How to grow daylily ‘Iron Gate Glacier’

Culture sheet: ‘Iron Gate Glacier’ daylily

I love all daylilies , and I don’t know if it’s their foliage that appeals to me first, or the flower. For ‘Iron Gate glacier’, it’s the flower, that’s for sure! Moon yellow, with a small pale green heart …

The banded foliage, supple and very dense of these perennials, is interesting from the beginning of spring to the onset of winter, always remaining fresh, whether on the edge, in beds or in pots. In my natural garden, these tufts have their place everywhere… except when they are open. Because the flowers are far from having the aspect of wild ones. But I love them so much that I manage to place them a bit out of the way. I say ‘they’ because, having a collector’s soul, I enjoy myself with this great family. This HUGE family, because if there are only twenty species of daylilies , more than 40,000 varieties have been created!

Daylily ‘Iron Gate Glacier’

I fell in love with H. ‘Iron Gate Glacier’ while walking, last year, among the sumptuous collection of Clos de Coudray (76). The very pale yellow flower, tinged with lemon, with a small chartreuse green heart, seemed almost virginal, in the midst of its congeners. I rushed into the nursery, and phew, there were some available.

The flowers are about 15cm in diameter, and are very lightly scented. They bloom from June to September, in the middle of a tuft of 60 to 65cm high.

Born in 1971, ‘Iron Gate Glacier’ is as hardy as other daylilies. Very hardy, these perennials live without care: you just have to walk in old abandoned gardens to discover, at the bend of an alley, the perennial orange daylilies, which grow in the middle of the undergrowth. They thrive in any soil, even dry, in the sun or in partial shade. But if the earth is cool, they are all the more beautiful.

A flower for food lovers

There is another reason that makes me love daylilies: it’s their flavor and texture! Because, greedy, I cook and eat a lot of flowers. And daylily is my favorite. I sauté the buttons for one or two minutes, which I serve as vegetables. Or else I taste the flower as it is. Each variety has a different taste. And ‘Iron Gate Glacier’ is particularly exquisite.

Here’s how I’m serving her right now.

I cut cucumber and tomatoes into tiny dice, after removing the skin and seeds. I add miniature dice of feta, as well as chopped basil. I salt, pepper and tie it all together with a little olive oil. I stuff the daylilies, after having removed the pistil, a little too peppered, with this mixture, and in place three per plate, on a bed of salad of

As daylily flowers are renewed every day, I have no qualms about picking them as soon as I have guests!