Daylilies for Days!
Whatever size or sizes suit your garden, daylilies offer something for every need. The following favorites adapt well to a variety of soil types and moisture levels, and they flourish in zones 3 through 9. Maximize bloom quantity and quality by planting daylilies where they’ll receive full sun. For extra flower power, deadhead spent blooms, then kick back and enjoy the fun.
Dwarf Daylilies
Call them dwarf or compact, small daylilies that stay near 12 to 18 inches tall are perfect for front-of-the-border plantings, edgings or masses of color and foliage tucked in foundation plantings. These compact varieties hit about mid-calf or slightly higher and offer attractive foliage, form and flowers:
Left: Mini Stella Daylily, right: Pardon Me Daylily
The diminutive Mini Stella daylily is small on size but big on blooms, with lavish golden yellow blossoms that run from June into September. Pardon Me daylily, widely considered one of the best in the compact class, blooms from June through August. Its dark cranberry-red flowers have a golden yellow eye and yellow green throat.
Mid-Size Daylilies
For mid-border highlights and spots that call for a little extra oomph, mid-size daylilies fit the bill. These varieties provide color, beauty and blooms that reach between 18 and 24 inches high, striking just above the knees:
Left: Stella D'Oro Daylily, top right: Going Bananas Daylily, bottom right: Purple D'Oro Daylily
Stella d’Oro daylily, arguably the most popular daylily of all time, offers abundant golden yellow blooms that cover these dependent performers from May until October. Even without flowers, which isn’t often, the uniform foliage adds to Stella’s beauty. Purple d’Oro daylily brightens gardens from June to September with violet-purple blooms. Deep purple venation accentuates the slightly ruffled petals and complements the flower’s golden throat.
One season and you’ll understand why Going Bananas daylily got its name. Masses of soft, creamy yellow blooms, held just above the foliage, blanket these mid-size plants non-stop from June to September each year.
Full-Size Daylilies
When your garden calls for added height and heightened drama, full-size daylilies answer the call for both. These varieties offer fountains of foliage and blooms that top out near mid-thigh or higher:
Left: Strawberry Candy Daylily, right: Chicago Apache Daylily
Strawberry Candy daylily has beautiful strawberry-pink petals with ruffled, red-tinged edges, plus a raspberry red eye and golden throat. This designer daylily flowers from June to September. Chicago Apache daylily, 28 inches tall when mature, glows with deep scarlet red. The large, ruffled blooms have yellow-green throats and appear from June to August.
With dependable daylilies in your garden, you’ll enjoy their low-maintenance beauty while summer’s lazy days roll on.
Contact Story Landscaping, LLC for all your planting needs and landscaping designs.
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