Day lilies with their exotic blooms are superb and easy to grow garden plants

Growing day lilies is so easy and as one of summer's flowering delights the day lily deserves to be more widely grown and can be ordered easily over the internet.

Also known by their Latin name of hemerocallis, day lilies are native to the temperate areas of Japan, Siberia, China and Eurasia.

There are 15 known species of day lilies but only a few of these are grown in gardens today. The day lily species Hemerocallis minor, with its graceful grass-like foliage and vivid yellow flowers provides the garden with dense clumps of sweetly perfumed ground cover plants.

Day lily species Hemerocallis fulva 'Kwanso' has star shaped rusty red flowers and Hemerocallis liloasphodelus AGM is clump forming with delightful yellow flowers Both are very popular day lilies.

And the species day lily Hemerocallis dumortieri is late spring flowering with light yellow flowers and dark bud from May into June.

Daylilies readily hybridize and the modern day lily owes much to the work of Dr Arlow Burdette Stout who spent over 40 years at New York Botanical Gardens hybridizing and growing day lilies.

Dr Stout is responsible for introducing about 100 cultivars of day lily and published the definite work on these plants, titled simply Daylilies. 

The day lily is a remarkably tough and resilient plant able to survive with very little care and in a wide range of climates. It does best in ordinary garden soil that retains some moisture in summer and prefers a sunny spot but will tolerate some, but not deep, shade. So growing daylilies shouldn't be much of a problem in most gardens.

In fact the day lily is the ideal summer plant. And with careful selection you can have daylilies flowering from late spring well into the fall.

When growing day lilies remember that mature clumps of daylilies should be lifted and divided approximately every three years. This keeps them flowering well and promotes vigor. Do this immediately after flowering or in early spring.

Also be aware that when choosing a daylily, many of the evergreen and semi-evergreen varieties that come from the southern United States may not be fully hardy in northern states or in the UK. However these make ideal pot plants.

Growing day lilies in pots, particularly the less hardy cultivars, is easy and means you can bring them inside for the winter where they need very little attention other than the occasional water to stop them drying out completely. They can then be divided and repotted in spring ready for the coming summer.

The daylily has a few pests and disease to look out for. The most serious, particularly in the southern United States, is Hemerocallis rust. Always buy from a reputable source and if you suspect your plant has rust then remove the infected leaves and burn them. Don't compost diseased leaves. If the disease is serious then destroy the whole plant.

Clumps of growing day lilies attract slugs and snails and these can be a problem to young leaves and flowers. Regularly inspect the day lily clumps and destroy and slugs and snails before their numbers build up.

In yellow flowered varieties of day lilies the Hemerocallis gall midge can prevent flowering and cause bud distortion. Remove infected buds by hand and destroy.

The natural form of the day lily flower is trumpet shaped but it also comes in other forms including spider shaped, circular, star shaped, flat and ruffled.

When growing daylilies you're spoilt for choice. Here's just a few to choose from.

Some Day Lily Varieties

• Chicago Sunrise has golden yellow flowers and is an evergreen perennial.
• Janice Brown is unusual in that it has a light pink flower and a rosy pink centre. It is very free flowering.
• Pandora's Box is a beauty with large cream flowers and a purple eye.
• Stella de Oro flowers from June to August. It's low growing and ideal for the front of a border and has masses of golden yellow trumpet shaped flowers. One of the best.
• Lime Frost is one of the best of the white flowered varieties.
• Lily Luxury Lace flowers from July through August. It's flowers are peachy with a faint lavender tint.
• Golden Chimes AGM gives a massed display of small bronzy yellow flowers during July and August.
• Golden Zebra has striking yellow variegated foliage and exotic sunshine yellow flowers. It likes full sun and is long flowering. Ideal for pots and containers.