Rough draft 3/21/2022
Intro
Daylily ‘Happy Returns’ is well-named, as its buttery yellow flowers seem to return endlessly with non-stop blooms from May to frost. Perfect for a perennial bed, garden border, or container, it will brighten your day with cheery, fragrant, 3″ flowers. Daylilies are among the easiest flowers to grow, and this plant pays back big dividends with continuous blooms. This plant is pollinator friendly, as well as deer and rabbit resistant. A flower that goes well with this and compliments each other is a tall shasta daisy bunch. Shasta Daisies have white petals with a yellow center which can complement the daylily when choosing a yellow hue from the daylily color choices.
Planting and Growth
There will be blooms from June-October, ‘Happy Returns’ provides flower blooms for 4+ months. What can give you the best flower bursts is by taking the time to deadhead the blooms (cut off the old flower stalks at the base). By practicing this even more blossoms will produce. By just leaving the stalks up to form seed pods and ripen over the summer may give you a burst in the fall.
Daylilies should be planted in full sun or partial shade, meaning that the plants will receive 4-6 hours of sunlight per day. Most of the time the preference of full sun is labeled under care but occasionally colorful daylily blooms can be found under the shade of tall trees. Wherever some shade is present, the daylily flowers will face away from it toward the sun and open sky.
The daylilies come in different colors. Choose your favorite(s) between the choices of orange, pink, purple, red, white and the traditional yellow. The ideal or recommended time to plant daylilies is in the spring. Choose the time when the soil is easy to prepare for planting and frost free temperatures have ended and the night temperatures are well above 32 degrees fahrenheit. You may also choose to plant daylilies in the early fall, at least 6 – 8 weeks before the first frost. This autumn planting time can help these plants be established to continually grow and bloom year after year.
Conclusion
Happy Returns’ is the ideal low maintenance perennial for the busy or novus gardener. Among some of the beautiful Daylily attributes is that the flowers stay open for 16 hours a day once in full bloom. From early morning until after dusk these yellow touches of sunshine flowers in your yard or garden can be a bright delight. Also butterflies are attracted to the bright colors of daylilies. This can be a beautiful sight seeing fluttering colors above your flowers in your garden space.
Resource links
https://www.almanac.com/plant/daylilies
https://www.longfield-gardens.com/article/all-about-daylilies/