Question: I have heard of miniature daylilies. Can they be used as a border on garden paths? Michelle, Morganton, NC
Answer: Michelle, most people think of the modern daylily hybrid as a bright, colorful, robust, and vigorous perennial requiring a lot of space, but you can have daylilies in miniature, too!
These daylilies “diminutives” began their start from two species, Hemerocallis minor and Hemerocallis multiflora.
With patience and careful selection, breeders have combined the two to produce varieties that now come with names and colors like Aztec Gold (Gold), Baby Darling (Purple-Grape), and Black Eyed Stella (Yellow) are available to the landscape gardener.
Some History of Miniature Daylilies
One ancestor of this group, Hemerocallis minor, is one of our oldest daylilies. It grows about a foot tall and produces yellow flowers 3 inches across in May.
Although it sends up quite a few stems, these are poorly branched, and it is a shy bloomer.
Some years ago (decades), a new species was obtained from Asia – Hemerocallis multiflora, which had tiny flowers and significantly well-branched stems.
Since Hemerocallis minor is early flowering and dwarf, while Hemerocallis multiflora is late flowering and has the desirable branching habit lacking in Hemerocallis minor, it seemed likely that a mingling of these species would produce a new race of daylily miniatures with better garden value.
The first of these new hybrids was named “Mignon.” This plant had grasslike foliage about a foot high and dainty 2″ inch flowers. It bloomed rather profusely on wiry 30″ inch stems, which swayed gently in the breeze.
Perhaps because it was yellow and came at a time when most daylily enthusiasts concentrated on larger flowers and new colors, Mignon attracted very little attention from gardeners.
Some, however, could visualize similar miniature daylilies in red, pink, purple, and multicolored patterns. So, Mignon was not entirely neglected but found its place in breeding programs planned for these miniature daylilies.
Two Classes And Use Of Small Daylilies
The multiflora characteristic of tall stems seems dominant, and it has taken time to produce plants with short limbs and tiny flowers.
There are two classes of miniature daylilies: the dwarfs, which are low growing but often have pretty large flowers, reflecting their inheritance from Hemerocallis minor or other large-flowered parent stock; and the miniatures, which have tiny flowers, sometimes only an inch across, but which tend to have taller stems.
Many selections make these miniature daylilies valuable additions to the rock garden or low permanent borders along garden paths.
Hybridizing has created small-flowered dwarfs and miniatures with sprays of little bells available in a full-color range for our borders and rock gardens. Now is the time to start collecting them.
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