Delightful daylilies

Fickle Lady

Sue Gebicki

TWENTY YEARS ago, I ordered a handful of daylilies from the mainland. I found them to be very easy to care for, and they travelled happily in pots when I moved to Birralee.

There I set up a temporary garden, and spent much time learning more about them and exploring the huge range that has been propagated in the USA, where they are very popular.

So began an obsession with the purchase of hundreds more from the mainland, and developing my own breeding plans, aiming for plants that are more suited to Tasmanian conditions than the warmer climates from which most cultivars available in Australia originated.

The original species of day- lilies, Hemerocallis, grow in China, Korea and Japan. Most are yellow, but some have a brownish colour.

Brought to Europe in the 1850s, then later to the USA, it wasn’t until the early 1900s that species hybridisation produced new colours and forms.

By 1938 daylily colours had expanded to pink, red and purple, petals were wider and ruffled edges were appearing.

In the 1960s, increased knowledge of genetics and manipulation of chromosomes gave richer colours, new patterns, distinctive eyes and edges, resistance to sun, diseases and insects, and greater stamina.

Daylily clubs formed across North America and Europe, and the American Hemerocallis Society was registering hundreds of new cultivars. Today there are hundreds of thousands.

Daylilies are very easy to care for, and when necessary can survive drought and bushfires, springing back when good conditions return. Given extra pampering, they will reward with greater growth and flushes of beautiful flowers.

I grow mine organically. The only fertilizers used are pel- letised chicken manure, horse manure, blood and bone and sulphate of potash. Daylilies prefer a pH of 6–7 so I have to lime my very acid soil. They readily grow in any soil type.

Flowering occurs at different times of the growing season for each cultivar. They are classified as flowering extra early, early, mid or late, and some produce a second flush of flowers. They are limited by the length of the growth season, but even Canadians with only three warm months a year have managed to develop free flowering plants.

Daylilies are also classified according to their foliage habit, which is evergreen,semi-evergreen or dormant. Evergreens perform much better in warm climates, dormant in cold, although all three grow well here.

We live at the bottom of a valley, so every, evening cold air descends from on high and sits all night. Frost is guaranteed if the predicted minimum temperature for Deloraine is 4°C.

The plants don’t suffer at all. If damaged by frost, the flowering spikes (scapes) will lose flowers. They can be protected from all but the very worst of frosts by covering them.

Another problem on cold mornings is that some flowers refuse to open, or the petals don’t fully unfurl. I am trying to breed plants that flower later in the season when there is little risk of frost, and for flowers that open on cold mornings.

Daylilies gained their name from their habit of each flower only opening for one day. Modern plants produce flowers copiously, so flowers can present continuously for up to six weeks. Some plants have flowers that last for two days.

Flowers shapes range from spiders with long, thin petals, to fully rounded petals. Some have ruffled edges, some toothed, and some are bearded. There are doubles and polypetals which have four or more petals. They can be any colour except blue, although some now have blue eyes.

I have found my plants to be relatively pest and disease free. Some are affected by a fungus called leaf streak, which discolours the leaves but doesn’t seem to harm the plant overall.

In early spring they are attacked by aphids, but I grit my teeth and ignore them as I have found that the lady- bird population builds up very quickly, feasting on the aphids.

We don’t have big problems that the mainland and North America have – spring rot and rust. Hopefully our excellent quarantine service will keep us rust free. Do be warned though – wallabies love them!

Cherry Eyed Pumpkin

Daylilies on display in Sue Gebicki’s Birralee garden.

Photos supplied