Family Asphodelaceae
Originating from China, Korea, and Japan.
- Rich green, strap-shaped leaves form a lush, spreading clump.
- Large scarlet trumpet-shaped flowers with green/orange throats appear over a long period.
- An easy-to-grow, hardy herbaceous perennial thriving in any soil in full sun.
The Chicago Apache Daylily in Your Garden
Fulsome and plush, broad and loud, this velvety-looking daylily has elegantly wide flaring and recurving, deep burning red petals. They form a crucible around the molten, glowing yellow/orange throat and golden pollen-tipped stamens. A slender curving style projects gracefully from each flower, adding the final touch to its incredibly beautiful blooms.
This hardy perennial, suitable for all UK gardens, reaches 80cm high and 50cm wide in 2–5 years. It forms a slowly spreading clump of foliage, producing many flower spikes during the summer. One of the best vivid red garden perennials, it flowers for many weeks in full sun or part shade. Each bloom lasts only a day, but an individual spike bears many buds, opening in succession.
Its sensational floral display is worthy of flamboyant exotic planting schemes in Norfolk’s seaside gardens. It suits mixed borders in Suffolk’s cottage gardens, Mediterranean coastal gravel gardens, and is even adaptable to light shade.
Growing Tips for Your Hemerocallis ‘Chicago Apache’
- Soil and Sun: Plant in any well-drained soil. Full sun is best for prolific flowering.
- Planting: Set in spring or autumn; summer planting requires extra attention to watering. Plunge for 20 minutes to drench the root ball before planting. Do not add compost or improvers to the soil.
- Watering: Moderate; tolerates dry spells once established. Water regularly in its first summer while it is rooting out.
- Pruning: Remove spent blooms; cut back foliage in late autumn.
The emergence of its flower spikes in early summer heralds a long display from this vivid red garden perennial. They bear many fat buds that continue to form after the first flowers open, beginning a succession lasting for many weeks. Planted in drifts, the extravaganza of large fleshy blooms is one of the highlights of the gardening year.
Planting Ideas for Chicago Apache
Be a horticultural hell-raiser, torch your garden with a radical, outrageous display of colour. Your arsenal of Daylily delights includes yellow, orange, red, purple, and near black, begging to be recklessly deployed.
Add Hemerocallis ‘Bonanza’, ‘Hyperion’, and ‘Frans Hals’ to purple and blue planting schemes and stand back. Agapanthus ‘Lapis’ and ‘Northern Star’, Agastache ‘Blue Boa’, and Salvias ‘Midnight Purple’ and ‘Nachtvlinder’ create havoc with the Hemerocallis.
Add the darker, smouldering daylilies to bright yellow or white plantings. Hemerocallis ‘Black Plush’, ‘Dominic’, and ‘Paint it Black’ dramatise lighter colours, adding heat with their smouldering orange and yellow markings. Agapanthus ‘Queen Mum’, ‘Twister’, and africanus ‘Albus’, Carlina acaulis, and Dianthus arenarius pop in their presence.
