Use & Care NotesCompanion Plants
Elegant Candy Daylily: Fragrant Ruffled Pink Beside Lavender
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Elegant Candy daylily opens round, heavily ruffled 4¼-inch flowers in medium candy pink with a bold triangular red eye and a green throat. The color holds well in the sun, and the flowers carry a noticeable sweet fragrance, especially in the evening and on warm days, which is not something every daylily can claim. It blooms from early July on 25-inch scapes over deep green, healthy foliage, and reblooms later.
Elegant Candy at a glance
| Trait | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Botanical name | Hemerocallis 'Elegant Candy' |
| Flowers | Medium pink, triangular red eye, green throat, about 4¼ inches |
| Fragrance | Moderate and sweet, strongest in the evening |
| Foliage | Deep green, arching; dormant type |
| Size | Foliage about 15 inches; scapes about 25 inches; 18 to 24 inches wide |
| Bloom | Starts early July, peaks mid-July, with rebloom |
| Hardiness | USDA zones 3 to 9 |
| Deer | Susceptible |
Two fragrances, one bed
Most daylilies add color but no scent. Elegant Candy adds both, which makes it an especially good neighbor for lavender: walk the bed on a warm July evening and you get lavender's herbal sweetness and the daylily's softer perfume together. The candy pink sits comfortably beside purple, and the red eye picks up the deeper tones in darker lavenders.
At about 25 inches, its flowers rise just above most English lavenders, so plant it in the middle of the bed or just behind a lavender row. Leave a little space so the daylily's arching leaves do not shade the lavender crowns. It blooms right with the lavender in July, then reblooms after the lavender harvest. The Companion Plant Planner can help you place it.
Planting and care
- Bare root planting: soak the roots, spread them over a mound of soil and set the crown about an inch below the surface. Water in well.
- Soil: average and well drained. Like most daylilies, it tolerates slopes, poor dry soil and even salted roadsides once established.
- Bloom care: each flower lasts a day. Snap off spent blooms and remove finished scapes promptly for rebloom.
- Fall: a dormant type that dies back completely; clean up foliage after hard frost.
- Winter: fully hardy in Michigan. Avoid soggy winter soil.
In wet summers, flowers can spot after rain and leaf streak may appear. Spacing for airflow helps both the daylily and the lavender.
Where else it shines
It is part of the Candy series of daylilies and works well massed along a sunny slope, in cottage borders or as a fragrant specimen near a patio where you sit in the evening. It is offered as a bare root plant; see the product page for current availability.
Frequently asked questions
Is it really fragrant?
Yes. It has a noticeable sweet scent, most obvious in the evening and on warm days.
Is it safe for cats?
No. All parts of daylilies are toxic to cats, so plant it where cats will not chew it.
Does the pink fade in sun?
The color holds well in sun, which is one of its strengths.
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