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| The Variety ‘How Beautiful Heaven Must Be’ grown and entered by Susan Stowe of Topsfield, MA at the American Hemerocallis Society summer exhibition held at Tower Hill Botanic Garden. It’s easy to see why they call all of this ruffling, “pie crust edging” |
Across America Daylilies are again, taking the gardening world by storm (OK, well, at least the Stella’d’Oro kind is!), but there is so much more to the Daylily world – Today I attended the New England Daylily Society annual show held at the Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, MA. and was so impressed with the displays that I took enough photos fill my flash drive.
Find out why I made my iPhoto crash, below (Fair warning- go freeze your credit card, now).
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| CLOCKWISE, ‘Pandora’s Treasure’, grown and exhibited by Susan Stowe, Topsfield, MA; ‘Rainbow Radiance’ grown and exhibited by Paul Tarmasewicz, of Westminster, MA; ‘Cinderella’s Dark’ grown and exhibited by Paul Tarmasewicz, Westminster, MA; ‘Radiant Ruffles’ grown and exhibited by Steven H. Greene, of Sudbury, MA. |
If you live in New England, the show continues until Sunday, but hey, these are ‘day’ lilies, so I can’t guarantee that all of the varieties will have open blossoms tomorrow! Still, attending a local Daylily or Hemerocallis Society show is by far one of the best ways to pick out new varieties for your home garden. Clubs are held across the country, so look now for your local society, and see when their show is. Members are very friendly, and generally attendance is low so the welcome newbies! Guests are always welcome – and bring your camera or cell phone to capture the names of your fav’s. Seeing a cherry-pink next to a strawberry pink form with an eye, can make all of the difference in the world. Here are some of my favorites that I saw today:
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| Visiting Daylily shows in July and August offers a great opportunity to see both new varieties, some even not named yet, and classic show-worthy introductions that might be difficult to find at garden centers. Members simply know what the good varieties are, so be sure to bring your phone or your notepad. |
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| The diversity is amazing at these shows. This spider form was enormous, almost dinner-plate sized while little, tiny miniatures had blossoms no larger than a golf ball. |
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| ‘Angel Rogers’, a nice eyed and ruffled Daylily. The color is off, due to the lighting, but it was a perfect pink. |
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| All ages enjoyed the show. |
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| I have to admit the eyed daylilies remain by favorite.
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What simply gorgeous varieties. I inherited lilies when I bought my house a couple years ago. I wouldn't mind adding to the mix.
love the colors, not so sure about the tortured forms. but change is always hard……always nostalgic for the kinds of lilies that appeared in that john singer sargeant painting.
Ooh. Have to admit, I can't stand daylilies. But some of those are gorgeous – I love dark-colored flowers. Shows are always nice because you're introduced to such a wide variety that you wouldn't come across elsewhere.
Shows are not the only way to see daylilies: there are numerous sales gardens.
I keep a map of New England Daylily Sales Gardens.
Almost all sales gardens are managed by friendly people, who will advise you on which are the best for your purposes from their own experience. Some have as many as 3000 varieties on display, roughly 10 times as many as were in the show. In general, you point to the daylilies you want and they are dug for you on the spot.
The next two weeks are the peak season for daylilies, but you will find varieties that bloom through the end of August and into September.
Thanks Mike, for reminding me. As you know, that is another way in which I add to my collection – seeing the plants in-bloom, in the field offers far many opportunities to see the entire character of the plants – bud count, scape height, branching, volume, color, aspect – it truly is the best way to evaluate a plant for your garden.
I just found your Blog. Saw the daylily so had to read more. Great photo. I have hybridized over 450 day lilies. Am only a novice at this but do enjoy creating things that never existed before. I have posted some on my blog that you can find in the archives. Newest ones just started blooming this week. Living here on the shores of Lake Michigan must be one of the perfect places for the lilies. They love it here. Well, so do I. I often have the lake as a backdrop to my garden photos. JC
I have a new appreciation for daylilies, after they survived being drowned in briny soil from 2 hurricanes in a row. I've never seen them bigger and more floriferous than this year, when most of my coastal garden was reduced to dead twigs.