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REHOBOTH - Hemerocallis, the scientific name for a daylily, is derived from two Greek words, "beauty" and "day." It refers to the fact that each flower lasts only one day.

To make up for this, however, there are many flower buds on each daylily flower stalk, and many stalks in each clump of plants, so, the flowering period of a clump is usually several weeks long. And many cultivars have more than one flowering period, according to the American Hemerocallis Society.

So, it's of little wonder that gardeners and others find such delight in daylilies - now in bloom in area garden beds, nurseries and along roadsides - considering them a perfect perennial because they come in numerous colors and a variety of shapes and sizes. They can also survive with minimum maintenance within a wide range of climates and many types of landscapes.



"The genus Hemerocallis is native to Asia. Since the early 1930s, hybridizers in the United States and England have made great improvements in daylilies. Originally, the only colors were yellow, orange, and fulvous red. Today, we have colors ranging from near-whites, pastels, yellows, oranges, pinks, vivid reds, crimson, purple, nearly true-blue, and fabulous blends," the society states.

The more common yellow and orange roadside varieties are cultivated forms of the wild types of daylilies which have "escaped" and are growing as if they are wild. Modern daylilies have been developed through a complicated history of hybridization among these and other wild types, says the society.

The outer portion of the daylily bloom is considered to be the basic color of the flower whose modern hybrid color range nowadays includes: Yellow, in all shades from the palest lemon, through bright yellow and gold to orange; red, in diverse shades of scarlet, carmine, tomato-red, maroon, wine-reds and blackish-reds; pink, from pale pink through rose-pink to rose-red; purple, from pale lavender and lilac to deep grape or violet; and melon, from the palest shades of cream to deep cantaloupe color.

August Flame, Burning Daylight, Chicago Sunrise.

They're among the summer sizzling daylilies now on display at Tranquil Lake Nursery in Rehoboth, billed as the largest grower of daylilies, as well as Siberian and Japanese iris, in the northeastern United States. The nursery just celebrated its 17th annual open house and summer garden festival which comes during the peak season of bloom among the more than 3,600 varieties of daylilies on 10 acres there.

The nursery will hold its Fall Garden Festival on Oct. 4 when there will be garden lectures, and, of course, daylilies for the late season garden.

SUSAN LaHOUD can be reached at 508-236-0398 or at slahoud@thesunchronicle.com.