One of K & K Gardens specialties is their vast selection of Daylilies.  Now, featuring over 250 varieties, we are sure to have one that fits your landscape palette.

Dwarf, re-blooming, rock garden, tetraploid, Designer Collection, or mass planting specimen, we have them all.  Visit us during late June to mid-July, and enjoy the spectacular show of blooming daylilies.   

Daylilies are rugged, adaptable, vigorous perennials that endure in a garden for many years with little or no care. Daylilies adapt to a wide range of soil and light conditions. They establish quickly, grow vigorously, and survive winters with little or no injury.

Daylilies belong to the genus Hemerocallis and are not true lilies. This Greek word is made up of two parts: hemera meaning day and kallos meaning beauty. The name is appropriate, since each flower lasts only one day. Some of the newer varieties have flowers that open in the evening and remain open until the evening of the following day. Many of these night blooming plants are delightfully fragrant.

Each daylily plant produces an abundance of flower buds that open over a long period of time. There are many varieties, a wide range of flower colors, and the flowers continue during the heat of the summer.

Daylilies are useful in the perennial flower border, planted in large masses,or as a ground cover on slopes, where they form a dense mat in just a few years.

The difference between diploid and tetraploid daylilies?

Plants all have a basic complement of chromosomes. Most plants are diploid.  They have two identical sets of chromosomes in each cell. Polyploids are plants with more than two sets of chromosomes. A tetraploid is only one of a whole series of polyploids. Triploids have three sets of chromosomes, tetraploids have four sets of chromosomes, et cetera.

Tetraploid

Tetraploid daylilies are heralded by some growers as having a number of advantages over diploids. In the tetraploid:

• Flowers tend to be larger
• Colors of the flower tend to be more intense
• Scapes tend to be sturdier and stronger
• Substance of both flower and foliage tend to be heavier
• Vegetative vigor in leaf, stem, and flower tend to be greater
• Breeding possibilities tend to be greater because of an increased number of chromosomes
  

Diploid

Diploid daylilies continue to charm growers with their exquisite flower form, grace, and color.

• Good pink daylilies are still more prevalent in the diploid ranks
• Spider and double daylilies are still more prevalent in the diploid ranks
• Diploid daylilies are easier to cross than tetraploids
• Many diploid daylilies have been converted to tetraploids, thus advancing the tetraploid lines
• There are more diploids than tetraploids

Pauline Henry, of Siloam Springs, Arkansas, created hundreds of wondrous daylilies, registering 490 with AHS during a period of 37 years. She has won an amazing number of awards including the most prestigious Stout Silver Medal in 1993 for her Siloam Double Classic, along with numerous awards for her popular miniatures. Sadly, Pauline Henry passed away Sept. 20, 2000, at the age of 92. Her legacy of beautiful cultivars will remain in gardens around the world for many generations to come. 













Click here to see other "Siloam" selections by Ms. Henry.