DATE: Sunday, March 9, 1997                 TAG: 9703080075

SECTION: HOME                    PAGE: G4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ROBERT STIFFLER, GARDENING COLUMNIST 

                                            LENGTH:   44 lines

COLORFUL DAYLILIES ARE BEACH GARDENER'S TRUE LOVE

RODNEY DICKERSON has been growing and hybridizing daylilies at his home in Virginia Beach since 1980.

Recently he called to invite me to come see his daylilies. I was skeptical. After 22 years of writing this column, I've learned that gardeners become infatuated with their particular speciality, whether it be roses, iris, orchids or daylilies.

But Rodney Dickerson's garden is a spectacular acre filled with colorful daylilies in the Thoroughgood section of the city.

Dickerson started with 500 hybrid daylilies from Florida, with about 50 varieties. Since then, he's cross-pollinated them until his garden is a riot of color when the daylilies bloom in summer. Each bed is 8 feet wide and about 30 to 40 feet long.

Dickerson doesn't name any of his daylilies, and he doesn't sell them. He gives away some to friends and charitable organiza-tions.

``Mine is a hobby, not a business,'' he said.

Daylilies grow best in loose sandy soil and full sun, both of which are abundant on Dickerson's property. They don't require much water but do need to be planted shallow.

For those who want more than just a pretty bloom, Dickerson points out that daylilies are edible.

``The tubers are used by the Chinese for food, and daylily blossoms are eaten by many people,'' he said. ``If they don't eat them, they use them to decorate salads, wedding cakes or whatever.''

Dickerson doesn't stop with daylilies. He grows many vegetables on his acre, keeping the soil fertile from his large compost pile.

He also has clematis, crinum lilies, which he has cross-pollinated, three pomegranates and iris. He grows amaryllis from seed.

For home-grown fruit, he has raspberries, cherries, figs and Concord grapes. Although he's an all-around gardener, daylilies are his true love. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

ROBERT STIFFLER

Rodney Dickerson walks through a bed of daylilies in full bloom last

summer at his home in the Thoroughgood section of Virginia Beach. KEYWORDS: WEEDER'S DIGEST

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu