Product Description
Hemerocallis 'Royal Invitation' (25) Bare Root Plants
Hemerocallis 'Royal Invitation' is a truly magnificent Daylily cultivar that lives up to its regal name, offering a sophisticated and unique touch to any garden. This stunning variety boasts exceptionally large 6.5-inch flowers in a dramatic dark lavender bicolor. Each bloom is further enhanced by a captivating watercolor eye, an intriguing ivory "shark's tooth" edge, and a vibrant yellow to green throat, creating a complex and beautiful tapestry of color and texture. Despite its impressively large flowers, 'Royal Invitation' maintains a notably compact habit, making it an ideal choice for the middle of a garden border. This eye-catching daylily is a fragrant rebloomer, ensuring extended enjoyment of its exquisite display. It is typically supplied as mature, field-grown bare root plants.
'Royal Invitation' typically reaches a mature height of twenty-two inches with a spread of 18-24 inches, exhibiting a compact growth habit despite its large flowers. Its foliage is dormant, meaning it will die back to the ground in colder climates during winter. The defining feature of this cultivar is its grand 6.5-inch flowers, which display a complex bicolor pattern of dark lavender. The petals are adorned with a unique ivory "shark's tooth" edge and a mesmerizing watercolor eye that blends into a vibrant yellow to green throat. As a tetraploid variety, it possesses forty-four chromosomes, which generally contributes to a more robust plant with larger, stronger characteristics compared to diploid daylilies.
- Flower Color: Dark Lavender Bicolor with a watercolor eye, ivory edge, and yellow to green throat (categorized as Purple shades).
- Foliage Color: Green shades
- Bloomtime: Late Midseason, typically blooming in Late July (Midsummer), with reblooming capabilities extending into Late Summer.
- Height: 22 inches
- Spread: 18-24 inches
- Growth Rate: Medium
- Foliage Type: Dormant
- Ploidy: Tetraploid
- Fragrance: Fragrant flowers
- Rebloomer: Yes, produces a second set of flowers.
- Attracts: Butterflies, Hummingbirds, Bees
- Critter Resistant: Rabbit resistant
- Other Features: Border Plant, Container Plant, Easy To Grow, Mass Planting, Salt Tolerant, Focal Point.
Daylilies, including 'Royal Invitation', are celebrated for being among the easiest and most adaptable perennials to cultivate, making them an excellent choice for gardeners of all experience levels. Their remarkable resilience allows them to thrive in challenging conditions where many other plants would struggle. These include polluted city environments, sloped terrains, poor or dry soils, areas near pavement where salt is used in winter, and even under Black Walnut trees, as they are unaffected by juglone. 'Royal Invitation' stands out not only for its hardiness but also for its exceptionally large, intricately colored, and fragrant blooms. While deadheading spent blooms is a common practice for cosmetic purposes, it generally does not significantly extend the overall bloom duration for daylilies, though rebloomers like this one will produce new scapes of flowers.
While 'Royal Invitation' is a cultivated hybrid, the genus Hemerocallis is native to East Asia. Through extensive hybridization efforts over centuries, countless cultivars like 'Royal Invitation' have been developed, specifically bred for their enhanced ornamental qualities, reblooming capabilities, and broad adaptability to various garden environments globally.
Landscaping Design Tips
Hemerocallis 'Royal Invitation' is a visually stunning and versatile plant suitable for a variety of garden styles, including Patio Container, Cottage, and Eclectic designs.
- Focal Point: With its exceptionally large, uniquely colored, and fragrant blooms, 'Royal Invitation' is perfectly suited to serve as a captivating focal point in a mixed perennial border, a dedicated daylily bed, or a prominent container arrangement.
- Middle of the Border: Despite its large flowers, its notably compact habit makes it an ideal choice for the middle of a garden border, where its dramatic blooms can be appreciated without overwhelming smaller plants.
- Mass Planting: For a truly grand effect, plant 'Royal Invitation' in drifts or large groups. This creates a dramatic and cohesive display of its unique bicolor flowers, particularly effective along borders or pathways. For optimal coverage and mature growth, space plants 18-24 inches apart.
- Containers: Its combination of compact habit and spectacular blooms makes it an excellent candidate for large containers, bringing its regal beauty to patios, decks, or balconies.
- Fragrant Gardens: Incorporate 'Royal Invitation' into a fragrant garden design to take advantage of its pleasing scent, especially near seating areas or walkways.
- Tolerant of Difficult Sites: Its inherent hardiness and tolerance for a wide array of challenging conditions (including poor soil, dry periods, salt exposure, and resistance to juglone from Black Walnut trees) make it an invaluable plant for difficult-to-establish areas where other species might struggle.
Hemerocallis 'Royal Invitation' is exceptionally hardy, reliably thriving across USDA Hardiness Zones 3 through 9. This extensive hardiness range underscores its robust capacity to withstand a broad spectrum of winter temperatures, from very cold to relatively mild climates.
Planting and Cultivation
Daylilies are renowned for their ease of cultivation and minimal maintenance requirements, making them highly rewarding plants for any gardener. 'Royal Invitation' is typically supplied as mature, field-grown bare root plants, which should be planted promptly upon arrival.
- Bare Root Planting: Upon receiving your bare root plants, inspect them. If the roots appear dry, soak them in water for a few hours prior to planting. Dig a hole that is sufficiently wide to accommodate the spread of the roots, ensuring that the crown of the plant (where the roots meet the foliage) is positioned at or just slightly below the soil surface after planting. Backfill the hole with soil, gently firming it around the roots to eliminate air pockets, and then water thoroughly.
- Sunlight: For the most abundant blooms and the most vibrant flower colors, 'Royal Invitation', like most newer daylily hybrids, requires Full Sun (more than 6 hours of direct sun daily). While some older varieties might tolerate partial shade, full sun exposure is crucial for optimal performance of this specific cultivar, especially to encourage reblooming.
- Water Requirements: This cultivar has Low to Average Water Needs. Once established, Daylilies are quite drought-tolerant. However, providing consistent moisture, especially during prolonged dry spells and throughout their peak blooming periods, will promote more vigorous growth and a more impressive floral display, as well as support reblooming.
- Soil Quality: 'Royal Invitation' is remarkably adaptable to various soil types and will perform well in Poor Soil Quality, Average Soil Quality, and Fertile Soil Quality. It tolerates normal, slightly wet, or dry soils, though good drainage is always beneficial for overall plant health.
- Soil Chemistry: It is tolerant of a wide range of soil pH levels, including Acidic Soil (pH < 7.0), Neutral Soil (pH = 7.0), and Alkaline Soil (pH > 7.0).
- Fertilization: While not strictly necessary in naturally fertile soils, a balanced granular fertilizer applied in early spring can encourage robust growth and a more prolific blooming season, supporting both the initial flush of flowers and subsequent rebloom.
- Maintenance: Daylilies generally require minimal care. Deadheading spent blooms can improve the plant's aesthetic appeal by removing fading flowers and may encourage further reblooming. Dividing overcrowded clumps every 3-5 years, either in spring or fall, can help rejuvenate the plant and maintain its vigor.
- Pest and Disease Resistance: Daylilies are generally known for their good resistance to most common garden pests and diseases.
Mature field grown roots shipped bare root.
Other Details
The most important part of the plant is its root system. Healthy roots are the foundation of a healthy, vibrant plant. The type of plug container used is based on the specific needs of the plants. Perennials offered as bare root traditionally perform better when planted as bare root.Planted in a specialized mix, potted plants have well established root systems. Top growth stage will vary depending on the current life cycle and time of year when shipped. In Winter and early Spring dormant plants may be shipped. Dormant plants may be planted right away, even before the last frost date.
Most bare root varieties are field grown for at least one season, though Hemerocallis and Hosta are grown for two seasons. The bulk of the soil is removed during the harvesting process and the tops of most varieties are trimmed back to the crown. They are graded, packed in shredded aspen or sphagnum moss and stored in freezers until ready to be shipped.
See our Container Sizes and Bare Root Perennials pages for more information.
Plant information and care is provided in the Overview section, Plant Genus Page and general information is provided in the Planting Care & Guides. Additional questions can be asked on each Plant page.
Plant Spacing: Using the maximum mature spread or width of a plant to guide spacing, ensures space to grow to full size. To fill an area sooner, plant them closer together. Just remember, future thinning or transplanting may be needed.
Water: Keep a close eye on newly planted perennials, especially throughout the first growing year. Most early plant loss is due to too much or too little water!
