Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Day lilies are native to Japan, China and other Asian countries but have naturalized here and you see the old orange ditch lilies on many back country roads. Yellows and oranges were the dominant colors until Dr. Arlow Stout of the New York Botanical Gardens began hybridizing work and now flowers come in all colors except blue! By increasing the number of chromosomes in the plant, creating tetraploids, new cultivars have thicker and more substantial flower petals and dramatic differences exists in shape and color patterns. Day lilies are very easy to hybridize and thousands of named cultivars exist. The American Hemerocallis Society has a registration process where new hybrids are entered into the system. You can even reserve a name for a day lily you hope to create – maybe someone will breed a Making It Grow day lily – I’m guessing it will be in the category “unusual form” - just like my hats!!!
The Amazingly Varied Day Lily
