 |
| Hemerocallis 'Sarah Christine' |
As a result of my non-love of daylilies, I have no less than 44 different ones (possibly a couple more that I missed when I just went out to count) and I have a wish list of some that I'll buy if I ever run across them.
One of my favorites is a very large lemon yellow one, called 'Sarah Christine'. The American Hemerocallis Society's Online Daylily Database says this about it...
'Sarah Christine'
Introduced by Millikan-Soules in 1993
Bloom size: 6 inches
Bloom season: Early-Midseason
Ploidy: Diploid
Foliage type: Evergreen
Fragrance: Fragrant
Bloom habit: Diurnal
Color: Pale yellow and ivory to pink bicolor with cream throat
Parentage: (Siloam Mama × Groovy Green)
I would challenge the bloom size as stated in the database. Mine have gotten larger than that on a regular basis. Regardless, it's one of the larger blooming daylilies out there. Its color doesn't really command attention because there are a gazillion yellow daylilies (at least), but its size certainly does, and that makes it worth having.
This week as I was walking through the garden doing a bit of late summer clean-up, I noticed 'Sarah Christine' was doing something her friends and cousins hadn't. She had proliferations! I've had a daylily do this before, but I didn't do anything with them and merely cut off the scape and composted it.
What are proliferations?
Sometimes a daylily will start to form little plantlets at nodes on the stem of a flower scape. These will often form roots while still attached to the plant. If the stem of the scape is cut on both sides of the plantlet - the proliferation - and put into potting soil, a new plant can be grown. It will be a clone of the mother plant - in other words, identical to it.
 |
| 'Sarah Christine' has several proliferations on this flower scape. The middle one is actually two, which I will pot up together. |
The reason I don't get too many of these is because I'm pretty obsessive about cutting scapes off once they're finished blooming. I missed this one.
 |
| There are four proliferations on this scape. |
I cut it off at its base and then cut each proliferation and put them in water so they can form some roots before I pot them up. I'll keep the potted plants in the greenhouse this winter and then plant them out near the mother plant in the spring.
 |
| 'Sarah Christine' had babies! |
"Bejeweled"
4 comments:
I have only 3 day lilies and enjoy their blooms but Oriental lilies and Asiatic lilies have my heart. I am standing near one in my comment icon.
Nice to know about the little plantlets.
The day-lilies are so pretty. They do well in Houston but I don't have enough sun. I have been having fun rooting cuttings this year. I was spurred on by our local garden club plant swap. I am considering a green house. Last winter we had to many freezes. That is not normal for Houston.
Terra ~ As you no doubt know, daylilies aren't lilies, but the blooms do resemble them. I love Oriental and Asiatic lilies, too, and especially the Orientals because of their delicious fragrance!
Laurin ~ I have several daylilies that grow in full shade! I'd like to move them though because they no doubt would do better in full sun, or at least bloom heavier.
My aunt grows these and a few of the others, I remember orange, reds and other colors. They are very beautiful. She has them in two wide beds on either side of her stone walkway leading to the front door.
She then usually has two large planters of mums on either side of the entry. Great post. James Wright - Community Manager - http://harryhelmet.com/blog
Post a Comment