I am sure that when the clumps get bigger and the novelty of the daylily blooms wears off I will not inspect the clumps every day to see which new one has opened a bloom. But at the moment they provide a nice surprise each morning to see what has opened and, if they are new to bloom, to see if they are as lovely as I expected.

I have not quite decided which daylilies I like best, though the more I grow the more I am gravitating towards simpler, yellow varieties. Some of the really ‘fancy’ ones are a bit too much – to me at least. But I do like ‘spider’ and ‘UFO’ (unusual form) varieties. And here is ‘Heavenly Mr Twister’ which has blooms 20cm across. It was introduced in 2004, bred by Gossard, is winter-dormant, diploid and is 110cm high in bloom, though mine is rather shorter. I like the ‘madness’ of the flowers with a whirling curl of petals. It looks best when just one flower opens. The colour does not ‘scream’ across the garden but when you do notice it it merits a closer look.

‘Curly Cinnamon Windmill’ is rather similar but shorter and was an earlier introduction. It was introduced in 1997, bred by Crochet, is winter-dormant, diploid and is 80cm high in bloom. Flowers are 22cm across. The brighter colour makes more of an impact in the garden.

‘Nob Hill’ is rather ancient in comparison and is supposed to be pink – which I suppose it could be if you use your imagination and think of it as ‘peachy pink’. It was introduced in 1962, bred by D F Hall, is winter-dormant, diploid and is 100cm high in bloom, though mine is still rather shorter. It does have good bud count though.

‘Bandolero’ is a rich orange double. I have planted a few doubles though I am not sure if I really like them. But the fact that the flowers are not overly stuffed with petals and have a simple colour is making me admire this more every day. It is also vigorous and has made a good clump with lots of stems and lots of buds. It was introduced in 1972, bred by Grooms, is winter-dormant, diploid and is 90cm high in bloom. The flowers are 12cm across.

I have mentioned ‘Wedding Band’ before and it looks lovely with some self-sown calendula ‘Snow Princess’. I like this more, every time a flower opens. I still don’t quite see the cream flowers with a yellow rim it is supposed to have but I like the broad petals, elegant frills and the fact that the petals are not recurved so much that all elegance is lost.

‘Nile Crane’ has been slightly disappointing because the flowers are supposed to be lavender. The anticipation was not rewarded. If I had expected pink I would like it more but because it is less extraordinary than I had hoped I feel a bit let down. However, it has done well, has lots of buds and despite being shorter than it should be, is quite colourful. It was introduced in 1978 bred by Munson, evergreen, tetraploid and is 65cm high in bloom. The flowers are 12 cm across.

‘El Desperado’ is one of my favourites with a bright colour and showy eye pattern. It also has a long season of bloom. It shouts at you from across the garden. It was introduced in 1991, bred by Stamile, is winter-dormant, tetraploid and is 70cm high in bloom. Flowers are 12cm across.

All these have some fragrance, a requisite to me planting them. They do smell if you make the effort to sniff them but tuberose they ain’t.

hemerocallis bandolero, Hemerocallis curly cinnamon windmill, hemerocallis heavenly mr twister, Hemerocallis nile crane, Hemerocallis nob hill, hemerocallis wedding band