THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 12, 1995 TAG: 9511100088
SECTION: HOME & GARDEN PAGE: G1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Robert Stiffler
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
MORE THAN ONE daylily lover has been disappointed with the highly touted Stella de Oro and the newer Black-Eyed Stella daylilies.
After a tremendous amount of introductory fanfare, Stella has failed to bloom continuously as promised.
But there are many good new daylilies on the market, so I decided last June to try some ``repeat bloomers'' or ``everbloomers'' from Sterrett Gardens on the Eastern Shore.
I tore out a complete bed of Hyperion, a tall yellow daylily that was the favorite of the late Fred Heutte. It's also the choice of many landscape designers, but it blooms only once and then is finished.
On the recommendation of Richard Sterrett, I bought Lemon Lollipop, a medium-height yellow daylily that repeat blooms. I cannot say enough good things about this variety. Where Hyperion bloomed once and was gone, Lemon Lollipop was not planted until mid-June and is still blooming.
There were blooms all summer, all from a first-year planting. It should do even better next season. It's much better than Stella de Oro or Black-eyed Stella.
At last year's perennial conference at the Norfolk Botanical Garden, JoAnne Gordon, horticulturist for the city of Norfolk, reported her staff was not getting any midsummer blooms from Stella de Oro.
I bought and planted Black-Eyed Stella with equal vigor, only to have few if any blooms this year. I decided not to give up, because the publicity on this newer plant was so great. I bought six more this fall and moved the ones I had to a location with full sun. If they don't do better next season, they're history.
Diana Bistol of Bloomingfield's Farm in Connecticut says that Stella de Oro does repeat bloom but not with the same quantity of blooms all summer. It will typically bloom for three weeks in mid-June in Connecticut, then bloom only occasionally until mid-August, when it will bloom again for three weeks.
She says you may get better midsummer bloom if you water the plant regularly, remove seed heads as soon as they appear and fertilize a little. The older and larger the clump, the better it repeat blooms, so don't divide your clumps until absolutely necessary.
To keep all daylilies healthy, give them 1 inch of water per week and add a shovelful of compost and manure per plant each year.
It's not too late to plant daylilies or move the ones you have to a better location. You'll find them in local garden centers as well as from three local growers: Sterrett Gardens, P.O. Box 85, Craddockville, Va. 23341, call (804) 442-4606; Ballard Iris & Daylilies, 1304 Canal Drive, Chesapeake, call 487-0176; Dickerson Daylilies, Woods Cross Road, Va. 23190, call (804) 693-5240.
I do not recommend daylilies from mail-order catalogs. My experience has been that you get tiny root-shoots that take years before you get a bloom.
You may pay a little more buying locally, but you'll do much better. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Robert Stiffler
Lemon Lollipop...daylily
by CNB