Nursery Market Report: Dynamic Daylilies

The All-American Daylily Selection Council (AADSC), Grain Valley, Mo., announced two additions to its family of award-winning daylilies. ‘Lady Lucille,’ a fiery orange-red beauty, won in the landscape category, while ‘Chorus Line,’ a well-formed pink, won in the exhibition category.

The All-American title is granted only to rare daylily varieties that have shown superior performance across at least five U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zones. Additionally, the AADSC All-American daylily award is based on rigorous scientific methodology. Winners offer a blend of beauty, performance and abundant landscape applications.

The soaring popularity of daylilies, combined with a profusion of varieties, demanded the development of a standard for daylily excellence. The All-American Daylily Selection Council was organized to address this demand and now coordinates a testing program across a nationwide network of test sites.

There are more than 48,000 daylilies registered and bred in at least 25 states by hundreds of individual hybridizers. AADSC sorts through varieties to reward the top performers.

Here’s more on the winners for 2004.

‘Lady Lucille.’ Starting off just as most other daylilies are winding down, pest- and disease-resistant Lady Lucille displays a cluster of 5- to 6-inch blooms from summer into autumn. Brilliant blooms remain lush even on sweltering summer days. Shiny, tall, dark green foliage frames the blooms, which are eye-catching when planted singly or en masse. This daylily is hardy in zones 4 to 10.

‘Chorus Line.’ Fragrant, round flowers with wide, ruffled petals offer 3- to 4-inch blooms of medium pink with a darker rose band around a small chartreuse throat. This hearty beauty blooms early in the season and re-blooms up to two times in some zones. Tidy, 15- to 20-inch-tall foliage and delicate bouquets of blooms provide a cheerful greeting along a border, in a pot or at the front of a perennial bed. This plant is hardy in zones 3 to 9.

These daylilies can be ordered from: El Modeno Gardens, Calif.; McCorkle Nurseries, Ga.; Pride’s Corner Farms, Conn.; Zelenka Nursery, Mich.; and MerryGro Farms, Fla.

DAYLILY TESTING. Angelo Cerchione, executive director of AADSC, explains that testing to pinpoint strong performers like Lady Lucille and Chorus Line is key because all daylilies are not created equal. Since the turn of the century, he says hybridizers have introduced nearly 50,000 daylily varieties, but of those, only 13,000 are still in commercial circulation.

Through testing, AADSC has learned that the average daylily will provide two to three weeks of bloom; top performers range from 90 days in zone 4 to 300 days in zone 9. Cerchione’s advice: "Look for a daylily that will bloom for 60 to 90 percent of the overall bloom period (the entire summer plus some) for all perennials in the landscape."

AADSC’s second concern is foliage performance. Once the bloom goes off, will there be an attractive ground cover? Top-notch daylilies will offer 18 weeks of super-looking foliage – a bit shorter in the North, much longer in the South. – Ali Cybulski

The author is a contributing editor to Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at acybulski@lawnandlandscape.com.