Talking to the Flowers at Merrymeeting Daylilies
Day Tripping
Talking to the Flowers at Merrymeeting Daylilies
Story & Photos by Kathi Caldwell-Hopper
Les Turner talks to his daylilies and they talk back. If that sounds like an odd thing for a grown man to do, you don’t understand gardening and specifically, gardening with daylilies.
Admittedly, I am not much of a gardener. I adore flowers but I just do not have the interest or patience to mess with dirt and flowerpots and learning about how to care for each variety of flower. But I have the utmost admiration for gardeners and when I discover a beautiful garden, I just have to visit.
When I heard about a garden in New Durham, I was curious because this place specializes in daylilies. Merrymeeting Daylilies is located just off Rt. 11 at 80 Tash Road and once you arrive, you will be glad you made the trip.
The day I visited was a very hot and humid mid-week afternoon in early July. The air was still and rumbles of thunder could be heard in the distance. Rain was definitely headed to New Durham and I hoped I could tour the gardens and talk with garden owner Les before the weather forced us indoors.
Arriving at 80 Tash Road, I drove onto the grounds of Merrymeeting Daylilies and parked near the gardens. As I sat in my car, gathering my notebook and pen, I caught a good look at the garden, with many daylilies in abundance. Color was everywhere due to the many flowers and I was eager to see it all up close.
Les soon arrived from a greenhouse and greeted me, shrugging when I mentioned bad weather seemed to be heading our way. A typical gardener, he is used to all kinds of weather and assured me that we could see the gardens and talk before the storm arrived.
Although I was eager to see every daylily – and other flowers in the gardens as well – I had questions for Les. When asked his background, he explained, “I was in the Navy, then got a degree in journalism and a master’s in education. I worked in the university world in Massachusetts, Oregon and New Hampshire.”
Eventually, Les retired in New Hampshire and has been here for 30 years. He had a popular garden center that he ran for a number of years. He says the land we now stood on used to be a gravel pit of sorts and he had it filled in to create the center and gardens.
While the bigger garden center is no longer in operation, it is daylilies all the way for Les! He offers a huge variety of the beautiful flowers to an eager public who come from all over to get daylilies you just cannot find elsewhere.
“People love daylilies because they are hardy and beautiful. If a gardener is not successful with other plants, they can raise daylilies,” assures Les as we head into the gardens.
He shares, as he bends over a flower here and there, that daylilies don’t require a lot of shade and are quite adaptable. “I tell people,” he says with a laugh, “if you can’t grow a daylily you probably shouldn’t be gardening!”
Tending the gardens, with the large variety of daylilies offered to the public, is a lot of work ad Les relies on helpers to keep everything in order and available. His daughter, a knowledgeable gardener, and a few others, help in the gardens.
Les says the gardens are constantly changing and with about 800 kinds of daylilies, there is always something new. He likes to add things to the gardens, which definitely appeals to customers. For example, a customer recently called Les from New Mexico and ordered a particular flower for her garden. (I was surprised that Les can ship daylilies so far away, but he says the plants are tough and can easily make the journey.)
Locally, many people hear about Merrymeeting Daylilies by word-of-mouth and want to visit to get plants they might not find elsewhere. Plus, a chance to visit with Les is a bonus, because he is someone who knows more than most about gardening and daylilies.
With such fun names as Stella D’Orro, Ruby Spider, Evil Gnome, and even Lily Munster, to name but a few, there is a daylily for everyone at this special garden spot. “Most people with a garden have a few daylilies,” Les adds. We have all seen those tall, orange flowers just about everywhere in the summer. Les says the old-fashioned daylilies like these were a staple in many housewives’ gardens in the past. If the family moved, the wife likely dug up and transplanted her beloved, hardy daylilies, which is why we see them in so many places all over the country.
While Les indeed has some of the standard orange daylilies, his varieties go way, way beyond what most of us could imagine. He even experiments with hybrids and points to a new one called “Fooled Me” as an example. This flower is a cross between two plants and resulted in a totally different color.
According to www.merrymeetingdaylilies.com, “Every year Les refreshes his collection with new cultivars from several world class hybridizers. Les grows them for a year or two, assessing factors such as hardiness, blossoming, fan production, etc. These are often very recent introductions. His hybridizer connections in Florida enable him to add these beauties to his collection. In turn, the larger plant sizes he obtains as a result of his buying directly from these world-famous hybridizers, and his subsequent transfer to his gardens from Florida, make possible some real bargains for his customers.”
Les keeps a manual at hand which customers can refer to when visiting and wanting a particular color or name of a daylily. And speaking of those customers, they range from retired folks, families and younger people with gardens.
When COVID-19 changed our lives back in the spring, Les says families were looking for projects while home bound. Many made the drive to his gardens to choose plants as they began to expand their flower gardens.
Because Les spends so much time working with daylilies, he has come to know the characteristics of each variety. He points to one plant he has a good feeling about, adding that it spoke to him. “I felt it was saying, ‘I’m a winner. I will grow great for you.’ I can’t wait for it to bloom!”
Once a visitor sees the extensive daylily gardens, there is little doubt that the flowers do ‘speak’ to Les, giving him a feeling about which will thrive and which, now and then, just do not fit in New Hampshire’s cooler climate.
But on this humid, hot summer’s day, all that matters are being out in the gardens, where color is everywhere and the daylilies raise their glorious blooms to soak up the sun.
As heat-wave weather often does, the storm fizzled out and never materialized, which gave me a bit longer to visit with Les and learn about all the daylilies he offers. He is open through September 1 on Saturdays and Sundays from 9 am to 4 pm. To arrange for a visit at other times, please call ahead at 603-397-7105. Visit www.merrymeetingdaylilies.com to view the extensive list of available daylilies.