Daylilies in the Heartlands

Hemerocallis or better known as daylilies are the plants every gardener dreams of. They offer outstanding flowers in every shade except blue. The individual flowers blooms last only for a day, but the flowering periods is long season of blooming time.

You can enjoy years of beauty in your garden with a minimum of effort due to the robust disposition that make daylilies easy to transplant and maintain. They are quick to multiply and grow vigorously. Planted together in large numbers they quickly crowd out weeds and make a carefree and colorful ground cover with minimum amount of pests. Among the miracles of modern breeding are tetraploid daylilies, which have double the normal chromosomes. They have larger flowers with heavier texture and more blooms per stem over a longer period. Also, the miniature daylilies are a must for the world of perennials. They too, require very little maintenance and are a perfect accent in the garden and flourish in a wide range of soils.

Through the course of the winter months I searched the internet for information on daylilies, due to the fact that this spring I wanted to start my first daylily bed. With the help of friends on the Garden Web Exchange I was able to trade for a variety of daylilies, such as Chicago Royal Robe, Peppermint Patty, Ice Carnival and American Revolution, to name a few.

I also went to visit with Pat Underwood a friend of mine. She is plant manager of Sam Hill Gardens in Malcolm, Nebraska. Pat and her husband have a mail order and retail nurserey which specializes in hybrid daylilies. They offer reliable, older cultivars at a reasonable price with personal service. Their gardens are inspected annually by the State of Nebraska Department of Agriculture. All of their cultivars are grown in outdoor beds where they experience the full extent of Nebraska weather. It's interesting because Malcolm, Nebraska is a town of only two hundred people and Pat has approximately two hundred cutivars growing. I thought that was quite coincidental. Not all of her cultivars are for sale; some are used for evaluation purposes. If you are ever in the area of Malcom stop by Pat's daylily gardens. She is located only fifteen miles west of Lincoln, Nebraska on U.S. Highway 34 on Northwest 112th street at 9405 NW 112TH. They will be having a Daylily Festival on July 12, 1998 from 2 to 5 p.m. You will be able to view hundreds of blooms in a variety of forms, sizes and colors--all in a park-like setting. They will have demonstrations on dividing daylily clumps, proper planting techniques and you will gain a vast amount of knowledge, like I did while visiting with Pat at her daylily nursery.

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