DAYLILIES AT PEAK BLOOM IN LENDONWOOD GARDENS

Visitors are encouraged to view colorful daylilies now in full bloom at Lendonwood Gardens, a public botanical garden located at 1308 Har-Ber Road in Grove.  The popular perennial is a June highlight of the garden, with dozens of varieties on display.

Lendonwood is open every day from dawn to dusk.  The garden’s Welcome Center is open Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays from 12 noon to 4 p.m.  When the Welcome Center is closed, visitors may enter the garden through the front gate and pay for admission at the red box.

Daylilies may be viewed at a large bed in the garden’s front section that features many unusual and award-winning cultivars of the flowering plant.  Daylilies also are sprinkled throughout beds adjacent to the Oklahoma Garden, an area that displays “Oklahoma Proven” plants, shrubs and trees.

The daylily’s botanical name, Hemerocallis, is a combination of the Greek “hemera,” meaning “day,” and “kallos,” meaning “beauty.”  It was so named because each flower lasts one day.  However, each scape, or stalk, may have 12 to 15 flower buds; and a mature plant may have four to six scapes, allowing for lengthy enjoyment of the blooms.

The colorful plant is popular for its beauty, but also for its ease of maintenance.  Daylilies tend to be disease-free, pest-free and drought-tolerant; soil quality also is not an issue.  However, they sometimes become a target for nibbling deer, especially when fresh green foliage appears in the spring.

Daylilies come in thousands of varieties, many different color combinations, and flowering times.  By combining some from all flowering times, gardeners may have daylilies in bloom throughout the growing season.  They may be planted in the spring, when soil can be worked, or early fall, at least six weeks before the first frost.

Daylilies grow best in full sun, but have been known to thrive in part shade.  After getting established, they may spread rapidly and need to be divided, usually every three to five years.  Besides limiting their spread, dividing daylilies can give them a fresh start with more and better blooms.

Because of the need to divide the plants, daylily starts are often included in Lendonwood’s Annual Plant Sale, scheduled this year for Saturday, September 30, at the garden.

Lendonwood Gardens is an eight-acre botanical garden managed by a local Board of Directors.  Besides daylilies, highlights of the garden include azaleas, rhododendrons, peonies, dogwoods, Japanese maples, camellias, viburnums and hostas.

Admission fees are $5 for adults, $3 for students, and free admission for children under 12 and for members.