Heirloom Daylilies

All bulbs for spring 2013 are SOLD OUT. Order for NEXT spring starting June 1.

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. We ship dormant, 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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CLASSIC DAYLILIES Sampler

With cottage-garden grace and surprising diversity, antique daylilies are waiting to be rediscovered by modern gardeners. Sample their old-fashioned charms with 4 of our favorites, all different, labeled, and great for your area. (Several possibilities are pictured.) For zones 4-8S/9WC.

For 2, 3, or more of each, order additional samplers.

COS31 SOLD OUT 1/$33.50 2/$64.50 3/$91.50 4/$118 5/$144

AUGUST PIONEER, 1939

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 founding father of daylilies. 34”, mid-late, dormant, zones 4-8S/9WC, Ann Arbor. Chart to compare.

HM08 SOLD OUT 1/$8.50 3/$23.50 5/$36.50 10/$68 25/$153

BLACK FRIAR, 1951 New

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. 38-40”, mid-to-late, dormant, zones 4-8S/ 10WC, from Missouri. Chart to compare.

HM21 SOLD OUT 1/$11.50 3/$31.50 5/$49.50 10/$92 25/$207

CABALLERO, 1941 Rarest & New

‘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, zones 4-8S/10WC, from Ann Arbor. Chart to compare.

HM15 SOLD OUT 1/$10.50 3/$28.50 5/$45 10/$84 25/$189

CHALLENGER, 1949 New

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”, dormant, z. 5-8aS/10WC, Ann Arbor. Chart to compare.

HM22 SOLD OUT 1/$10.50 3/$28.50 5/$45 10/$84 25/$189

CORKY, 1959 Rarest

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, dormant, zones 5-8S/10WC, from Ann Arbor. Chart to compare.

HM19 SOLD OUT 1/$9.50 3/$26 5/$41 10/$76 25/$171

GOLD DUST, 1905 Rarest & New

Exceptionally early-blooming, this cheery little daylily opens its fragrant, cinnamon-shaded flowers just as spring is turning into summer (and when it’s happy, it often reblooms). It’s also one of the oldest daylilies, by the very first person to breed them, English schoolteacher George Yeld, who crossed the classic lemon lily with the Japanese H. dumortieri to get this enduring charmer. Just 24-26”, very early, dormant, zones 5-8S/10WC, from our Ann Arbor micro-farms. Chart to compare.

HM17 SOLD OUT 1/$10 3/$27.50 5/$43 10/$80 25/$180

H. fulva ‘Kwanso’, KWANSO DOUBLE, 1860

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, dormant, zones 4-8S/10WC, from Missouri. Chart to compare.

HM02 SOLD OUT 1/$7 3/$19 5/$30 10/$56 25/$126

Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus, LEMON LILY, 1570 Rarest

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. Aka custard lily (for its fragrance), H. flava 30-34”, dormant, zones 3-7aS/9aWC, from Vermont and Ann Arbor. Chart to compare.

HM03 SOLD OUT 1/$12.50 3/$34 5/$54 10/$100 25/$225

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