Watch Out Stella! :: Stephanie Cohen

Published:3/1/2006

For those of you who have heard me speak or write about plants, you know I am not an advocate of hundreds of cultivars because when I cannot tell the difference neither generally can anyone else. I have maintained for the last few years that the gardening world doesn’t need another yellow or gold daylily. So here I am writing about a new daylily…

One of my good friends is Dr. Darrel Apps, daylily breeder par excellence. He has hybridized ‘Happy Returns,’ the Woodside series and so many others it’s hard to enumerate, and the good doctor once before named a daylily for me called ‘Stephanie’s Dream,’ a yellow, diamond-dusted daylily. It was called this because my dream has always been to be tall rather than vertically challenged. Alas, it never made Trophy Takers, a brand name for exceptional daylilies, and was in the hands of only a few collectors, which generally means very few people know about it. After a few years, these daylilies usually disappear altogether.

Being disappointed after I had such high hopes, I went into seclusion.... for at least 10 minutes. My best advice if you want to get a plant named for you is to get to know your plant hybridizers. Cajole, nag, be persistent and resort to bribery, if necessary. Every plant really does need a name.

I have two plants with which I am associated: Phlox paniculata ‘Shortwood,’ which was introduced by Sinclair Adam through the Blooms of Bressingham program and is named for my garden (no smart remarks, if you please) and the second was named by Bob Brown who owns Cottswold Gardens, an unusual plant nursery in England. It is called Achillea siberica ‘Stephanie Cohen,’ a very hardy, pink yarrow that is also known as ‘Love Parade.’ I never talk about the other name as it makes me unhappy. If you have this plant, please practice proper etiquette and use its proper name.

In reality I didn’t want both my first and last name because how would you like to hear, “poor old Stephanie Cohen died,” “Stephanie Cohen has a bad case of aphids” or “Stephanie Cohen is a thug.” Bob, being a proper Englishman, used both names. I’ve been trialed at Wisley. So if you don't like it, zip your lips.

So, back to the new daylily. I got a call from Dr. Apps telling me about the wonders of this marvelous plant. However, as the excitement level was mounting, he stopped to say it had one shortcoming. You guessed it: this daylily was very short! Did I want more short jokes? No, but I did want a daylily named for me that would make it into the trade. So now you see the horns of my dilemma. I hesitated for a least 60 seconds and said yes.

‘Stephanie Returns’ is a wonderful cross between ‘Rosy Returns’ and ‘Romantic Returns.’ It is hardy in Zones 4 to 9, the width is about one foot and the height at bloom time is 16 inches - yes, it is short. ‘Stephanie Returns’ is propagated by division or tissue culture and is a reblooming daylily that goes dormant. The plant takes full sun, tolerates light shade and will grow in average garden soil, although it does better in a moisture-retentive soil. The crisp green clean foliage also has a hint of blue.

This is an excellent choice for either residential or commercial sites. It is equally at home in the front of the border as it is in a container and even though the plant lacks stature, it produces four-inch blooms. The flowers are early/mid and it reblooms until frost.

Now for the best part: It isn’t yellow or gold! The flowers are bicolor as the petals are a blush pink with deep rose veining and a purple eye zone. The sepals are a rosy pink with a chartreuse throat. It is truly beautiful, colorful and diminutive (that’s a fancy way of saying it is short). It is new for 2006, available in from both Woodside and Centerton nurseries in Bridgeton, New Jersey. ‘Stephanie Returns’ is patented and appears as part of the Happy Ever Appster brand, www.happyeverappster.com. I predict demand will exceed the supply. Watch out Stella! Here comes Stephanie to give you a run for the money.