Day lilies
Joe,
Maybe the sand is the thing for daylilies when they have to be doing with
short commons in the water department. My soil is duplex sandy loam/clay,
quite stiff. The old species day lily, lilio asphodelus, does the best in
summer, it continues to look reasonable and will bloom, the others look
terrible, go semi-dormant and not a bloom in sight....that's even with a
reasonable watering which the rest of the garden gets. Come winter and the
rains when the soil gets very wet, they flower their heads off and look
great. Maybe I've got some funny hybrids that really like it wet, I believe
that many of the Hemerocallis are natural swamp dwellers, and maybe the
parents of the hybrids dictate their habits.
Whichever, the ones I've got a certainly disappointing for summer. I shall
stick to species and very old fashioned types in the future.
Thanks for your reply.
Margaret.
----- Original Message -----
From: Joe Seals <gardenguru@yahoo.com>
To: <olivehill@wn.com.au>; medit plants <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2001 11:10 PM
Subject: Re: Need ideas for sun-blasted parking strip et al.
> Margaret:
>
> Maybe it's a matter of defining "terrible".
>
> I have daylilies in my front landscape right now and
> with but a minimum of summer watering (maybe once a
> month), they look "acceptable" during that time. They
> are not grand and lush but they bloom and nobody prays
> for them when they walk by. Of course, they look
> better after our winter rains. Keep in mind, too,
> that I am on unamended river sand.
>
> Unfortunately, these daylilies were here when I moved
> in, so I cannot tell you their names (daylilies are
> not my particular interest).
>
> Thousands more have been planted in the boulevard and
> sidewalk strips of this area, along with Fragaria and
> Agapanthus and the like. Again, they receive only
> minimum watering (once a month during the summer). I
> don't know their names either. But I will ask. I see
> nothing special about these cultivars and I suspect
> they are the ones sold simply "by color".
>
> I used to live in Northern Wisconsin on what is called
> the "Sand Pine Barrens". It was glacier-ground sand
> many feet deep. Some called it "blow sand". I grew
> daylilies there as well. (The deciduous species and
> cultivars.) I never watered. Even though we could
> expect 20-30 inches of rain annually, it was difficult
> growing typical Wisconsin plants on the sand that
> dried out so extraordinarily quickly. But daylilies
> grew very well.
>
> In looking at them, daylilies have tough leaves and
> husky, fleshy roots. Sounds like the adaptations of a
> drought survivor to me.
>
> Maybe the correct phraseology is "drought tolerant"
> rather than "drought resistant". Daylilies don't
> "resist" drought and look good for it; they simply
> "tolerate" it until the water comes next, doing so
> ungracefully.
>
> I'll see what I can find out about the daylilies of
> this sandy area.
>
> Regards,
> Joe
> --- Margaret Moir <olivehill@wn.com.au> wrote:
> > Joe, I'm interested that you say the day lilies are
> > tough as nails plants. I
> > haven't found them to be drought hardy at
> > all....they sort of survive
> > without lots of water but look terrible.
> > Are there some particular varieties that you
> > recommend?
> > Margaret.
> > Margaret River, Western Australia.
> > www.wn.com.au/olivehill
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Joe Seals <gardenguru@yahoo.com>
> > To: <jaknelson@shastalink.k12.ca.us>;
> > <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
> > Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 11:14 AM
> > Subject: RE: Need ideas for sun-blasted parking
> > strip et al.
> >
> >
> > > Julie, et al:
> > >
> > > Odd -- I just received this post, the original
> > > request. This, after seeing many many answers for
> > a
> > > day and a half.
> > >
> > > Here's my two cents anyway -- I like these
> > > tough-as-nails plants:
> > >
> > > Agapanthus (many cultivars)
> > > Dietes 'Lemon Drop' and 'Orange Drop'
> > > Hemerocallis (daylilies)
> > > Phlomis (many species and hybrids)
> > > Phormium (my favorite little ones: Bronze Baby,
> > Duet,
> > > Morticia, and Tom Thumb)
> > > Pittosporum tobira 'Wheeler's Dwarf'
> > >
> > > I especially like these ornamental grasses:
> > >
> > > Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster'
> > > Festuca californica 'Serpentine Blue'
> > > Helictotrichon sempervirens
> > >
> > > I'd even be tempted to plant a few Juniperus
> > > scopulorum 'Skyrocket' (NOT boring).
> > >
> > > As someone else said, plant a mixture.
> > >
> > > Joe Seals,
> > > Santa Maria, California
> > > (quickly returning to spring weather)
> > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > =====
> > >
> >
>
>
> =====
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