Hemerocallis 'PARDON ME' daylily

Pardon Me? Well, that’s a good name for a daylily 😊. As if it wants to attract attention to its unexpected uniqueness. It belongs to smaller cultivars with medium-sized, yet very beautiful flowers. They are 6-7 cm across, bell-shaped but upright, deep cranberry-red with a yellow throat. It blooms from about mid-July and continues for almost a month, and well-established plants with enough nutrients rebloom again in late summer. The leaves are narrower than those of large-flowered hybrid varieties, and the plant forms a dense clump.

This variety was bred and introduced in 1982 by Darrel Apps of Centerton Nursery in Bridgeton, New Jersey, USA. He made his first daylily cross in 1969 and, like many others, strives to combine the qualities of southern species and varieties with the hardiness of northern ones to create plants that would reliably thrive in locations where daylilies are at the edge of their hardiness zones and, most importantly, bloom for more than 2 weeks. Among many others, in collaboration with Danny Blew he introduced the entire Happy Ever Appster® series, with varieties which can bloom at least three times during the summer, which is completely unique for daylilies. He retired in 2007 but continued with his breeding work to this day, he has developed over 450 cultivars.

The leaves are deep green, strong and healthy. They appear early in the spring and persist until winter unlike spring bulbs whose leaves wither away after flowering. Apart from occasional slug attack there are no pests or diseases they would suffer from. Put your day lilies on a sunny spot and fertilize it for better flowering every spring, if you want to. It tolerates all types of soil, preferably it likes moist soil. Very hardy to min. -40 °C (USDA zone 3).

Last update 31-07-2013; 01-02-2025