Hemerocallis 'Always Afternoon'

Hemerocallis 'Always Afternoon': Medal-Winning Mauve With a Dark Eye

'Always Afternoon' lives for that lazy hour when the chores are done and the lawn chair is calling. Big mauve-purple flowers with a deeper purple eye, new ones opening every day. NAP TIME IS SACRED.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Hemerocallis hybrid
• Common Name: Daylily
• Height: 50–55 cm (20–22 in)
• Spread: 45–60 cm (18–24 in)
• Flowers: Large, mauve-purple with a purple eye zone and green throat, about 14 cm (5.5 in) across. Each flower lasts one day, with many buds per stem. Flowers are edible.
• Bloom Time: Early to midsummer, often with rebloom (June to August)
• Foliage: Arching, strap-shaped green leaves forming a tidy clump
• Features: Reblooming

Where to Plant: Use it in the front or middle of a sunny border, massed along a walkway, or as a tough, tidy edge along a driveway, since it copes with clay, heat and roadside conditions. Deer do eat the buds, so protect it where they are regular visitors.

Companion Plants: Echinops ritro rises behind the purple daylily with round blue heads from July to September. Echinacea 'Mellow Yellows' adds yellow coneflowers from June to October at 80 cm. Edge the bed with Aubrieta 'Rock On Blue' for blue spring flowers from April to June, before the daylily begins. All three are happy in full sun or part sun.

Plant Care: Plant in full sun to part sun, in average, well-drained soil. More sun means more flowers, at least six hours is best. Water regularly through the first season; once established, it handles dry spells well. Snap off spent flowers to keep it tidy, and cut the flower stems down once all their buds have opened. Clear away old foliage in late fall or early spring. Divide crowded clumps every few years in spring or late summer to keep it blooming well.

History: 'Always Afternoon' was hybridized by Morss and won the Stout Silver Medal in 1997, the highest award the American Daylily Society gives to a cultivar. The genus name Hemerocallis comes from the Greek for beauty and day, because each flower lasts only a single day.

Final Thoughts: Plant it near the deck and let it rebloom while you put your feet up. The flowers are even edible. SNACK AND A SHOW.