Daylilies are about to come into flower, they are the poster child of summer, the fresh new flower of each day. Named daylilies because they only open for a day, they are correctly known as hemerocallis which translates to "beauty for a day". We actually pick the open flowers each evening and put them on the compost pile, that way each day is full of freshly opened flowers, lots of new colors, almost a new landscape.

The process that isolates this flower and makes it last for one day is rather fascinating. Other flowers do the same, but the majority of them are night flowering - like duranta, brugmansia and oenothera. I'm sure their progression to death matches the same scientific sequencing of daylilies and some research has isolated the short, one day life of daylily flowers. Dr. Bernie Rubinstein at the University of Massachusetts has spent considerable time with daylilies and authored a two part article for the daylily society in 2000. He isolated the degradative factors that destroy components of the cells within a daylily flower, the reason that each flower only lasts for about 12 hours. His study shows that certain proteins are responsible and they are referred to as "suicide proteins". These proteins are produced within the cells of each plant and are determined (how many and when) by genes.

Anyone with an extensive daylily collection will notice how some daylily flowers are partly open the evening before, whereas other open at some point the next morning. The production time of the suicide proteins in any given daylily usually begins 12 hours after they have opened. Their ability to remain open after that is pre-determined by their line of breeding or their genes. This protein lives within the flower and studies show that bits of a petal, removed from the flower, age just like the rest of the flower, despite its removal. Likewise a flower, removed from the plant, ages like the other flowers, the suicide protein functions within the flower.

Further research by Daniel Schoen at McGill University in Montreal shows that the bigger the flower, the shorter its lifespan. A reflection of the amount of food reserves used to produce oversized flowers seems to shorten its lifespan. One would conclude that this is directly related to earlier pollination (bigger flower, easily seen), or at least one would hope as this is the sole purpose of any flower. Pollination or not, big flower or small, each one will die after it's time, the plant feels that its cheaper to kill the flower and re-absorb its nutrients than leave it open. Another will open in a day or so.

Dr. Bernie Rubinstein completes his second of two articles on this topic by explaining his isolation of a protein synthesis inhibitor that can keep a daylily flower open for a full week! Imagine, he says, daylily stalks with 9 flowers open at one time. His process then includes tissue culture or cloning and 'voila' - a new kind of daylily, a weeklily or possibly a sevendaylily. It all seems a bit frightening. I imagine what might happen to my flower picking every evening? Would I know which flowers were a week old? Would my excitement every morning be the same? - or intensified?

It all sounds like too much of a good thing, the 'fountain of youth' for the daylily? Let the lovely flower stay, relish its beauty for a day!