In the project that we mentioned in a previous post, the plants have evolved a lot in recent months and on this occasion we want to highlight Hemerocallis “Mary Guenther” for the spectacular flowering state in which it is found.
Hemerocallis “Mary Guenther” or Hemerocallis bicolor is a herbaceous, perennial and rhizomatous plant, native to China. It is commonly known as St. John’s lily or daylily.
Its habit is that of a loose clump, formed by long, narrow leaves, reaching a height of about 70cm and about 40cm wide.
Its flowering takes place from late spring to mid-summer. Despite the fact that, as one of its common names refers, its flowers are short-lived, during the flowering season the flowers succeed one another offering continuous flowering during the summer months. The flower is formed by six petals, three orange and three garnet, which gives it great chromatic dynamism.
It adapts well to being located in both full sun and semi-shade, although in shady areas its flowering will not be as abundant. It is an easy-to-grow plant with medium growth, which accepts all types of soils but prefers them well-drained and with a certain organic matter content. Although it is very resistant to lack of water, it grows well in medium or slightly moist soils.
Regarding care, Hemerocallis benefits from fertilizing the soil before planting with an organic fertilizer and, if necessary, reinforcing it with mineral fertilizer for flowering plants during the flowering season. It is not especially necessary to remove wilted flowers, but this will favor more abundant and prolonged flowering.
At the end of flowering, the flower stalks should be removed from the base and at the end of autumn the dry leaves from the base of the clump should be removed. After several years the flowering may be less abundant, then it will be time to divide the clumps, an operation that can be carried out in spring or autumn, to rejuvenate the plant.
It is a very drought-resistant plant and resistant to lack of irrigation, as well as to low temperatures, withstanding intense frosts down to -15ºC. This species may present some pest problems, if the plant is weakened, mainly aphids, while in humid areas its leaves can be attacked by slugs and snails. But these problems, if detected and treated in time, will not generate serious problems for the plant. On the contrary, it does not usually suffer from any type of disease.
Hemerocallis adapts very well to pot cultivation and its flowers can be used as cut flowers.
Currently at Sala Graupera there are other Hemerocallis cultivars such as H. “Earlianna” with yellow flowers and H. “Merry Monarch” with red flowers.