Any blooming flower is my current favorite flower, but some of the finest have lily in their name. Whether it is the early blooming Asiatic lily, the long blooming daylily or the late summer blooming Oriental lily, all provide rich color and lasting blooms in the garden or in a vase. Many release an intoxicating fragrance best enjoyed by an entryway or in an arrangement on your desk or nightstand ensuring pleasant greetings, sweet daydreams and gentle slumber.

Asiatic and Oriental lilies, members of the Lilium genus, are bulbs that are planted in the spring or fall in four to six inches of soil with a tablespoon of bone meal mixed in the hole, but no other fertilizer. Once the shoots sprout in the spring, use an equally balanced fertilizer such as 10-10-10. Lilies will reward you with strong vibrant flowers for many years if they receive this annual fertilization. Like clematis, lilies prefer to have their roots in shade and their tops in the sun. A light mulch will help keep the soil moist during the growing season and provide protection in the winter.

Lilies are attractive in the perennial border or when combined with hosta and fern. Their foliage emerges as tulips and daffodils begin to wither; hiding the yellowing leaves of the first harbingers of spring. A nice combination in my own garden is Oriental lily 'Muscadet' interplanted with the ornamental grass, Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light'. The white of the flower contrasts beautifully with the silver stripes of the grass. Growing beside my back steps is the intensely fragrant and crimson-toned 'Star Gazer' lily--a favorite of florists (and a local garden columnist). Generally blooming in late summer are lilies with recurved pendant flowers. The Turks cap shape of the Tiger Lily with its bright orange and black speckled flowers or the L. speciosum rubrum with its deep pink flowers bordered in white are knockouts at a time when other flowers are fading in the heat.

Driving through the country tawny daylilies (hemerocallis fulva) growing in clumps along roadsides or fence rows stand as resolute inhabitants of long abandoned homesteads. This rather plain looking daylily and its cousin, h. flava-a yellow daylily, were the only daylilies grown in the U.S. until 1860 when a double form of the orange daylily, a 'Kwanso' type, was introduced from Japan. Since that time, daylily hybridizers have developed thousands of new cultivars.

The daylily is often described as the perfect flower because of its array of colors, length of bloom, variety of shapes and sizes, adaptability to all types of soil and light conditions, and its ability to survive with little or no care. Unlike the Asian and Oriental lilies, the daylily does not grow from bulbs, but from tubers. It has long, grass-like leaves, and the flowers form on slender scapes rising above the foliage. Hemerocallis is Greek, meaning "beauty" and "day", and refers to the flowering period of each bloom that is usually one day per flower. Because so many flowers appear on each scape, the bloom period usually lasts several weeks, and with many new varieties such as 'Stello d'Oro', blooming is continual throughout the growing season. Deadheading keeps the plants looking attractive during the blooming period, and cutting the foliage back in late August will allow a new flush of fresh growth that will take the plant through fall. Older varieties seldom need dividing while newer hybrids look best if divided every three to four years. Daylilies may be divided any time during the growing season when they are not flowering. Dig the clumps and pull or cut them apart and replant. Daylilies will thrive with a fall feeding of aged manure or compost. Few pests bother daylilies, and a major plus for me in my garden is that rabbits don't eat them! Daylilies work well when planted en mass or combined with other perennials such as peonies, spiderwort, phlox, coreopsis, yarrow, asters and iris.

There are a number of terrific Web sites for information about daylilies. The best site is the American Hemerocallis Society at www.daylilies.org/ahs/. From here, you will find organizations, public gardens, hybridizers and sources, additional Web sites and recommended reading. Another site, DaylilySearch.com even allows you to comparison shop on-line! For an up-close look at a beautiful array of daylilies in all colors, sizes and fragrances visit HobbyCroft Gardens on Saturday or Sunday the last weekend in June and all of July in Shelbyville where Master Gardener, Kathryn Hobby, and her husband, Tom, grow and sell daylilies, iris and hosta.

Heather Stoa, a Master Gardener and executive director of Junior Achievement, is a regular contributor to the magazine. She can be reached by email at stoa@decaturmagazine.com or by calling 217-423-0422.