My favorite plant this week: Hemerocallis 'Spanish Harlem'

Once again this week, I had a prolonged debate with myself about which plant to feature as my favorite.  I flip-flopped on my choice up until the point I sat down to write this post.  All my candidates won my respect by sailing through last week's heatwave with nary a tinge of leaf burn.  In the end, Hemerocallis 'Spanish Harlem' won out, mainly because it's up front and center - literally - waving at me every time I walk up to my front door.  I planted clumps of this daylily in the beds on either side of our front walkway in November 2011.

I didn't have daylilies at our old house and frankly had little interest in them until we moved into our current house over 3 years ago.  I inherited 3-4 dozen with the house, all the same dormant variety with red-orange flowers.  The vigor of the genus even under the hot, dry conditions here made be look into evergreen and reblooming varieties.  'Spanish Harlem,' advertised as an evergreen rebloomer with flowers that are "soot black underlaid with pink," was one of my earliest purchases.

In this case the camera doesn't lie.  The flower color is fairly represented in my photos.  The yellow-green inside the flower's throat adds to its appeal.  The flowers themselves are large, 5-6 inches (13-15 cm) in size when open.

I know that some people don't like the maintenance daylilies require but I don't mind snapping off their fading blooms.  Even with a dozen new flowers blooming each day, it only takes a minute on one of my many trips out the front door to clean the plant up.  However, I do have to be a bit careful with this particular daylily as sap dripped by the flowers can stain both hands and clothes.  In fact, I suspect the inky purplish substance could be used as a dye.

Sap from snapped flowers stained the foliage below here

Despite the plant's apparent happiness in the mostly sun borders at the front of the house I may move it eventually.  The grower I bought them from, as well as most of those offering the plant on-line, projected a height of 26 inches (66 cm).  Mine have reached 40 inches (1 meter) in height, putting them out of proportion with the surrounding plants in the front borders, at least at this time of year.  The Gaura lindheimeri planted in front of them will eventually reach nearly that height but, by the time it does, the daylilies will be finishing up their spring-summer bloom cycle.  This is a reliable rebloomer.  The heaviest bloom occurs in late spring to early summer but it blooms here again in November into early December.

Hemerocallis 'Spanish Harlem' is my contribution to Loree's favorite plant meme at danger garden.  Please visit her to see her spiky favorite this week.  If you have a favorite you'd like to share, you can post a link to your photos and commentary on her site.