Daylily 'Chicago Apache'

Multi Buy

Size Guide
5.5
5.5" Perennial
3 or more $14.00 ea
Regularly: $14.99 ea

Daylily 'Chicago Apache'

Scott's Nursery Ltd.

$14.99
Title
Ignite your summer garden with an absolute explosion of intense, jaw-dropping colour. This multi-award-winning masterpiece forms a magnificent, robust mound of arching, strap-like foliage that stays a clean, crisp emerald-green all season long. Rising proudly on thick, exceptionally sturdy stems is a dense forest of giant, 5-inch wide blossoms that feature some of the richest scarlet-red petals in the plant world. The velvety, sunfast petals showcase a heavy, luxurious substance and are beautifully finished with loosely ruffled "pie-crust" edges that catch the light flawlessly. Radiating outwards from a glowing, golden-yellow and neon-lime green throat, these dramatic blooms create an elegant, high-impact tropical framework that instantly commands attention and refuses to fade under the blistering midday sun.
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Plant Details

Mature Size:

26-30" H x 18-24" W

Zone:

3-9

Watering:

Low to Medium

Type:

Herbaceous Perennial

Growth Rate:

Fast

Light:

Full Sun

Plant Profile

Common Names:

Chicago Apache Daylily, Apache Red Daylily, Tetraploid Scarlet Daylily

Scientific Name:

Hemerocallis 'Chicago Apache'

Type:

Thriller / Filler / Tetraploid Ornamental Perennial

Growth Details:

Mature Size: Height of 65–75 cm (26–30 inches) x Width of 45–60 cm (18–24 inches).

Growth Habit: Upright, clumping, and fountain-like.

Form: Dense, symmetrical foliage mound topped with stiff vertical flower stalks.

Growth Rate: Fast; rapidly increases its crown size and bud count year after year.

Flowering: Highly prolific; famous for producing unusually large, 5-inch wide flowers with thick, weather-resistant petal substance.

Flowering Time: Mid to late summer (typically July and August), providing a reliable, long-lasting mid-season display.

Flower Colour: Intense, velvety scarlet-red with a striking golden-yellow to lime-green throat.

Environmental Needs:

Exposure: Full sun to partial shade (performs best with maximum direct sun).

Soil Preferences: Thrives in average, medium-moisture, organic loamy soils with a neutral to slightly acidic pH (\(6.0 - 6.8\)).

Soil Tolerance: Supreme environmental resilience. Easily handles heavy clay, compacted soils, poor gravelly sand, shallow rocky ground, and highly depleted conditions.

Watering: Low to moderate once established. Highly drought-resistant due to moisture stored within its thick, fleshy tuberous roots.

Container Role: Acts as an outstanding, structural Thriller or bold, architectural Filler in large patio estate containers.

Special Features:

Disease Resistances: Remarkably tough; highly resistant to thrips and virtually immune to standard garden leaf blights or crown rot.

Native Species: Derived from species originally native to Asia; hybridized into the famous "Chicago" line by legendary breeder James Marsh and introduced in 1981.

Fast Growing: Swiftly expands into a large, multi-stemmed flowering clump.

Attracts: A major magnet for butterflies, hummingbirds, and native bees.

Uses: Mass plantings, roadside landscaping, container displays, and high-impact summer borders.

Resistance: Highly resistant to drought, intense summer heat, urban air pollution, heavy winter road salt, and juglone toxicity from Black Walnut trees.
Care Guide

Ornamental & Landscape Value

Seasonal Interest:

Bloom Information: Features immense, trumpet-shaped blossoms with extreme showiness. Being a tetraploid, the petals are twice as thick as standard daylilies, making them incredibly sunfast—they resist burning or bleaching even in the hottest afternoon sun.

Fall Colour: Foliage remains a rich green late into the season before turning amber-copper and dying back after a hard freeze.

Garden Value:

Ornamental Interest: Delivers exceptional visual impact through its massive, velvet-textured scarlet trumpet blossoms, ruffled petal margins, and sweeping fountain-like foliage.

Landscaping Uses: Perfect for mass foundation plantings, high-visibility sunny borders, erosion control on hillsides, cottage gardens, and modern urban streetscapes.

Garden/Landscape Benefits: An absolute landscape workhorse that fills empty space quickly, crowds out aggressive weeds, and provides reliable summer colour with minimal care.

Wildlife & Human Value:

Wildlife Value: Provides an excellent high-summer nectar station for migrating hummingbirds and large butterflies.

Human Value: Widely considered by professional landscape architects to be one of the absolute best, most dependable red daylilies ever bred. It offers busy homeowners maximum visual reward, robust tetraploid structure, and high-impact curb appeal with practically zero effort.

Planting & Care Guide

Planting Considerations:

Best Time To Plant: Early spring or early autumn when natural rainfall is frequent and temperatures are mild.

Spacing: Space 45–60 cm (18–24 inches) apart from center to center to allow the fountain-like foliage room to spread out properly.

Location Tips: Excellent for planting on hot, dry slopes, walkway borders, or urban environments. Avoid deep, heavy woodland shade which will stop the blooming cycle.

Companion Plants: Pairs beautifully with purple Salvia, Nepeta (Catmint), Leucanthemum (Shasta Daisy), and ornamental grasses like Pennisetum (Foxtail Grass) for a stunning fiery-and-cool contrast.

Care:

Light Requirements: Requires full sun (6+ hours of direct daily sunlight) to unlock the deepest, most intense scarlet-red coloration and ensure maximum bloom density.

Moisture Requirements: Prefers moist, well-drained soil; however, it is highly forgiving and easily survives dry spells once its extensive root system establishes.

Maintenance: Low maintenance. Snap off individual faded flowers daily to keep the scapes looking pristine. Cut the entire flowering stalk down to the ground once all its buds have finished blooming.

Fertilization: Apply a balanced, slow-release garden fertilizer or a rich top-dressing of organic compost in early spring as new green blades emerge to promote stronger growth.

Tolerances:

High drought and heat tolerant, Clay soil and poor soil tolerant, Urban pollution and road salt tolerant, Black walnut tree tolerant (resists juglone), Sunfast (petals resist fading or melting in intense midday sun)

Tips For Success:

Thinning/Pinching: For maximum bloom power, divide the clumps every 3–5 years in early spring or early autumn. This rejuvenates the center and provides extra fans to spread around the garden.

Support/Staking: Completely unnecessary; the tetraploid scapes are exceptionally thick, heavy, and engineered to remain perfectly upright under the weight of the massive scarlet blooms.

Mulching: Apply a 5 cm (2-inch) layer of shredded wood mulch around the base in spring to preserve moisture and suppress weeds until the foliage arches over to shade the soil.

Winter Protection: No special winter protection required. The plant is incredibly cold-hardy; simply clean away the dead, collapsed leaves in late autumn or early spring before new growth starts.
Fruit Profile