Hemerocallis Happy Ever Appster™ 'Happy Returns'

Hemerocallis Happy Ever Appster™ 'Happy Returns': Reblooming Yellow Built for the North

'Happy Returns' is the friend who keeps sending birthday cards long after everybody else forgot. Lemon-yellow flowers, a light fragrance and one round of blooms after another. MANY HAPPY RETURNS, LITERALLY.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Hemerocallis 'Happy Returns'
• Common Name: Daylily
• Series: Happy Ever Appster™, a reblooming daylily group bred by Dr. Darrel Apps
• Height: 40–45 cm (16–18 in) in flower
• Spread: 45–60 cm (18–24 in)
• Flowers: Lemon yellow, lightly fragrant, about 8 cm (3 in) across
• Bloom Time: Early summer to early fall, with repeat flushes (June to September)
• Foliage: Narrow, arching green leaves; dies back in winter
• Features: Reblooming

Where to Plant: Its short height makes it a front-of-border plant, so line a walkway with it, edge a driveway bed, mass it on a slope where mowing is a chore, or plant it in a large container. It tolerates heavy clay, which defeats plenty of perennials in Ontario and Quebec yards.

Companion Plants: Iris 'Butter and Sugar' adds bicolour iris flowers in May and June, before the yellow daylily begins. Edge the bed with Ceratostigma plumbaginoides for blue flowers from August to October. Place Hibiscus 'Marshmallow Moon' behind for big white flowers from July to September. These all grow well in full sun or part sun.

Plant Care: Plant in full sun for the best rebloom. It manages in part sun, with fewer flowers. Any average, well-drained soil works. Water through the first season, then mainly during dry stretches. A steady supply of water in summer helps it keep reblooming. Remove spent flowers and cut finished stems to the base to keep the plant tidy and pushing new buds. Clean up the foliage in late fall or early spring. Divide every three or four years in spring or early fall when the clump gets crowded. Daylilies are toxic to cats.

History: 'Happy Returns' was bred by Dr. Darrel Apps, who worked for decades on reblooming daylilies for northern gardens, and it descends from 'Stella de Oro'. Apps and Danny Blew of Centerton Nursery in Bridgeton, New Jersey later gathered his best rebloomers into the Happy Ever Appster™ group.

Final Thoughts: Line the driveway and let it welcome you home all season. Drought tolerant once settled. THE PARTY FAVOUR THAT KEEPS ON GIVING.