wild orange lily flower Original Orange Daylily, Hemerocallis

wild orange lily flower Original Orange Daylily, HemerocallisUp to 48 tall by 20 24 wide. Our Original Orange daylily is a favorite in gardens nationwide for good reason. It grows beautifully in full sun and can also brighten a partly shaded corner with little or no maintenance. This clump forming perennial shoots strappy leaves skyward in early spring to give green accents and texture to beds, borders, wild spaces and woodlands. In mid summer, multi headed flower scapes are topped with trumpets of deep orange

Up to 48” tall by 20-24” wide. Our Original Orange daylily is a favorite in gardens nationwide for good reason. It grows beautifully in full sun and can also brighten a partly-shaded corner with little or no maintenance. This clump forming perennial shoots strappy leaves skyward in early spring to give green accents and texture to beds, borders, wild spaces and woodlands. In mid-summer, multi-headed flower scapes are topped with trumpets of deep orange that reveal gorgeous yellow throats and delight all manner of pollinators. It’s not a fussy species, and thrives in either poor or rich soils. ‘Original Orange’ will spread with time via underground tubers and seeds, helping to smother out pesky weeds, yet easy to keep in check (Hemerocallis fulva)

The story of the original wild orange Daylily. First of all, it isn't really wild. It isn't native to North America. And it isn't really a lily. Daylilies have the genus name Hemerocallis, not Lilium, the genus name of the true lilies. And Daylilies don't grow from bulbs like true lilies, either. However, they do grow from a mass of thickened roots that hold so much moisture and nutrients, the plants can survive out of the ground for weeks. This survival system is the main reason the Daylily has been such a world traveler.

The famous old orange Daylily is named Hemerocallis fulva, and is native to China, Japan and Korea, but today is common all over the world. The buds have been cooked for food for centuries in Asia, but the flowers are what people love in North America. (Here, its often mistakenly called Tiger Lily, but that's the name of a taller true lily, not a Daylily. Both are orange.) The famous old orange one is not the only wild Daylily, just the most famous. There are 20 Daylily species, worldwide. From these 20 plants, more than 20,000 hybrids have been created.