Six hundred daylilies not too many for McCook gardener

Janet Haag with one of her daylilies in her backyard in McCook. Haag has more than 600 daylilies but doesn't have a favorite. "They're like kids, you don't have a favorite because you love them all," she said. (Lorri Sughroue/McCook Gazette)

McCOOK, Neb. -- There's never too much of a good thing, Janet Haag believes.

That's because she collects daylilies and at last count, has about 600 of them.

But that's just a drop in the bucket, Haag maintained, with her collection pretty meager compared to others.

"There are some hybridizers out there with 3,000, even 6,000," she said.

She never intended on collecting so many, Haag said. It started about 10 years ago when Haag's sister sent her three daylilies for her birthday. Already an avid gardener, she planted them and then began to buy a couple here and there at discount stores and garden centers. Then, she attended her first regional convention, where Haag met dozens of daylilly aficionados, collectors and hybridizers.

"I found out that I'm not so crazy, there are other people who are even more obsessed than I am," she said.

Since then, she got serious about her daylilies and now, they cover almost every available space in her backyard, as well as the lot she owns next door. She's planted all kinds of varieties, from early, mid and late bloomers, tiny ones at five inches to those with scapes up to four feet tall. There are doubles, singles and spider daylilies; those with ruffled "pie crust" or spiky "shark's tooth" edges; diamond dusting, when petals sparkle with an iridescent sheen and everything in between.

Then there's her "Sci Fi" collection, daylilies with names like"Wild Frontier" and "Alien in the Garden"; the candy collection, a special cultivar of daylilly with names like Custard Candy and Strawberry Candy and daylilies with names of her kids and grandkids. She also has two rows of Stout winners, daylilies judged each year by the American Hemerocallis Society as the best of the best. Haag has winners beginning with the first award 1950 up until last year, showing how the flower has evolved through the past 60 years from the single petaled orange variety to more complex shades of purple, red, pink and white.

She rarely fertilizes ("Although I should," she said, "so sometimes I throw some lawn fertilizer on them") and doesn't divide often. But she does mulch each year and deadheads (removing spent blooms) religiously each day.

And she's not too keen in hybridizing her own, because "You have get up too early to collect the pollen, before the bees and other pollinators get there," she said.

But daylilies have her heart for several reasons, Haag said, including its easy-going nature that can take scorching summers and sub-zero winters and it's lavish flowers that are delicate yet durable. With blooms lasting only a day, she looks for high petal and bud count and good branching. "You only get one flower a day, so it better be good," she said, smiling. "That's why I like them so much. With daylilies, there's a new flower every morning."

Her massive garden also integrates perennials and bulbs to keep the color going all season, beginning with tulips and daffodils in spring followed by iris, peonies, penstemon, Asiatic and Oriental lillies, ornamental grasses and more. With paths winding around the gardens, she also has metal art, fruit trees, vegetables and a pond with goldfish.

Despite her love of flowers, there is one thing you won't find a lot of in her garden: roses.

"My parents collected roses and I know all too well the high maintenance they take," she said. "Cutting them back, fertilizing, covering them for winter, the thorns. No thanks. Daylilies are so easy to have, I think I'll stick with them."

All 600 of them.