Barbara Mitchell is a particularly luscious, large-flowered, melon/pink daylily with yellow highlights and an emerald green throat. It's a popular rebloomer of about average height, but the flowers are what makes it famous. They're six inches across with wide, ruffled overlapping petals. Year after year in the national popularity poll at the American Hemerocallis Society, Barbara Mitchell pops up in the top few--and the poll includes scores of hybrids every year. So there's no question about it. All over the country, people have chosen this one as a top favorite. About Daylilies, the most popular perennials: It all started with the original "wild" orange daylily. Many Americans think the tough old orange daylily they see in old gardens and along roadsides is a wildflower, but it really isn't. No daylily is native to North America; most hail from Asia.
Don't confuse them with the true lilies: Daylilies are not really "lilies." In fact, they are quite different. As you know, true lilies grow on tall stems with flowers at the top. Daylily flower stems (called "scapes") are generally much shorter, and grow from a fountain of grass-like foliage at ground level. Daylilies are members of the genus, Hemerocallis, not Lilium, which is the genus name of true lilies.
Daylily Roots, not bulbs As all good gardeners know, daylilies don't grow from bulbs like true lilies. Daylilies form a mass of thickened, fleshy roots. These unique root systems hold so much moisture and nutrients, the plants can survive out of the ground for weeks. This survival system, making them tough, and really easy to handle, is one of the reasons they're so popular today. They're also dependably hardy, so once you have them, you have them for years.
Types of Daylilies for today's gardens: The famous old orange daylily and the well-known old Lemon Lily are not the only "wild" daylilies, just the most famous. There are 20 daylily species, worldwide. Today from those 20 plants, more than 20,000 hybrids have been created, to satisfy gardeners who love daylilies, and just can't get enough. Hybridizing daylilies for various colors and styles is not new. Famous old reliable hybrids like "Catherine Woodbury"--the lovely lavender and yellow bicolor--have been around for decades.
The rebloomers for twice the bloom. Today's craze for reblooming daylilies all began with Stella d'Oro, the now-famous yellow dwarf daylily that blooms once during late spring (the regular Daylily blooming season), and then again in late August and into fall. Today, there are hundreds of rebloomers, from dwarfs to full-size beauties.
The latest and greatest: In any group of highly popular hybrids, there is always something newer and "better." Some real break-through successes of new types for their times are daylilies like "Victoria's Secret" and "Big Smile", with elaborately ruffled petals and clear contrasts of magnificent colors.
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Botanical Name: Hemerocallis
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Common Name: Daylily, Reblooming
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Color: Large 6" orchid-pink flowers with a lemon yellow throat
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Spread/Width: 18-24" wide
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Bloom Time: Early to mid summer and again in late summer
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Sun/Shade: Full sun to partial shade
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Soil Preferences: Daylilies perform well in a wide range of well-drained soils, but prefer a loamy soil.
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Variety: Barbara Mitchell
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