Here's the Number 1 Daylily to naturalize. It's the one that was in every grandmother's garden, and the one seen blooming today along roadsides from coast to coast. The flowers are large on tall stems, and numerous. It requires absolutely no care, and is tolerant of any soil. In fact, the old daylily is so tough, in time, it will form a beautiful blooming groundcover, overwhelming all the weeds. As long as yours have full or part sun, you'll have more every season as your clumps expand. This old reliable means lush green foliage, and a blaze of foolproof dependable color every year in early summer. What more could any wild gardener ask?
The story of the original "wild" orange daylily. First of all, it isn't really wild. It isn't native to North America. And it isn't really a lily. Daylilies have the genus name Hemerocallis, not Lilium, the genus name of the true lilies. And daylilies don't grow from bulbs like true lilies, either. However, they do grow from a mass of thickened roots that hold so much moisture and nutrients, the plants can survive out of the ground for weeks. This survival system is the main reason the daylily has been such a world traveler.
The famous old orange daylily is named Hemerocallis fulva, and is native to China, Japan and Korea, but today is common all over the world. The buds have been cooked for food for centuries in Asia, but the flowers are what people love in North America. (Here, it's often mistakenly called "Tiger Lily," but that's the name of a taller true lily, not a daylily. Both are orange.) The famous old orange one is not the only wild daylily, just the most famous. There are 20 daylily species, worldwide. From these 20 plants, more than 20,000 hybrids have been created.
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Botanical Name
: Hemerocallis fulva
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Common Name
: Old Faithful Orange Daylily
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Color
: Classic orange flowers
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Bloom Time
: Early to mid summer
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Sun/Shade
: Full sun to part shade
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Soil Preferences
: Will tolerate most soil types but prefers a moist, well-drained, slightly acidic soil
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Indigenous To
: No. American Native Plant or near hybrid
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