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Hello!
WELCOME TO DAYLILY E-NEWS, a free electronic newsletter brought to you by the American Hemerocallis Society, also known as AHS. Daylily E-News is for all who share an interest in daylilies, including members of the American Hemerocallis Society and other horticultural organizations, educators, garden writers, news media, and anyone who loves to garden.
Bobbie Brooks, a talented garden designer from Gloucester, Massachusetts, shares her ideas for designing with daylilies in mind. Her article is packed full of ideas to dream about and design next year's gardens.
Our featured photographer this issue is Susan Okrasinski from Kingsport, Tennessee. Susan says, "I have been growing daylilies for about 10 years. I am a retired teacher's aide. I enjoy photography and reading in addition to gardening. I am married and have one son. I am currently AHS Region 10's Publicity Director and I am a member of the Tri-Cities Daylily Society."
Be sure to click on the Facebook "like" button and share this issue with your friends!
If you are not yet a Daylily E-News subscriber, sign up via the link at the AHS website: Daylily E-News .
For much more about daylilies and daylily events, visit the AHS website (see QUICK LINKS on the sidebar).
You may unsubscribe from Daylily E-News at any time by clicking on SafeUnsubscribe, which you will find in each issue.
We hope you enjoy
Daylily E-News!
Elizabeth Trotter
E-News Editor |
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Thank you to our advertisers for sponsoring this issue of Daylily E-News! |
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HALLOWEEN CONTEST
on the AHS PORTAL
Visit the Youth Group at www.daylilynetwork.org to find the ghosts haunting the site for a chance to win HALLOWEEN TRICK (Salter 2005). All entries will be included in a drawing to be held November 30, 2013.
PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST
AHS Youth Photography Contest submission deadline is November 1. Details can be found on the AHS website: Youth Photo Contest
2013 National Youth
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Youth group with garden owner, Karol Emmerich, and Youth Chair, Kathy D'Alessandro |
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Daylilies are Music to Our Eyes!
by Bobbie Brooks
Are you, like me, an obsessed collector of the daylily blooms that make our summer gardens delectable? You ARE most likely a daylily fanatic, if you are reading this article! For sure, daylilies are "Music to Our Eyes" and make our hearts sing!
Often, innocent gardeners joyously start with adding a daylily or two to their cottage gardens. Then, the bug bites and the collection begins, often making daylilies the sole feature of the garden. The daylily addict is born. Kudos to us! Of these obsessed daylily collectors, some just plant them, willy nilly, in a bed, thinking how could they possibly not look good? Well, that is true. Others collect a single color, such as a cheerful array of yellow blooms. Some want blooms from early in the season, into the midseason, and extending into the late season. Some collect unusual forms; others miniatures, or tall varieties, or whatever their liking may be. But we all have something in common: We love our daylilies! |
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A collection of similar colors |
Once over the collecting stage, many gardeners start trying to place their collections in a pattern for their bloom display. THAT, to me, is when you become "hooked" in the realms of designing gardens around your daylily collection!
A few thoughts from a garden designer:
Daylilies are versatile and easy to care for, lending themselves to many different types of gardens. Some examples may be collections, mixed perennial borders, landscape plants, and interesting focal plants.
Think about how you can arrange your collection to show off each cultivar with surrounding blooms that enhance each other. At least think about using a tie-in color. Yellow becomes a cohesive binding color if placed repetitively. The same is true for burgundy. A repetitive color cohesively ties in a mixed bed of many colors, making an otherwise jumbled array more relaxing and palatable to view. Think: X a b c, X d e f , X g h i, X and so on. |
 | | Repetition of color |
- Plant a color theme. Like lavenders? Make a garden of them. Use all shapes, sizes, patterns and hues. I remember a presentation that Linda Agin, the late hybridizer from Alabama, shared of her red garden. It was quite striking and is still in my mind of one to create here. One day!
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 | | Lavender color theme |
- Group hot colors together: Orange, gold, burgundy, and red; or how about soothing pastels together: plum, purple, lavender, pink, and white. Well, why not make a whole bed of them? What this does is allow our eyes to "make music" and see harmony rather than just noise.
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 | | Hot color scheme |
- Make vignettes of perennials that feature your daylilies. Use the daylilies as the melodic summer jewels that other perennials and annuals support. The companion perennials add the harmony.
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 | | Gold daylilies enhanced by gold buttons of daisies |
- Make gardens of continuous seasonal color. Add daylilies that are early or late blooming, not just midseason. This will make for a long-blooming garden, and allow us to enjoy our gardens from spring to fall. In the southern or hotter areas, daylilies that repeat bloom are most welcome. In the north, where many do not repeat bloom, make sure to include extra early or late blooming cultivars. In a mixed border, add many other perennials that will bloom earlier or later in the season. Don't let your gardens become a flash of color in the summer with nothing but rough daylily foliage to look at in the surrounding seasons.
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 | | Mixed perennial border with daylilies |
Many of the newer daylily cultivars become "up-front and personal" flowers. They are the ones that we must view closely to enjoy all their unique characteristics. Stroll these collections to savor each bloom up close. Others, such as the solid selves, either tall, mid-height, or short, become the landscape colors that are appreciated from afar and interplanted amongst other perennials.
Consider the daylily shapes when planting. Are they round, husky blooms? Or are they delicate, thin and wispy? I have found that those that are thinner are better in mixed cottage borders. As well as waving in the breeze, they seem to be more proportionate to the other flowers. They also do not need deadheading as often. Use the substantial ones nearer the edge for easier deadheading.
Think of foliage, as well as blooms, as enhancing the perennial borders. Gardens need a mixed variety of foliage to make the garden interesting when not in bloom. Make use of spiky, mounded, or ferny foliage. Daylilies fall into the category of spiky. Hosta and upright sedum are examples of mounded foliage, and fern leaf coreopsis is an example of ferny/lacy foliage. |
 | | Yellow daylily with dwarf blue spruce and ornamental grass |
Lastly, you might want to consider the planting proportions in your mixed gardens. Those beds viewed from afar might need several of the same plant varieties planted together for impact. If they are planted among shrubs, the same will be the case. Those that are viewed close, those stars that feature the newer multi-eyes and edges, need not be planted in groups unless they are new, smaller plants: think proportion.
 | | This perennial border shows it all |
Above all, enjoy exploring how you might plant beds that are personal to you and your gardening style. Explore what can be done with your daylily collections!
Bobbie Brooks is the owner of Distinctive Garden Designs in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Her collection includes over 800 named, registered daylilies; 36 of her own introductions to date, and hundreds of new seedlings yearly, as well as various other perennials. See DistinctiveGardenDesigns.com and enjoy her daily Facebook contributions under the same name. She lectures internationally and offers PowerPoint presentations on garden design for clubs and homeowners.
lilylady@comcast.net
http://www.distinctivegardendesigns.com/
All photos are subject to copyright and may only be used with permission.
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| The American Hemerocallis Society, Inc., is a non-profit corporation organized exclusively for educational and scientific purposes, and especially to promote, encourage, and foster the development and improvement of the genus Hemerocallis and public interest therein. |
| AHS Daylily E-News Committee: Elizabeth Trotter (KY), Editor, E-News; Sue Bergeron (ON, Canada); Ken Cobb (NC); Julie Covington (VA); David Kirchhoff (KY); Nikki Schmith (IL); John Ware (VA). |
| Daylily E-News © 2013 by the American Hemerocallis Society, Inc. |
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Hemerocallis 'Halloween Masquerade' (Payne-L.H., 2003). Click photo for larger image. | | Locate an AHS group near you! | |
The American Hemerocallis Society is all about daylilies and people.
AHS is organized into 15 Regions including USA, Canada, and International designations. Each offers a variety of regional and local club daylily activities.
When people join AHS, they also become a member of the AHS Region in which they live. AHS Regions do not charge additional dues. Most AHS regions publish their own newsletter and mail it to all regional members at no extra charge. Members often participate in events outside their own region.
To learn about daylily activities and events near you, visit the webpage:
AHS Regional Activities
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'Masquerade in Color'
(Chandler, 2002). Click photo for larger image.
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Why Join AHS?
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Learn about daylilies.
Receive the quarterly publication, The Daylily Journal.
Receive a regional newsletter 2-3 times per year.
Enjoy a members-only social networking site with forums, blogs, calendars, and more.
Meet daylily growers and hybridizers.
Vote for favorite daylilies in the Popularity Poll.
Participate in daylily exhibitions.
Become an AHS Exhibition Judge.
Become an AHS Garden Judge.
Have an AHS Daylily Display Garden and/or AHS Historic Daylily Display Garden.
Attend daylily symposiums, garden tours, meetings, conventions, and more.
Participate in on-line discussion groups.
Join special interest snail-mail groups.
Become a better gardener.
Form friendships for life!
AHS members belong to one of 15 U.S./Canadian regions. Those outside the U.S. and Canada may join as International members. Over 180 local clubs form the backbone of every region, and you may find that one of them is near you. If not, meet with local gardeners and form a daylily club of your own!
It's easy to become a member. Just use this link: Join AHS
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Hemerocallis 'End of the Tunnel' (Williams-S., 2013). Click photo for larger image.
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What is the AHS Membership Portal? |
The AHS Membership Portal is a feature-rich website operated by AHS for the benefit of its members.
In 2013, the Portal has been completely redesigned for easier navigation and user convenience. A new tour of the Portal's features and benefits has been created by Portal Help Desk member Michael Bouman, with recorded narration for every slide. A video of the tour is available for people who don't have PowerPoint on their computer. Both the PowerPoint download and the streaming video are posted on the Portal's Help Page. (The "Help" button is located on the right side of the listing of drop-down buttons near the top of the page.) The Portal home page is located at www.daylilynetwork.org.
We hope members will take a look around the site to see the changes that have been made. If you are having a problem accessing any of the features, hit the "Contact Us" button at the very top row of buttons on the right of the page or click on the "Contact" button just to the left of "Help" in the row of buttons near the top.
If you are not a member of the AHS and are interested in joining, you can do it right from the home page noted above.
Want to learn more about the benefits of joining the AHS? Click on the "Membership" button near the top, pick "Join/Renew" from the drop-down menu, and then pick "Membership Benefits."
We hope you enjoy the new look of the site!
Mary Collier Fisher,
There is something for everyone on the AHS Membership Portal.
Discover it today!
Visit:
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SPELLING LESSON
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How to spell
"daylily"
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The word "daylily" is properly spelled as one word. Many of today's spellcheckers and media style books incorrectly use the old-fashioned spelling "day lily" instead. The single word has been the preferred spelling for decades. |
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Hemerocallis 'Halloween Magic' (Carpenter-J.,2005). Click photo for larger image. | |
What is a Daylily? | A daylily is an herbaceous perennial that will return year after year in a suitable climate. Some are evergreen and will retain their green foliage throughout the year in a mild climate.
Daylilies may be hardy or tender, depending on genetics, so gardeners should choose cultivars based on their local growing conditions
Daylilies belong to the genus Hemerocallis, from the Greek meaning "beauty for a day." A typical daylily bloom lasts for one day, but an established clump will produce many flowering scapes with plentiful buds that will produce a fresh flush of blooms over many days.
Daylilies do not form bulbs (as do members of the genus Lilium, otherwise known as "true" lilies).
Due to the distinctive characteristics of Hemerocallis, taxonomists have removed daylilies from the family Liliaceae and placed them in their own family Hemerocallidaceae.
Daylilies form a crown, with fibrous roots below and foliage and flowering scapes above. The daylily crown is the essential growth center of the plant. Neither true daylily root structures nor daylily foliage will grow without a piece of the crown.
Some daylilies form rhizomes - special underground structures with scales and internodes - that can produce new plants. The species or "wild" types often have this trait. Many modern hybrids do not form rhizomes, although there are some that do.
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Hemerocallis 'Indian Ripple' (Dougherty-H., 1997). Click photo for larger image.
For previous issues of DAYLILY E-NEWS visit the archives:
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Hemerocallis
'Autumn Romance' (Selman, 2007). Click photo for larger image. | |
Donations & Endowments | |
Have you told family and friends not to give you any more birthday presents because you don't need more stuff? Whether it's an anniversary, graduation, or other celebration, it's still nice to be remembered on a special occasion, so why not ask them to make a donation to the AHS in your name? With a minimum donation of $25, your name and that of the donor will appear in The Daylily Journal.
Donations can be made online using the AHS website, or by check. Make checks payable to the AHS and mail to:
Kathleen Schloeder,
Endowments Chair
2501 St. John Place
Alexandria, VA 22311
(703) 671-6635
endowments@daylilies.org |
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