My name is Diana Johnson. I garden in Salt Lake City, Utah, in Zone 5b. We live at 4,300 feet with hot, dry summers and cold, snowy winters. GPOD has helped sustain me through several long winter mornings, but this is my first submission. My first serious garden began 25 years ago in our home near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Zone 7b. We’ve made several moves since then, each time learning to adjust to new conditions: soil type, pH, temperature, humidity, and pests. It’s been a true learning experience, at times frustrating, but always exciting. I have gardened at our current home for close to four years. Our last move brought us from a totally undeveloped 1-acre plot of newly reclaimed farm land with no shade, to a quarter-acre suburban yard with two very large shade trees. The one constant in our gardens has been daylilies (Hemerocallis, Zones 3–9), and this year has been a banner year. Plants have moved with us from our last two gardens, and most were planted in 2017. I’m including a number of my favorites in this post.
Daylily ‘Hyperion’, an old dependable standby. It is a midseason bloomer that looks like a field full of sunshine.
This beauty came to me many years ago from an old-time daylily grower. I have no idea what it’s name is, but it’s a treasure.
‘Lullaby Baby’ is smaller in stature, about 19 inches tall, but beautiful en masse and a great front-of-the-border plant. Its petals are a soft light peach, dusted with sparkles, with ruffled edges. It’s outside my front door, where I can see it every day.
We didn’t plant our garden specifically for pollinators, but hummingbirds and bees of all sorts love it. This bee is already covered with pollen and is going in for more in this ‘Hyperion’ bloom.
The front left flowers are ‘Fairy Tale Pink’, an early midseason rebloomer and another good front-of-the-border choice. It is a bit taller and larger than ‘Lullaby Baby’, with pinky peach petals and a green throat. In the background are more ‘Hyperion’, a pink Bonica rose (roses are my other flower obsession), and a ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius, Zones 3–7). I can’t remember the variety.
The name says it all: ‘Primal Scream’. Medium tall, it has large, brilliant flowers.
This yellow spider-form daylily is always the first to bloom in my garden, a true harbinger of spring. It is another gift of unknown name.
There’s no daylily in this photo, but a happy hummingbird on a zinnia (Zinnia elegans, annual).
‘Fairy Tale Pink’ daylily with a backdrop of Rainbow Marcella Echinacea (Zones 4–9)
‘Condilla’ is a superstar daylily. It is medium tall, with double gold flowers that bloom and bloom. Note the bee in the center of this photo.
‘Peek-a-boo’. This is a small daylily in its first year. I had only one flower, but it’s a true treasure that I can hardly wait to see all grown up.
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Comments
Congratulations. Lovely images, and some great day lily varieties!
I saw some old friends among your daylily selections (Fairy Tale Pink, Hyperion and Lullaby Baby) as well as a couple new ones that would be impossible to ignore...ha, 'Primal Scream'...now there's a name! Your photos with the winged visitors are particularly delightful.
These are really some beauties. I've just put in a small area of daylilies. I gave up on them a number of years ago since we are inundated with deer and well, they do have an appetite for daylilies. We put in an 8 foot fence just last summer and so daylilies are an option once again. These are really lovely varieties and I may have to invest in a couple of them to add to my new beginnings here.
The American Daylily Society (Daylilies.org) likely has a club nearby. Come to 2021 Ntl Convention in Mississippi in May. I've got a sis in Sandy,Ut and have offered to give her Daylilies, she alludes to rabbits and deer although the yard is fenced. Oh well, not a 'real gardener' I guess. Now I may submit some as well for "oogaling" I've got 500+, judge flower shows and gardens with them! Keep em comin'!
Spectacular photographs of your Daylilies with the hummingbird and the bee! Must be hard moving and learning all over again about a new planting zone, but looks like you have it all figured out!
Daylilies never fail to make people happy - so many colors, shapes, sizes! Yours are wonderful and the photos are terrific - thank you for sharing!
I adore daylillies & it’s a good thing ! Because they spread like wildfire in a few years & have to be thinned out. Then - I found out you can eat them !!! Amazing!!! Luckily, I have plenty of room for them. And it’s guiltless - due to being edible. Enjoyed your post of fancy pants daylillies!!! They’re gorgeous!!!!
Really beautiful! Obviously you are a very talented photographer and gardener! Lovely!
Hi Diana...love your daylilies. I’m also a day lily enthusiast and a native Carolinian. The bee covered with pollen is wonderful. First time I’ve seen a picture of one with the pollen. See you captured a hummingbird in one of the pics too. Hope you’ll send more pics. Really enjoyed these. Thanks for sharing!
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