MAY IS FOR DAYLILIES

With June fast approaching I realize I have not given my day lilies their moment of glory. Between the rain drops, and there have been many, there have been abundant blooms. This is partly due to the fact that last year I did some moving around, ridding the area of nut grass and transplanting some shorter varieties from the back garden to the front.
 The roadside lily, Hemerocallis fulva, was the first to bloom. A pass-along from a garden friend, this lily was introduced into the USA from China in the 1800s. Little did they know how they would eventually run amok in the ditches along US roads. They are quite tall and will need to be moved further back in the fall and I will keep my eye on them knowing my proclivity for plants that take over.

My other daylilies came from a colleague of David. We went down to Gonzales in 2000 to visit his ranch where he was breeding daylilies. I came home with a bag containing 5 different varieties and, as we were only just starting the garden, I put them in the only two places where we had soil in raised beds. One in the front and one the back, and there they stayed for all these years.

They had kindly written out the names and descriptions of the different ones. Where is that paper now I wonder? It was in the potting shed for a long time but must have been thrown out at some point (not I) so the only one I remember is Hemerocallis "Tiny Pumpkin" This was long before I started to write about my garden and even before digital cameras so I wasn't really into the naming game.

Arising from strappy, evergreen leaves the flowers are a pumpkin/apricot color. It is considered one of the shorter varieties with a maximum height of 18" so works well in the front of the bed.

But there the naming ends.

I don't really have a favorite, but I do like this wine colored one, not only because of its color  but because it is short and can be placed at the front of the bed. I divided and moved it from the back garden to the second tier of the front courtyard bed in the fall.

Behind is a peachy lily with a green throat, which is slightly taller.

It's easy to see why gardeners fall in love with the day lily family. I once went on the Austin Daylily tour. One garden had nothing but daylilies. Too many varieties to count. The couple who had collected them were moving away as it was becoming just too hot in Austin. I wonder what happened to their collection? I'm betting they took some with them.
And finally a daylily to brighten any corner of the garden with its canary yellow bloom.