Daylilies: Lost Forever?

Thousands of yellow daylilies have come and gone, but ‘Hyperion’ endures. Its fragrance, carefree vigor, and classic, lily-like flowers make it the only daylily from the early 1900s that’s still widely grown today. Indiana-bred and winner of an RHS AGM, it’s named for the Titan father of the sun god. 4 feet, zones 4a-8b(10bWC), Missouri. Last offered in spring 2009. Widely available elsewhere.

“Did you see that?” everyone asked when this unusual daylily first bloomed here in our trial garden. With its long, thin, curling petals, a clump in bloom may remind you of fireworks bursting in the summer sky. A landmark daylily, it was the first “spider,” a form that’s now in vogue after decades of scorn. 24-36”, mid-summer blooming, deciduous, zones 4a-8b(10bWC), from Missouri. Last offered in 2019. We offer a rotating selection of daylilies. If you’d like to be notified the next time we offer this treasure, sign up for an email alert.

With three sets of petals tucked neatly inside one another, this opulent daylily is quirky enough to appeal to Victorian gardeners yet “handsome” enough (to quote taste-maker Louise Beebe Wilder in 1916) to earn it a leading role in the sumptuous Red Borders at England’s famous Hidcote Gardens. 36-40”, early summer blooming, deciduous, zones 4a-8b(10bWC), from Missouri. Last offered in 2018. We offer a rotating selection of daylilies. If you’d like to be notified the next time we offer this treasure, sign up for an email alert.

True stock! Many daylilies are mistakenly called lemon lily, but ours is the true original. For centuries, this and the single orange “ditch lily” were the only daylilies common in gardens. Always the more prized, lemon lily is smaller, much more graceful, and early blooming, with a sweet scent that led one botanist in 1733 to call it the “Yellow Tuberose.” Best in cool climates and moist soils. We ship single fans of this great rarity. Formerly H. flava, 30-34”, deciduous, zones 3a-7a(9aWC), from Vermont and Ann Arbor. Last offered in 2019. We offer a rotating selection of daylilies. If you’d like to be notified the next time we offer this treasure, sign up for an email alert.

At just two feet tall, this abundantly blooming, mid-century pink is perfect for small gardens or the front of the border. It’s a soft peachy pink with a lemon yellow throat, as cool and summery as pink lemonade pie. 18-24”, mid to late-mid, deciduous, zones 4a-8a(10aWC), from Missouri. Last offered in 2016. We offer a rotating selection of daylilies. If you’d like to be notified the next time we offer this treasure, sign up for an email alert.

With a name that’s pure 1950s, this luscious daylily looks like a cool, refreshing cantaloupe and ice cream smoothie. It was bred by Orville Fay of Illinois whose day job was working as a chemist in a candy factory. Just 26” tall, mid-summer blooming, deciduous, zones 5a-8b(10aWC), from Missouri. Last offered in 2019. We offer a rotating selection of daylilies. If you’d like to be notified the next time we offer this treasure, sign up for an email alert.

This striking daylily was one of Stout’s first and favorite introductions. Over the years its bold mango-and-mahogany coloring and graceful star-like form have won it many fans, including the great Elizabeth Lawrence who praised it as one of her “15 Best.” Vigorously multiplying and floriferous, it often reblooms in the fall in warm areas. 30-36”, early-mid season, semi-evergreen, zones 4a-8a(10aWC), from our Ann Arbor micro-farms. Last offered in 2019. We offer a rotating selection of daylilies. If you’d like to be notified the next time we offer this treasure, sign up for an email alert.

Much more than just another yellow daylily, ‘Ophir’ has unusually long, trumpet-shaped flowers – almost like an Easter lily – making it one of the most graceful and distinctive daylilies we’ve ever seen. It’s also one of the first American-bred daylilies, by Bertrand Farr, and the great Elizabeth Lawrence grew it, writing in 1943 that it was “more beautiful than ever this season, and the only attention it has ever had is a mulch of cow manure each fall.” 38-46”, mid-season, semi-evergreen, zones 4a-8b(10aWC), from Ann Arbor. Last offered in 2017. We’re building up stock and plan to offer it again in the future. If you’d like to be notified the next time we offer this treasure, sign up for an email alert.

“I may be old-fashioned,” writes daylily connoisseur Sydney Eddison, but this “big handsome daylily with flowers the color of orange marmalade is still a striking plant.” Others call its abundant flowers “bronze orange” or even “cinnamon,” but everyone seems to agree that this vigorous, drought-tolerant, Stout Medal winner is far from ordinary. 36” mid-summer blooming, evergreen in warm zones, zones 5a-8b(10bWC), from Missouri. Last offered in 2011. We offer a rotating selection of daylilies. If you’d like to be notified the next time we offer this treasure, sign up for an email alert.

We love how profusely this charming little daylily blooms, and how its small, rusty red flowers glow warmly in the summer sun. Bred by the great A.B. Stout, it was named by globe-trotting “lady botanist” Mary Gibson Henry in memory of her youngest son, Porteous. 30-36”, early-mid to mid, semi-evergreen, zones 4a-8a(10aWC), from our Ann Arbor micro-farms. Last offered in 2016. We’re building up stock and plan to offer it again in the future. If you’d like to be notified the next time we offer this treasure, sign up for an email alert.