Hermerocallis 'Janice Brown'

Hemerocallis 'Janice Brown'

'Janice Brown' is an excellent daylily for people who dislike daylillies--to my surprise, there are a  lot of people who loathe the genus.   When asked for recommendations of tough flowering plants with moderate water requirements, I mention daylillies--and am greeted with a grimace, or a sigh and a "maybe something besides a daylily." 

Hemerocallis 'Janice Brown'

I understand the reluctance. They're common in commercial plantings in this area, where they live on and on , with browning leaves and spent flower scapes, in beds of increasingly thinning mulch and increasingly thickening weeds.   The plants are invariably the big, coarse kind, the  flowers are invariably the plain yellow kind, or the just-as-plain dried-blood red kind, neither of which appeals to me, either. 

So I lead my garden visitor to 'Janice Brown' and speak of her virtues.  She's small and somewhat slow growing--and so won't take up a huge spot, or swiftly crowd out a neighbor.  Flowers are dainty and perfect.  Because of their smaller size they dry up and drop off quickly, not leaving a sliming, dripping blob of plant flesh, as a larger flower will do.  The color is neither ordinary yellow nor dried-blood red.  It's a (fairly) clear warm pink with a coral eye, a pink clear enough to plant near purer pinks and not look filthy, as a lot of so-called "pink" daylillies will.   It's not as pure a pink as some, but it's not $175 a fan either--another virtue of 'Janice Brown' is the price:  inexpensive.  I've seen it in several places for $5.  

Hemerocallis 'Janice Brown'

I don't need to perform a hard sell on this little plant.  She's able to convince the daylily hater (most of the time) that her kind is worthy of at least a small spot in the garden. 

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