The first homesteaders didn't have much time to fuss with flowers. The
ones they did plant needed simple beauty and rock hardiness. Daylilies
were a logical choice, the lemon (yellow) and the tawny (orange) were
popular farmyard plantings and soon spread to line country roads.
Grandma called them "ditch lilies;" they were "road lilies" to my
father. Those fancy ones we buy at garden centers and admire along
interstate highways arrived by a different route.
In 1965, as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's "Great Society,"
Congress passed the Highway Beautification Act. What came to be known as
"Lady Bird's Bill" promoted among other things, the planting of flowers
along the nation's highways. The First Lady believed that a more
beautiful country could calm people and bring them together during the
period of Viet Nam and Civil Rights.
Thirty years later, the Governor of North Carolina proclaimed 1995 "The
Year of the Daylily" and masses of them were planted along highways
throughout the state. He stated, "Daylilies add to the natural beauty of
our state and play an important role in preventing soil erosion." He
listed a dozen important social, economic and cultural attributes
associated with the "Swiss army knife of the plant kingdom."
Bill Johnson, head of North Carolina's Roadside Environmental Unit of
the Department of Transportation, states, "Mowing and maintaining grass
is expensive. We're constantly looking for grass substitutes. What you
don't see when you pass those beautiful flower beds is the constant
research to find the most inexpensive yet effective way of reducing
costs to the taxpayer."
Daylilies are classified in the genus Hemerocallis, derived from two
Greek words meaning "beautiful for a day," referring to the approximate
life span of an individual flower. However, a single plant may produce
20 to 40 flowers in a period that lasts up to five weeks.
To plant a new daylily, in loosened soil dig the hole slightly larger
than the root mass, make a mound in the center, then set the plant on
the mound, spreading the roots out and down. Cover the roots with soil
to the crown (the point where the roots meet the base of the plant).
Water it in well.
Allow about two feet of space around each plant. While most plants will
bloom the first year, the flower will not really show its true color or
size until the second.
Daylilies are easily propagated by division. Clumps should be divided
every 4 to 6 years. Dig the plant and look for clumping of leaves into
what are known as "fans." Cut the plant into sections so each new piece
has at least one strong fan. Replant the fans as soon as possible to
keep the roots from drying out.
A.B. Stout is considered the "father of the modern daylily." His
extensive breeding programs started in the 1920s and resulted in some
50,000 crosses and hundreds of thousands of seedlings.
Today's daylilies come in most colors, from rich vibrant red, to pink,
lavender, royal purple, white, and even black. There are also bicolor
daylilies and ones with halos, "eyes" and other distinctive markings.
Not only has the color range been extended, but the shape and size of
the bloom also; including circular, star-shaped, spider types, trumpet,
recurved and double. We now can select from early, midseason and
late-blooming cultivars, those that bloom at night, those that re-bloom
later in the summer, and even some with fragrance.
If you would like to follow in the footprints of a true pioneer and
create a completely new variety of a living thing, the daylily is
relatively easy to hybridize.
First you need to know whether your chosen parents are diploid or
tetraploid. Most tags will indicate a tetraploid by the use of an
asterisk before the cultivar name. You can only breed a dip to a dip and
a tet to a tet.
At the center of the flower are typically six stamens and one pistil
(they should be easy to identify - there's 6 of one and only 1 of the
other). The powdery substance at the ends of the stamens is the pollen.
Simply take it from one flower and place it on the tip of the pistil of
the other flower. Some people pick the whole stamen with pollen attached
and brush it across the top of the pistil; others use a Q-Tip™ or
artist's brush.
The best time of day to do this is just after the pollen has dried and
become fluffy, usually about mid-morning. The later in the day you apply
the pollen, the less your chances are for successful pollination.
You may want to keep records of the crosses you make to help identify
what works and what doesn't. When marking your crosses, the first name
is the pod parent and the second name is pollen parent. For example,
"Clementella" X "August Pioneer", means the pollen of "August Pioneer"
was used on "Clementella" to form a seedpod.
Let the bloom from the pollen parent fall off on its own accord. If the
cross was successful, there will be a tiny green pod right at the spot
where the flower was attached. This pod contains the seeds and will
continue to grow during the next few weeks.
The seeds will take 40 and 60 days to mature to the point where they can
be harvested. You can tell when it's time to harvest, the seed pods will
begin to split open. Squeeze the pod gently to see if it is ready to
split. If the seeds are harvested too early they might not germinate.
Remove the seeds from the pods and let them air dry overnight. Then
plant or store in air tight containers-Ziplock™ bags or 35mm film
canisters work well-in the refrigerator.
Modern homesteaders may have an easier life than those in the past but
time is still valuable; a beautiful flower that doesn't demand a lot of
care can leave time for exploring facets of gardening once reserved for
botanists.