HAWAI'I GARDENS
Eat these flowers: Day lily blossoms are healthful

By Heidi Bornhorst
Advertiser Garden Columnist

Day lily flowers can be a delicious and nutritious addition to your favorite dishes.

Day lilies are full of beta-carotene. They are quite yummy, right out of the garden. You can also use them in salads, soups, tempura, or other tasty treats. People in China have been relishing day lily blossoms as a culinary delight for centuries.

My neighbor Aiko is a recent convert to eating day lilies in her salads. She really likes how they taste and says they give her health benefits, especially when combined with other healthy diet changes (less salt, sugar, fat and processed foods, and more natural, fresh-from-the-garden favorites).

A large, golden orange variety of the flower has graced Hawai'i gardens for years. This is a tough, less-thirsty, pest-resistant perennial. It is great at choking out weeds! A lovely planting of this old-time favorite lines the road to Lyon Arboretum, way in the back of Manoa Valley.

There is also a variety with smaller, translucent, yellow flowers that's been around awhile. Newer varieties are being bred right here in Hawai'i. Some are minis and dwarfs and many have unusual flower colors and combinations. There are also double-flowered forms. One of the top growers is Mauna Kea Daylilies on the Big Island. Mauna Kea Daylilies' owner comes to many benefit plant sales here on O'ahu.

Day lilies are fun to breed. It is easy to cross-pollinate the flowers. The seed pods follow the flowers and split open to reveal many flat, black seeds inside. Plant these and see what comes up. It requires patience, though. It takes about three years from seed to blooming. But you might come up with an epic new variety!

Use Simple Green as a pesticide

Simple Green diluted at one tablespoon per gallon (test it first on one leaf) will help control insects and mites on your precious plants. Many Hawai'i gardeners have been using the cleaning liquid successfully on garden plants, including native Hawaiian ones.

Heidi Bornhorst is director of Honolulu's botanical gardens. Submit questions to islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com or Island Life, The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Letters submitted to The Advertiser may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.