Hemerocallis 'NOSTRADAMUS'

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).

Do you think that Nostradamus also predicted that a daylily variety would be named after him exactly 500 years after his birth? Up to 15 cm wide flowers are rounded and perfectly symmetrical, and boast wide, golden orange petals with yellow ruffled margins. It is a tetraploid (with 4 sets of chromosomes: total 44 in each cell) that begins to flower in July, and reblooms again in August. Stems are 60-70 cm tall, leaves are semi-evergreen.

It was bred in 2003 by Steve Moldovan (1938-2006), an American breeder who devoted over 50 years to breeding daylilies. The key criteria were the colour and bud number. In late 1990's he added good shapes and symmetry: ruffled, scalloped, and frilled margins on rounded blooms i.e. an absolute contrary to the original wild species. During his fruitful, or we might rather say flowerful life he managed to breed and register incredible 468 varieties.

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 daylilies in 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 10-01-2019