A day lily primer

The bright orange flowers that bloom along roadsides during the summer are the great-grandparents of the many hybridized day lilies now available.

A couple main species have been around more than a thousand years, said Debbie Gray, who has a day lily business in Dorsey, north of Edwardsville.

Hybridizers have taken the versatile perennial to a whole new level. The easy-to-grow flower has a lot going for it.

Peak blooming time: Used to be July 1, but it's getting earlier and earlier, said Debbie. The second week of June they start to pop and continue through August.

When to plant: When they are in bloom.

Good thing about day lilies: "You rarely hear of people whose plants don't make it," said Debbie. "They will take flooding. They will take drought. Some are robust. Others are kind of finicky."

How they grow: Daylilies like sun and are vigorous growers. They can be divided every three to four years. They will just about double every year. If they have two fans one year, they will have three or four the next.

What they look like: They come in many colors, shades and color combinations. Some are full and round. Others have wide petals with ruffled edges and borders. Spider day lilies are spidery in shape; doubles have double the number of petals and sepals. Many are nocturnal and very fragrant.

Their name: The word Hemerocallis is derived from two Greek words meaning "beauty" and "day," referring to the fact that each flower lasts only one day. To make up for this, there are many flower buds on each day lily flower stalk, and many stalks in each clump of plants, so, the flowering period of a clump is usually several weeks long. Many have more than one flowering period.

-- from Debbie Gray and the American Hemerocallis Society Inc.