Hemerocallis 'INDIAN PAINTBRUSH'

Daylilies are flowering queens for one day. Each bloom lasts a day but there is no need to worry – every stem bears more blooms and as the plants grow older they have numerous stems each. This low-maintenance perennial is a miracle for those who have limited time to spend looking after their gardens because apart from occasional watering on hot and dry summer day it needs ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. And still it can leave us gazing at their beautiful, lily-like blooms of every possible colour you can think of (except for blue and black).

Indian Paintbrush is a large-flowered tetraploid daylily (with 4 sets of chromosomes: total 44 in each cell). The flowers are 13 cm across, open wide with slightly curved petals, deep golden orange, with a slughtly darker orange eye around a golden throat. They appear atop 60-70 cm tall stems from late July until late August. Leaves are deciduous.

Bred by R. Griesbach from DePaul University in Chicago, USA, in 1979. Robert A.Griesbach, PhD, was the first to achieve a method of double the sets of chromosomes to 4 instead of two. His first plant flowered in 1959. Such tetraploid breeding enables more colour combinations, larger flowers, and often also prolonged or even repeated flowering.

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 07-01-2019