Desert Flame is a reblooming daylily with large 5½-inch flowers in a blazing red-orange. The ruffled, recurved blooms have good substance, a lime green throat and orange stamens.
It flowers first in midseason and repeats later in the summer on tall, 36-inch scapes, and its foliage stays attractive all season. It is a strong choice for the middle or back of a sunny border.
What it looks like
Large flowers about 5½ inches across with ruffled, recurved tepals in vivid flaming red-orange, a lime green throat and prominent orange stamens. Each bloom lasts a day, but many buds open in turn on branched scapes rising to about 36 inches above a fountain of long, arching, strap-shaped medium green leaves. The foliage clump is about 22 inches tall and 18 to 24 inches wide. At peak bloom glowing red-orange flowers rise high above the leaves.
Growing it with lavender
Its fiery color makes a bold contrast behind lavender, in the same sunny, well-drained soil.
Care
Grow in full sun to light part shade (at least six hours of sun for the best bloom) in average, well-drained soil; once established it handles heat, clay and dry spells. Hardy in zones 3 to 9. Remove spent scapes promptly to encourage a later round of flowers, and divide crowded clumps every few years.
At a glance
-
Botanical name: Hemerocallis
-
Flower color: Flaming red-orange with a lime green throat
-
Foliage: Medium green
-
Growth habit: Arching, fountain-like clump
-
Mature size: 36 in tall × 18–24 in wide
-
USDA hardiness zones: 3–9
-
Light: full sun, part sun to part shade
-
Bloom start: Early-July
-
Peak bloom: Mid-July
-
Bloom pattern: Repeat Blooming
-
Deer resistance: Susceptible
-
Pollinator value: Good
Sizes and shipping
Dormant bare-root plant, sold in boxes of 25 per variety (order in multiples of 25). Bare-root plants ship or are picked up March 1–May 31 only. They are soil-free, so they may ship to every state in that window. Dormant plants often show little or no top growth on arrival; plant or heel them in promptly.