Background history:

'Kwanso' is a dormant triploid introduced in 1712 by Kaempfer.

This plant can be found in our Plant Database at:
Daylily (Hemerocallis fulva 'Kwanso') .

Please join in, if you own this plant! We would love to know more! I award an acorn for performance information posted to this thread.



Also, please consider adding a Plant Performance Report to the database! Thank you!

Daylily (Hemerocallis fulva 'Kwanso')

For the last forty years, several Kwanso plants have been peacefully co-existing in the midst of my long and steep roadside bank of H. fulva. They have neither taken over nor diminished in prevalence and have grown without much attention, other than removal of spent flower stalks.

These plants have faithfully prevented erosion of the hillside all these years, and I always love to see them in bloom. Yes, I know they are ditch lilies, but I love them just the same.

I have not found this variety to be excessively aggressive, and, frankly, I think it is lovely. I do not have it in my flower bed though, it occupies a spot in the yard that never gets extra water during droughts. It always blooms well despite abuse. A lot can be said for it, and certainly has its uses.

Daylily Kwanso has lived happily in our garden for as long as I can remember; it is a problem-free plant that grows in a spot that is surprisingly shady, getting sun for just a couple of hours a day. I have given divisions to various friends and relatives who admired it here - I like to imagine it slowly making its way across the country as they pass it along too!

I only have 'Variegated Kwanso', not sure if that counts. It does tend to pop up fans a distance away from the parent plant, and one of my plants of it is trying to revert to green, which would basically amount to the plain 'Kwanso' in any case.

The flowers are more "muddled" than 'Flore Pleno' with which it is often confused (including in the database I think). 'Flore Pleno' has a more layered look. The number of segments is different too (I posted about that in another thread but I don't remember the details from when I looked it up back then).

It was not introduced/hybridized by Kaempfer but he did describe it in Asia back in 1712 where it has apparently been grown for centuries.

Edited to add - should also note that it cannot be a pod parent as it does not have normal female parts.

I, too, grow both Kwanzo and Variegated Kwanzo. I like both of them. Both have grown successfully under pine trees on a south facing slope for 25 years. The shade and the dry soil doesn't seem to stop them from blooming well. I moved some fans of Kwanzo into the fenced back yard, and it is tough enough to withstand my two male dogs lifting their legs on it occasionally. The variegated version has lovely white and green striped foliage, and it brightens up a shady location beautifully.

I've had 'Kwanzo' in my yards in full sun for over 30 years, with no care whatsoever from me. It's not overly invasive, but it does like to spread away from the main clump. When it does, I just dig it up and give it away. I agree it's not as refined as 'Flore Pleno', which I prefer. But I still keep a clump or 2 around for it's steadfastness.

BTW, I can remember my mother now in her 80's growing 'Kwanzo' in her flower borders on the side of her house for decades. I doubt that she gave them any special care either; they just thrived. And she'd share them with others. It's a tough daylily.

There's really nothing to add, the prior posts have said it all about Kwanzo. It's a lovely, vigorous and tough plant. It will always have a place in my garden and as many others that I can pass on to as well.

Does anyone have photos of the 'Variegated Kwanso' showing the foliage and perhaps the blooms? I will give anyone an extra acorn if you will post a photo.

I will check my photos. I am not sure if I ever photographed it.

beckygardener said:Does anyone have photos of the 'Variegated Kwanso' showing the foliage and perhaps the blooms? I will give anyone an extra acorn if you will post a photo.

I don't need acorns since I can't do much with them, not being in the USA, but here you go. The foliage is dirty because it had been pouring with rain at the time I took the pic, not sure why I felt compelled to do it then but I must have had a reason

I have a clump of regular Kwanso in my garden. I got it from my Dad's yard in Missouri, so it has sentimental value to me. I moved a clump from Austin, when we moved to Houston and it is doing well. I think the flower is very pretty.

I don't think I've ever seen variegated Kwanso. That foliage (and bloom) is awesome! I can't imagine that someone hasn't found a way to get the newer cultivars to be variegated. Unless they have and I just don't know about it, lol!

blue23rose said:I don't think I've ever seen variegated Kwanso. That foliage (and bloom) is awesome! I can't imagine that someone hasn't found a way to get the newer cultivars to be variegated. Unless they have and I just don't know about it, lol!

Variegated Kwanso is worth growing just for the foliage. I have seen it mixed in a shady border, just to add the pop of white in the leaves. It is very effective.

I have it growing in several areas of my yard. I have it in shade, and sun. I have only planted it in one spot that I regret.

I planted it in a small area that was bricked in all four sides but there was another daylily in the area that I liked. It over came the other daylily and choked it out..

Although it is a beautiful fluffy blooming plant I would not include it a small garden because it will choked out other plants.

I have two varieties. One is from the farm where I grew up in Wisconsin. The other (one that looks double) came from a friend who got it from her grandmothers farm in Illinois. They both are doing well in a shady area.


Note: At least I "think" these are Kwanso...I could be wrong. They are both old-as-the-hills.

@petruske the single-flowered one is probably Hemerocallis fulva 'Europa', aka the "ditch lily". Both 'Europa' and 'Kwanso' are triploids, but 'Kwanso' does not have single flowers.

I bought Kwanzo just today from a daylily farmer in Easley, SC. Can't wait to see it bloom. I had no idea it was such an old variety

I believe that I grew this one for a while. It was a sort of rescue plant because it was invasive in the lot where some friends lived. They were digging it out and had a pile in the alley that would have made a heaping pile in a long bed pickup and were still digging. I gathered up about 10 fans. This was when I lived in Austin, TX. As a plant it grew okay, but the growth was hardly invasive for me and in the time I grew it there it only bloomed sparsely once or twice. It was a double bloom which frequently hung up and had to have help opening. Was nice and bright when it did bloom, but only had a few buds and had a strong tendency to abort some the buds so it was really short in that area.

When I moved further north in Texas to much different gardening conditions, it came along with me. It didn't grow quite as well, but became a lot more consistent about producing bloom scapes. Still had few buds and retained the tendency to abort many of them and still had the same trouble opening. During this time I was picking up modern cultivars. They actually grew as well for the most part and certainly provided more reliable bloom, but when the drought set in hard and the deer turned the daylilies into survival browse, this plant withstood that grazing longer than any others. So in that foray into growing hems, it proved more durable by several years.

But I still remember how it grew and bloomed in my friends' yard in Austin and wonder why it wouldn't at least approach that kind of growth and bloom habit for me. It's true it was aggressive there and tried to take over and was hard to eradicate, but it looked great. I think if I ever tried growing a ditch lily again, I'd prefer the single. I think it would at least open better. Goes to show how much difference location makes and is the reason (deer) mine are now growing in containers.

My absolute favorite plant. Completely mislabeled as invasive. Have plenty