They're cropping up each year in more perennial gardens. You know, daylilies. Maybe you're one of the people calling them tiger lilies (when Lilium lancifolium they're not). Or, like one of my friends, you call any yellow daylily "Stella De' Oro." No problem, you know what you like, by any name. Although not "true" lilies like the bulbous Lilium, daylilies or Hemerocallis are tuberous roots, which put them in a broad botanical group of "bulbs" (geophytes).

As hardy flowering perennials, daylilies enjoy great popularity in many growing zones. A search of the Web reveals over 150 daylily pages, from vendors to proud backyard gardeners sharing pictures of their favorites. The American Hemerocallis Society boasts thousands of members. The number of registered daylily varieties tops 40,000 due to work of professional and amateur hybridizers. There is no lack of interest in the Upstate NY region.

	We enjoy several AHS registered display gardens in the area, including: Ambleside Gardens, Fairport (Melodye Campbell) Karla Krogstad, Rochester Grace Gardens, Penn Yan (Tom & Kathy Rood) Cobbs Hill Daylily Garden, Rochester (Charlie Zettek) We will focus on Zettek's garden in this feature.
Lady Limelight

You get a sense of Charlie's focus on daylilies as you approach his Hillside Avenue house and see the number on the mailbox: One. Unlike some gardeners with several clumps of daylilies, daylilies dominate 1,000 square feet of his yard. Charlie started his daylily collection thirteen years ago with one variety. Presently he has approximately 250 varieties. I spent an afternoon in that garden, learning about his collection and techniques. The garden holds not only a variety of colors, but a cross-section of seasonality and plant size. By growing varieties with different bloom seasons, Charlie enjoys flowers from June through August. The beds are laid out by bloom season. In that way, there will be no mix of dead scapes and blooms in an area.

The bloom seasons are early, mid-season, and late; there are gradations within each growing zone or micro-climate. In Rochester, the early season yields June blooms, the peak of mid-season is the middle of July, and a late season extends from the end of July to the second week of August. The word Hemerocallis comes from two Greek words meaning "beauty" and "day," due to the fact that each flower lasts only one day. But many buds on multiple scapes produce daily flowers for three to four weeks during the aforementioned seasons.

Seasonality is but one of the factors in describing a daylily variety. There are a number of sizes of plants. Some of the small flowers or color patterns can only be enjoyed close-up. Others are striking enough so that the clump can be at a distance across the yard. In descriptions of varieties, size refers to flowers, so that a "miniature" has a small blossom. But one must also know the size of the scape (stem), given as the height.

White Temptation

A further variable is the time of day for bloom. Nocturnals open in the early morning and are ideal for those gardeners who view their daylilies on the way to work. Other varieties need more light and heat before opening in the afternoon and are better suited for those relaxing in the garden after work. Because of the single day of bloom, daylily scapes are not that popular as cut flowers.