Daylilies with Yarrow
Last fall, I decided that I wanted to give it a try to grow daylilies in my garden. With partial sun/shade throughout, these hardy flowers might be just the ticket for flower-drama without much high maintenance demands. I ordered several species online, and picked up a couple locally, and crossed my fingers. Advised by everyone in the know, I only purchased Evergreen varieties, which withstand the heat better than dormant varieties.
It seems to be working so far! Today I counted 16 new flowers, of over 7 different species. And many species still have buds that I haven’t seen yet. Recently, I had the chance to visit a daylily garden in North Austin, that contained over 800 varieties of daylilies (I can’t imagine keeping those straight). While it was gorgeous to witness, the most exciting thing I learned from the visit was observing the amount of shade the grower had in his yard, and how well his plants were doing. I believe I might have chosen the right plant for flowering in my back yard.
By far the most prolific in my garden so far has been Byzantine Beauty, a huge flower almost 6″ across when unfolded. Below, it begins to open after the lovely rain (yes, real rain!) the other day.
Byzantine Beauty
These less-than-one-year-old plants still have plenty of buds to go.
Byzantine Beauty
While a slightly smaller flower, Beyond Riches (below) has gorgeous dusty coloration that works well with Byzantine Beauty. It is slightly less prolific, but perhaps it gets a bit less sun where it is planted. As much as I like this flower, I believe I’ll move it in the fall.
Beyond Riches
In a different bed, Mango Mango is sometimes a double-flower Daylily and sometimes not.
Mango Mango
After it bloomed, I realized the color of Mango Mango goes perfectly with my Souvenir de Bonn Abutilon, and once it is finished flowering, it will get moved closer to her in the fall.
Mango Mango
Souvenir de Bonn Abutilon
A new purchase from the daylily garden I visited, this Chevron Spider isn’t planted yet but still puts on a show. Its coloring will complement the new Marilyn’s Choice Abutilon that hasn’t begun to flower. They will be planted together also.
Chevron Spider
Another spider species, Heavenly Breezes hasn’t flowered extensively, but I enjoy the few blooms it has had so far. Again, it is in more shade and probably would like a bit more sun. This plant probably gets less than 2 hours of sun a day, so the fact that it blooms at all is amazing.
Heavenly Breezes
And I’m not sure why (It must have made sense at the time), but I bought more of Princess Ellen than any other variety. While beautiful, I could have mixed it up a bit more. Since it is very prolific and happy, I’ll be moving some of the plants to surround the Pink Sunburst Canna. The warm pinks of the two will work nicely together.
Princess Ellen
A view of the bed; again, this bed was created only last fall, so I’m very pleased with the amount of blooms I’m getting on such young plants.
In the front yard, with only slightly more sun, these two dwarf (less than 18″) daylilies were purchased locally at Natural Gardener.
Dwarf Stella D'Oro
These two are planted together and complement my purple and yellow color scheme in the front of the house.
Little Grapette
I still have several species left to open. Many of you wanted to know how my varieties were going to work out, so keep watching and I’ll let you know as they show up. Thanks for visiting. To those in Chicago today for Spring Fling, have fun and take many pictures!
I leave you with one last look at Byzantine Beauty.
Byzantine Beauty
Visiting your daylily garden was fun, Robin! Philo and I also went to the open Daylily Garden and ever since seeing your tweet that you and Diana visited the garden earlier that day, I’d been wondering what your Hem-babies looked like. They’re beautiful and it’s easy to see why you like the Byzantine Beauty. Heavenly Beauty is quite striking! The open garden had so many kinds open at once that the abundance almost made me dizzy.
I used to grow 50 kinds in Illinois but have been very restrained for nearly a decade in Texas. The ‘Devonshire’ bought at the Daylily Society show brings my total to 8 kinds. And I still want a lemon yellow spider! Bet you will not stop at 7 kinds.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Sorry we missed seeing ya’ll at the show, Annie. And I actually do already have more than 7 kinds; I have at least 5 more varieties that haven’t bloomed yet. I saw a lemon yellow spider for sale in the morning at the show; perhaps it was gone by the time you arrived.
What a spectacular display of blooms! I especially love the photos taken while the raindrops were still clinging to the flowers.
Nola, I was just grateful that there WERE raindrops, believe me. And I am excited to have found a flower that seems to like my garden so far. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
I can’t decide which variety I like the best! But I think your color combos with the canna and abutilon are going to end up being really striking. I’m going to have to keep the sun/shade thing in mind and see if I can find a few daylilies to work in my yard, too. So far I just have my ditch lily and a non-evergreen yellow daylily I got somewhere years ago. It’s already flowered and done, but considering the shade it’s in and how little I water it, I’m amazed it’s survived this long!
I hope the color combos work out, too, Lori. And if all goes well, I’ll have daylilies to share!
I really enjoyed seeing your daylily garden. We have a few in our garden, and my favorite (which you can see on my blog in the photo album “My Garden”) is similar to some of yours. You will get a lot of happiness from the choices you made, I’ll bet. I hope so.
Thanks for visiting, I’ll check out your blog as well.
Wow Robin, you really had a day lily splurge. They are gorgeous and I love those spidery ones. Have never seen them before. Where is this daylily garden you talk about? I hope you manage to keep their names in order. I have completely lost all mine except for one called “tiny pumpkin”
Jenny, the gardens had a one-day open house last Saturday. I believe the owner is the head of the local chapter of the Daylily Society. As far as my IDs go, one of the companies I ordered from accompanies all their plants with an engraved metal tag that I put beside each plant. Otherwise, no way could I remember!
Lovely daylilies. And what great pictures you take.
My daughter-in-law and I went to that show, too. So many beautiful blooms.
Welcome to Austin/Wimberley, Linda. I notice you have a great many daylilies yourself. Thanks for stopping by.
Robin, I love those two spider forms and the Mango Mango is gorgeous as well. I’m adding them to my list! The bed along my north facing garage wall is the “official” daylily bed and gets lots of sun but I’m starting to add them back into the garden in other areas. You’ve encouraged me to try them in shadier areas. I do know that those with purple blooms don’t fade as much in shade.
Cindy, those are some of my favorites, too. You might want to consider adding Byzantine Beauty, though, because it is still blooming and full of buds. It is, by far, the most prolific bloomer in the yard and the blooms are almost 6″ across. I’m definitely pleased with that purchase.
Robin, your lily blooms (and photos) are gorgeous. I only have 3 different daylilies. After seeing your post, I’ve decided I must have more.
Renee, I can’t say enough good things about the Byzantine Beauty. It is STILL in full blooming, with more buds coming. The blooms are easily 6″ and gorgeous. It was the best purchase of all the ones I bought. I have more pictures to post of some that have bloomed since that post as well. I bought most of them online at http://daylilyflower.com/. Great plants, and a surprise gift plant with your order. Good luck!
Thanks for your visit to Hill Country House today! Yes, I am aware of the Homestead stores in Hico – they are great, aren’t they? Your flowers are absolutely beautiful! I think I like the Little Grapette – maybe because of it’s deep rich color. Gorgeous photos!
Hi, Ann, thanks for visiting. Little Grapette is a cutie, I agree. I found the Hico stores on the way to visit my dad in that part of Texas. What a thrill to find two of my favorite stores relocated in that tiny town.
I think you need to decide that you really don’t like those spider day lilies and give them to me! They are so exotic and beautiful in both shape and color. I have lily envy!
Diana, (crossing fingers), hopefully I’ll have some to share if they grow well. It’s funny, many people love the spider daylilies the most, but I love the double ones the most. I have to admit, though, that the spider one I got with you on the trip to the daylily garden is a pretty cool one.