yellow flowers. In the railway garden, it grows amongst some self-sown flax and the pastel yellows and blues contrast beautifully. The foliage only grows about ten inches tall so just when you think you don’t have room for any more daylilies, you’ll be able to squeeze in one or two Pennysworth. It’s reliable, hardy and reblooms, making it a wonderful landscaping daylily, too. Of course, there’s also Stella D’Oro and Mini Stella, both great plants but perhaps a bit overexposed. Let’s leave it at that. In the back garden, the first to bloom is Itsy Bitsy Spider, another yellow flower (why are all the early daylilies yellow?). This little gem quickly develops into a large clump and sends up numerous scapes which wave above the foliage. As I’m partial to spiders, this is a favourite of mine. Raspberry Pixie sports raspberry flowers on a medium sized plant. What the flowers may lack in size, they make up for with a wonderful fragrance. Curls diminutive flowers are described in the books as tangerine or peach but a more accurate description would be a milky custard yellow. I love it. The most recent bloomer is Inner View, pictured here. Introduced in 1982, Inner View has large lavender-cream triangular blooms with a pale yellow throat, a very pretty view indeed. Painted Lady dates back over sixty years but still deserves a place in the garden with her light orange flowers with a underlying hint of gold. And lastly, nocturnal May May glows in the garden with palest yellow, almost white, flowers. And this is only the beginning! Roll on July!
Copyright Anne Corke 2012
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