Daylilies are wonderful flowers, but, oh, their names
About 1,000 new daylilies are registered every year. It's obviously not easy to come up with names for all of them. You could have a garden growing 142 daylies with some variation of the name 'plum' or 314 with 'peach.'
'My Reggae Tiger', a two-foot-tall tetraploid daylily, was released in 2006. Tetraploids have extra sets of chromosomes, which result in plants with larger, more intensely colored flowers, stronger scapes (flower stems), and greater overall plant vigor.
Courtesy of Karan Davis Cutler
Lake Champlain, on whose bank we live, is almost three feet above flood stage, it鈥檚 still raining, and the 40-foot by 6-foot border I dug last fall is a morass. It will be weeks before I can plant.
鈥淗alf the interest of a garden,鈥 in 1897, 鈥渋s in the constant exercise of the imagination.鈥 So as my shoreline erodes and my yard floods, I鈥檝e been a virtual gardener, nudging my imagination with visits to the website of the (AHS).
A perfect perannial for all areas
[PDF] are near-perfect plants; hardy, rugged, undemanding flowers that grow in 2 through 10. They鈥檙e my favorite perennial and where I begin when filling a garden.
Like potato chips, you can鈥檛 stop with one daylily.
I don鈥檛 want to limit myself to the most popular daylilies, such as 鈥, the first true repeat bloomer that鈥檚 now as ubiquitous as the dandelion.
Or limit myself to bicolored daylilies or to 鈥渟pider鈥 daylilies. (Officially the longest petal of a 鈥渟pider鈥 has a 4:1 ratio, than wide. But you don鈥檛 have to measure unless you鈥檙e entering a flower show. Pretty much any daylily with long skinny petals is a 鈥渟pider.鈥)
But after several hours looking at the AHS website, I鈥檝e stumbled on an approach: cultivar names. Ignore height and color, ignore form and culture and habit, and plant by name.
Odd, unusual, and funny daylily names
The possibilities not only challenge my imagination but tickle my funny bone.
What about a daylily love-in? 鈥楤ig Honking French Kisses鈥 alongside 鈥楪audy Kisses鈥, 鈥楰iss My Buds鈥, 鈥楰issy Face鈥, 鈥楢untie鈥檚 Lipstick Kisses鈥, 鈥楤ullfrog Kisses鈥, 鈥榁ampire鈥檚 Kiss鈥, and 鈥楰issiepoo.鈥
I could plant a daylily library of American classics, beginning with 鈥楲ittle Women鈥, 鈥楲ook Homeward Angel,鈥 鈥Moby Dick鈥, 鈥楾obacco Road鈥, and 鈥楤reakfast at Tiffany鈥檚鈥. Movie titles also are popular: 鈥楽tar Wars鈥, 鈥榃hite Christmas鈥, 鈥Gone With the Wind鈥, 鈥楲ion King鈥, 鈥楽inging in the Rain鈥, 鈥榃izard of Oz鈥, even 鈥Silence of the Lambs鈥.
Fruit names are even more popular. I could grow a plum garden: 鈥楶lum Crazy鈥, 鈥楶lum Cute鈥, 鈥楶lum Dandy鈥, 鈥楶lum Perfect鈥, and even 鈥楶lum Plum鈥. (If I had space, there are another 137 daylilies with 鈥減lum鈥 in their name.)
There also are 314 daylilies with 鈥減each鈥 in their names, 148 daylilies use 鈥渃herry鈥, and 84 use 鈥渁pple,鈥 beginning with 鈥楢dam鈥檚 Apple鈥. Whether the name refers to the forbiden fruit or the prominentia laryngea is unclear.
I could plant a daylily garden for my dessert-loving husband, beginning with 鈥楶arfait Delight鈥, 鈥楬ot Fudge鈥, 鈥楥hocolate Cupcake鈥, 鈥楩iggy Pudding,鈥 鈥楢pricot Custard鈥, 鈥楥otton Candy Cupcake鈥, 鈥業ce Cream Dream鈥, 鈥楥ool Cookie鈥, 鈥楽coop of Vanilla鈥, and 鈥楻aspberry Whip鈥.
No one ever claimed that cultivars names are always tasteful, and it鈥檚 crazy to expect that the gifted breeder who produced a new daylily also will have the talent to name it. We don鈥檛 expect the composer to write the lyrics.
Some breeders are appellatively inspired, however 鈥 for example, 鈥楢 Bloom With a View鈥.
Daylilies probably have so many most outrageous cultivar names because there are so many to name. About 1,000 new cultivars are registered with the AHS each year, bringing the 2010 total to 69,137. (Fittingly there is a daylily named 鈥楢2Z鈥.)
Even numbers on that scope can鈥檛 absolve names like 鈥楩ruit Loops鈥, 鈥楢 Babbling Baboon鈥檚 Bouncing Babies鈥, 鈥楶ygmy Paramour鈥, 鈥楢 Bulldog鈥檚 Face Chewing a Thistle鈥, 鈥楽tupidville USA鈥, and 鈥楽cooter Pooper.鈥
If these were kids, they鈥檇 disown their parents.
Editor's Note: Readers may also be interested in an article about How to have a 'Star Trek' garden planted with daylilies and hostas that have names like Borg Technology and Captain Kirk.
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Karan Davis Cutler blogs regularly at Diggin鈥 It. To read more, click here. She's a former magazine editor and newspaper columnist and the author of scores of garden articles and more than a dozen books, including 鈥淏urpee - The Complete Flower Gardener鈥 and 鈥淗erb Gardening for Dummies.鈥 Karan now struggles to garden in the unyieldingly dense clay of Addison County, Vt., on the shore of Lake Champlain, where she is working on a book about gardening to attract birds and other wildlife.