My Daylily Border

Day 158
The Daily DuBrule

When I moved into my house I decided to eliminate the lawn on the steep slope by the road. It was the perfect place to dump the boring 'Stella D'Or' daylilies and plain old green and white hostas that the previous owner had planted everywhere. I rode the manual desodder down the hill and transplanted these run-of-the-mill perennials to this spot by the street.

My plan for my front yard has always been to keep it simple. I garden in public all day. When I am home, it is my only chance to garden alone. I didn't want to make the front gardens complicated or high maintenance. The second year I added some gorgeous red daylilies that I was given by a client (pictured above). I never did find out their name but they are early and start blooming just after the Stellas get going. It was then that I decided to have a theme for this hillside- bright oranges, golds, and reds. I was off and running.

Next to go in was 'Spider Miracle'. I started selling this variety because  'Lady Fingers', one of my favorite varieties, wasn't available. This is very similar. I wanted to be sure I could have stock of this neat plant for jobs in the future. It has thrived and I have huge clumps five years later.

'Bertie Ferris' was next. She is an adorable miniature repeat bloomer with really bright orange flowers. She just goes and goes and is way more interesting than good old 'Stella'. Love this plant!

I discovered two very deep golden yellow, large flowering daylilies that caught my eye. The first, which is pictured above, is 'Mary's Gold'. The color isn't right in this photo, is is a deeper golden orange. Really close is 'Spellbinder'. I need to add that one to the border so I can study the difference between them. I also planted 'Condilla', a Trophytaker brand variety with double golden orange flowers that blooms for more than 6 weeks. 

Near the mailbox is a huge stand of Hemerocallis fulva 'Kwanso Flore Pleno', the classic double orange roadside daylily that was given to me by my friend Ruth Kurle. This really goes the distance, flowering for many weeks longer than the single type. It is a real workhorse. Every time I see it, I think of Ruth. 


Throughout the past few years, I have continued to add to this crazy, mixed up collage of hot colors. I placed bundles of dried Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' seed heads between the daylilies and stomped on them late one fall. Now, they mingle with the daylilies and add a blast of color in August as the later blooming varieties are opening. 


Honestly, I never feed this garden, barely weed it except to pull out maple seedlings and bittersweet babies. Once every few years I toss some mulch at it. It is informal, easy, interesting, and I see people stopping to admire it when they walk by. Oh, and did I mention that it is filled with daffodils in the spring?