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ARE DAYLILIES BULBS? Not really, but bulb catalogs in the past offered their thick, fleshy roots, and today many antique daylilies are at risk, so we’ve added them to our Ark. Modern daylilies can be amazing, but older ones blend better into most gardens. They’re not huge or gaudy, and their classic, lily-like forms are full of grace.
TIPS FOR SUCCESS: Daylilies are one of the easiest of all perennials. See what you’ll get: freshly dug, bare-root plants with 2-4 fans (growing points). Plant in full sun to light shade, and learn more here.
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With cottage-garden grace and surprising diversity, antique daylilies are waiting to be rediscovered by modern gardeners. Sample their old-fashioned charms with 3 of our favorites, all different, labeled, and great for your area. (Several possibilities are pictured.) For zones 4a-8b(9aWC).
For more of each variety, order additional samplers. Daylily care.
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Red-headed ‘Annette’ is a spunky little World War II daylily with curling, ribbon-like petals and a wide-open heart of pure sunshine. At just 20 inches tall, it’s perfect for small gardens or the front of a perennial border. It’s one of the most enduring legacies of Texan H.M. Russell who at one point was growing more daylilies than anyone else in America. Early-mid summer, zones 4a-8b(10bWC), from Missouri. Chart and care.
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Last offered in 2015. Here’s the beginning of daylilies as we know them today. Introduced in 1893 by schoolteacher George Yeld, ‘Apricot’ was the first hybrid daylily and its success opened the door for the 60,000 others that have followed. Spring-blooming (starting in early May here in zone 6a) and often reblooming in the fall, it has vivid little flowers of orange-yellow peeking above a fountain of leaves — making it well worth growing even if it weren’t so historic. 28-34”, early, deciduous, zones 4a-8b(10aWC), from Ann Arbor. Chart and care.
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Our longest blooming daylily, ‘August Pioneer’ opens its bright, graceful trumpets for up to eight weeks. Its color is something special, too, a softly glowing orange with hints of apricot that blends in harmoniously yet will draw you across the garden. And it multiplies quickly. All in all, it’s a masterpiece from A.B. Stout, the patriarch of daylilies. 34”, mid-late, deciduous, 3-4 fans, zones 4a-8b(9bWC), from Missouri & our own micro-farm. Chart and care.
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Tall, tall, TALL – with bloom stalks up to 7 feet! – this remarkable daylily may get you and your garden visitors babbling. Up close its spidery, gold and chestnut flowers are nothing special, but when you see them held high against the sky on their strong, slender stalks – often with hummingbirds flitting about – they’re magic. By A.B. Stout, from the wild H. altissima, 5-7’, late blooming, lightly fragrant, deciduous, 2-3 fans, zones 4a-8b(10aWC), from our own micro-farm. Chart and care.
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With its velvety, wine-dark petals, chartreuse throat, and graceful, lily-like form, ‘Black Friar’ is one of the best of the mid-century “black” daylilies. Tall and vigorous, it was bred by the first woman to win the AHS’s top award for hybridizing, “Sun-Proof” Mary Lester of Georgia. 32-38”, mid-to-late, deciduous, 2 fans, zones 4a-8b(10aWC), from our own micro-farm. Chart and care.
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‘Caballero’s long, curling petals are gold and an intriguing rusty brown (yes, brown!) that may remind you of saddle-leather and sandstone buttes – which is probably just what Stout had in mind when he named it. Caballeros were the noble “gentlemen-cowboys” of popular movies such as The Bold Caballero of 1936 with its dashing hero, Zorro. 36-40”, early-mid season, evergreen, 2 large fans, zones 4a-8b(10bWC), from our own micro-farm. Chart and care.
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This dramatically tall, colorful daylily will draw your eye from the farthest reaches of your garden. It gets its height – five feet or more here – from H. altissima, native to the mountains of Nanjing, and with 25-30 buds per stem, its striking red flowers will entertain you from mid-summer into fall. By A.B. Stout, 48-72”, deciduous, 2-3 fans, zones 4a-8b(10bWC), from Missouri. Chart and care.
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Last offered in 2020. This great little daylily has a lot of famous friends. Ken Druse first urged us to offer it, Christopher Lloyd called it a “first-rate AGM winner,” and Pamela Harper in Time-Tested Plants writes, “I doubt that any daylily will ever please me more than ‘Corky’.” Its small, wildflowery blooms are shaded with bronze on the outside, and since every wiry stem holds up to 40 buds, they open for a long time. 34”, mid-season, deciduous, zones 5a-8b(10bWC), grown by us here in Ann Arbor. Chart and care.
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With up to 30 buds per stem, this Nebraska-bred classic will brighten your mid-summer garden with six weeks of star-like, jewel-toned blossoms that are as graceful as wildflowers. Named for a hit movie that later inspired Pirates of the Caribbean, it’s another masterpiece from the great Henry Sass whose family introduced so many enduringly popular iris and peonies. 30-32”, mid-season, deciduous, zones 4a-8b(10aWC), from Missouri. Chart and care.
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“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 our own micro-farm. Chart and care.
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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, 24-32”, deciduous, zones 3a-7a(9aWC), from our own micro-farm. Chart and care.
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The “rich, lustrous, velvety black cherry color” of this old daylily (in the words of the 1949 Schreiner’s catalog) would be great no matter what, but it’s the creamy white line down the center of each petal that makes it so striking and unforgettable. You’ll find yourself drawn to it from across the garden – and looking forward to it every summer. 34-36”, mid-season, dormant, 2 fans, zones 4a-8a(10aWC), from our own micro-farm. Chart and care.
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One of the oldest daylilies of all, and very hard to find today. This lightly fragrant beauty came from a clump growing in OHG founder Scott’s front yard – until we dug it up to share with you. (No problem!) It was bred by R. Wallace and Co., importers of some of the first daylilies from China, and praised in the June 1900 Country Life as “a Day Lily of great beauty, vigorous and handsome.” 28-32”, early-mid, deciduous, 2 fans, zones 5a-8a(10aWC), from our own micro-farm. Chart and care.
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When we asked the experts, this pastel gem topped the list of heirloom daylilies we just had to offer. Its pale, melon-pink color was an exciting advance for the 1950s, and – enhanced by a cool green throat – it’s still exciting and lovely today. Winner of the Stout Medal, it was bred by Edna Spalding of rural Louisiana who grew her seedlings in the vegetable garden and culled the rejects with a kitchen knife. 32”, mid-summer blooming, deciduous, zones 4a-8b(10bWC), from Missouri. Chart and care.
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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, 2 fans, zones 4a-8a(10aWC), from our own micro-farm. Chart and care.
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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, 2-3 fans, zones 4a-8b(10aWC), from our own micro-farm. Chart and care.
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One of the latest, longest-blooming, and brightest daylilies we grow, ‘Princess Irene’ will draw you from across the garden with its joyful brilliance, from mid-summer well into fall. With its star-like form and almost wriggling petals, it’s the only daylily ever introduced by H. A. Zager of Des Moines – but he sure picked a winner. 28-34”, late-mid to late, deciduous, 2 fans, zones 4a-8a(10aWC), from our Ann Arbor micro-farm. Chart and care.
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60 years ago this tall, dark-red/burgundy daylily caused ripples with its long elegant petals and vigorous growth. It contrasts beautifully with yellow and gold neighbors and can rebloom throughout the summer. 36”, early-mid, 2-3 fans, zones 4a-8b(10bWC), from our own micro-farm. Chart and care.
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Last offered in 2011. What sets this mighty classic apart — and why should you give it a try? It’s more fragrant than its famous parent ‘Hyperion’. Its Chicago breeding makes it extra tough. And its lily-like, moonlight-yellow flowers stay open longer than most, making it especially beautiful in the evening garden — when you’ll be home to enjoy it. 36” mid-summer blooming, deciduous, zones 4a-8b(9aWC), from Missouri. Chart and care.
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