Emily's Daylily Garden

I found a brochure about Emily's Garden when I was in Florida at the American Hemerocallis Society Convention. While the apricot and pink colors are what I specialize in, my husband has a propensity to select red daylilies. It wasn't exactly the color of Emily's lilies that caught my eye, but the names were so unusual that I had to call this lady and find out the story about how she created the names for her new lilies.

About Emily

She has been married to Bob Olson (an Engineer) for 20 years. Bob is her chief seedling-bed refurbisher and is a native of upstate New York -- around Rochester.

Emily has been hybridizing since the 70's. Her first success was named VELVET BEADS. It appeared on the Daylily Journal cover in November of 1995. When she first saw VELVET BEADS bloom, its beauty overwhelmed her. It is the convergence of her three dormant red-tet breeding lines. It grows well in Zone 4, Zone 9 and performs even better farther south, which is unusual for a dormant.

Her mother, Eloise Vail Pitkin, was her inspiration for the daylily named GRAM'S DREAM in 1995. It seems her mother had a propensity for the toothy barbs. A cross of GRAM'S DREAM with a dormant red just gave its last bloom on Christmas Day. It was in the seventies here in Zone 9.

She has three children, but only her son John, of Bridgeton, N. J,. is in daylilies. It seems that she got serious about daylilies when he divided some of his plants with Emily during his college years. This was also the time that she was an AHS Award and Honor Garden judge. Her earlier friends started the Rochester Area Daylily Society with Dick Bennett, Region 4 RVP as a most generous and kind supporter. The daylily, DICK BENNETT in 1995 was named after him. It has a light edged and ruffled border and rose red coloring. It is a favorite in Oregon.

Angels in the Garden

Since there seemed to be edges everywhere in the daylily "patch," and time was short with the heat in Zone 9, she realized she could use extra help. Both she and her husband had heard a talk by a Presbyterian minister who had a Ph.D. in "Angels." He was explaining God's creative powers in very technical program, which was over our heads. He personally believes that there is an angel for every flower. In short, she decided to pray and ask the Lord, if it was His will, to put her in touch with the "Angel of Hemerocallis." Now, she prays for the inspirational names for her new Daylilies.

Journey Through Creation

Her spiritual journey continues through her choice of names. ABRAHAM in 1995, was one of the first. FAN THE FLAME in 1996 has a ruffled, gold edge, which is widest on the fourth set of scapes. It is the first VELVET BEADS child. ACQUIRE THE FIRE at Ellison Perennials in Illinois had uniform candelabra branching with 70 buds and rebloom during a drought season. KING'S BUSINESS is a close second with five way branching. PROMISE KEEPER in 1997, which is a red dormant, has the best color saturation. REFINER'S FIRE IN 1997, has the best gold edge on a flame dormant.

New 1998 Introductions

MOMENTUM ,with three inch petals and a ruffled, gold edge is a hybridizer's dream for every color, and especially for the edges." It is on the Daylily Journal cover of September, 1997. The color, tawny rose, is difficult to reproduce accurately.

PINK FANG is a baby-ribbon pink tet with teeth that are sometimes curly. It has some early blooms that are polytepal.

Growing Tips and Philosophy

It takes a generous portion of perseverance to do daylilies in the south. It is critical to choose "good parents" that have the genes that you want to incorporate for bloom and plant performance potential. However, the process by which you achieve this is important to you and to the future of the American Hemerocallis Society."

She uses Orthene to spray two or three times in the winter warm spells to squelch the pesky thrips. Natural controls are her method of choice. They include Red Spider mite predators and Green Lace Wings for "aphids are God's gift for healthy growing and a peaceful rest for gardeners."

Emily's Garden Location

The Olsen's have a two acre lot by the waterfront, with shrimping off the dock! They consider finding another lot across the street for Emily's Garden another blessing.

They belong to the Savannah Daylily Society. Their group hosts the Spring Tour for Region 5, and have granted her the privilege of being an Open Garden on Sunday morning during the Memorial Day weekend. She invites interested people to come or contact Emily Pitkin Olson at the following address: