Anticipating to the Colors of Summer

03.05.2024 - 14:21 / finegardening.com / GPOD Contributor

Today’s photos are from Lee:

The winter was a mellow one here in the Mohawk Valley in central New York State. Spring has been fairly warm but I can’t wait for some color! So, as a hold-over til things get rockin’ here, I’m posting some color from last year. I just need some color faster than what is presently happening. I can’t even wait for the tulips. Here’s some daylilies (Hemerocallis hybrids, Zone 4 – 9). As always, enjoy every day, every plant, every leaf, every flower.

A gorgeous dark, dark, daylily. Daylilies are generally carefree and easy to grow, but in hot, sunny climates, these very dark flowers can sometimes burn in the sun, and do best when they get a little shade in the afternoon.

Modern hybrid daylilies come in nearly ever color and pattern and texture imaginable… but sometimes a simple, clear, yellow like this is best.

The one color daylilies don’t do well is white – but these soft pale yellow forms get close.

Daylily blooms that look good enough to eat – cotton candy pink, with lightly ruffled petal edges.

A classic, very old-fashioned daylily variety, Hemerocallis fulva ‘Flore Pleno’ (Zone 4 – 9). This is the double-flowered form of the classic orange daylily that thrives so easily it is sometimes called a “ditch lily.” Hard to find a perennial that is easier to grow and brings more bright color when it blooms.

Not a daylily at all, but actually a true lily (Genus Lilium). True lilies tend to be a little fussier than their daylily cousins, but the pay off in terms of color and often fragrance is so worth it.

Modern daylily breeding is pushing the flowers in ever more elaborate new directions. The petal margins on this one are intensely ruffled and ruched.

Another ruffled flower, with one with a