Daylilies

One of the first things I noticed when we bought our farm was the orange daylilies growing along the south and east sides of the pump house. They bloomed for weeks and required no care whatever.

Now, more than fifty years later, the daylilies are still there, tough as nails. Deer eat them, rabbits eat them, dry weather slows them down, winter doesn’t faze them. A couple years ago I did a little research on this vigorous daylily that grows wild alongside roads and many other places across the country. Because of where it is commonly found, it is often called a “Ditch Lily.”

I learned that daylilies have been around for thousands of years, originating in Asia and soon spreading around the world. Daylilies bloom for but one day—but a single stalk can have many flowers on it. The genus name for daylilies is Hemerocallis, which comes from two Greek words, hemeros, which means “day” and kallios which means “beauty.”

My brother, Darrel knows daylilies. As a professional plant breeder and former nursery owner, Darrel has introduced some 420 new types of daylilies—real beauties each one. While the old orange daylilies were called Ditch Lilies, Darrel’s carry such names as Pardon Me, Happy Returns, I’ll See You Again, Orginal Score, and Majestic Heights to mention a few names. No Ditch Lilies for Darrel. See photo above for a few examples of his creations.



THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Add a little color to your life. Plant some daylilies.

UPCOMING EVENTS:


--August 3, 1:00 p.m. Chilton Library. With Sue. Old Farm Country Cookbook.

--August 7, 5:30 p.m. Downtown Madison Historical Museum. With Sue. Old Farm County Cookbook.

--Sept 8. 10 a.m. Mt. Horeb Library, Once a Professor.

Purchase Jerry’s signed DVDs and books from the Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them):

Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
Phone: 920-622-3835

DVDs: His latest Public TV show, One-Room Country School is now available. It’s based on his book, One-Room Country Schools (also available). Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps (based on The Quiet Season book.)

Jerry Apps a Farm Story (based on Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm books.)

The Land with Jerry Apps, (based on the book Whispers and Shadows,)

Never Curse the Rain, (based on his book with the same title)

The library has several of Jerry’s signed books for sale including Jerry’s newest nonfiction books, Once a Professor, Every Farm Tells a Story, Living a County Year (reprints), One-Room Country Schools, Never Curse the Rain and Old Farm Country Cookbook, and his novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. Also Wisconsin Agriculture: A History, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guidebook for those who want to write their own stories.

Contact the library for prices and special package deals.