Welcome to Olallie Daylily Gardens
February 2, 2015
Well first snow was nothing but we got over 12 inches today.
Updated prices and inventory!

This year we will be featuring an art retrospective 
with 30 years of work by Ellen Darrow and Chris Darrow
Pinterst page of Ellen/Aho and C Darrow's pots.


We are growers of hardy field grown plants. We have shipped throughout the US and even to Europe and Asia. 
We have customers in in virtually every state including Alaska, Texas, Hawaii and of course all of New England.
Our Daylily Catalog:
The Complete Palette of Daylily Choices: Unique, Special and Choice
 
The daylilies we offer are truly unique to the daylily world, most are available exclusively from the collection of Dr. George Darrow.
 

Who We Are:
We are longtime organic growers who are continuing the work of Dr. George Darrow. We offer a large selection of daylilies that provides a complete pallete of daylily possibilities in an easy-to-use framework. Our approach simplifies your search for the right daylily for your garden. We also supply a wealth of information to educate you the grower as to how best select and grow daylilies.
We grow well over 2500 varieties of daylilies and are breeding new possibilities by the hundreds every year. We select plants based on their hardiness, vigor and performance.

 Olallie Daylily Gardens Facebook Page.
Check out our videos on dividing daylilies as well as aerials of the field


 

We Love Visitors!
                                                 
A Day in the Country
The daylilies blooming season runs from June through September. Peak Season is in July-August with thousands of blooms

This map should help guide you through the winding Vermont roads.
If you are coming and want to pick up a large order, please call in advance, so we can have it ready when you get here. There are many other daylilies to see which are not available through the catalog.

We also maintain over four hundred high bush blueberries. Pick your own from mid July through August. They're organic and delicious. Visitors are welcome to stroll the fields, pick blueberries, and explore.

The main six-acre field brims with daylilies and other perennials and annuals. Grass paths meander through the beds of flowers. Bring a picnic, there are picnic tables and benches and tables with market umbrellas for your use.

We plant, grow, dig and pack our daylilies by hand so you get fresh, hardy, quality plants shipped the same day they were dug. If you're coming to see for yourself, we'll dig them while you wait (even in the rain)!
Buy from us because...  
Our plants are field grown in organic compost-enriched soils. The daylilies are proven hardy in our rugged cold climate, with no protective mulch and no chemical sprays. We give them only water, natural fertilizers, and hand weeding. While originating in Maryland,, our VT daylilies have adapted to the harsh Vermont winter with no protection, making them well suited to most regions.
Planting instructions are sent for easy care and cultivation. You'll get the individual attention of a small family farm, because we hope you'll tell your friends about us. Daylilies live virtually forever. So to that end, invest wisely in the future of your garden. Choose northern grown farm raised daylilies with the heritage of Darrow daylilies.
More about daylilies... If you want to learn more about gardening with daylilies, the early development of daylily hybrids, joining the daylily society, the origins of daylilies in the wild, or early uses of the daylily, we have that information available for you.

Origins

Christopher's grandfather, Dr. George M. Darrow (Dr George Darrow by Wikipedia) began collecting and hybridizing daylilies back in 1957, after he had retired from his work as a geneticist for the USDA. Dr. Darrow was highly selective regarding his breeding program. The result, we feel, is a unique collection of daylilies, representing many highly desirable characteristics.

Origin of the Name Olallie

Dr. George Darrow who first collected many of the day lilies grown here at Olallie Daylily Gardens, originally worked for the USDA as a breeder of small fruits and berries. He had a Pick Your Own strawberry business and many types of berries on his farm in Maryland.
While traveling through Oregon collecting blueberry seed stock, he came across the name Olallie. Olallie is a west coast native American name which translates loosely to Place Where Berries Are Found. Dr Darrow thought this would be a great name for his farm in Maryland because of all of the berries he was growing there. And thus named his farm in Maryland Olallie Farm.
When he began to develop and name new daylily cultivars he gave the prefix Olallie to all the day lilies he developed and registered. Now decades later Chris Darrow is continuing this tradition by giving all his registered dayliles the same prefix.

Move to Vermont

In 1979, Dr. Darrow invited his son Dan, Dan's wife, Ellen, and their son, Christopher, to come to Olallie Farm in Maryland and dig up a piece of all of his dayliles. Dan and Ellen's farm in Vermont would be the perfect site to continue the Darrow daylily work. Thus, in 1980, Olallie North was born. In 1993, the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) inducted Dr. Darrow into the ASHS Hall of Fame, becoming its 8th member. He joined the ranks of Gregor Mendel, Liberty Hyde Bailey, Luther Burbank, and other distinguished plant scientists.

 Circa late 1990's The whole family on a warm summer day.

Lily and her daughter Maggie in attendance

Dan K Darrow
1928-2003

The Farm Today  

This is our 35th year in business in Vermont.

The farm is managed by Christopher with help from his mother Ellen and his children Quinn and Anwyn. And of course his faithful dog Brom.
Chris continues the breeding work began by George. Chris has tried to follow Dr Darrow ideals of exploring daylily attributes. Extra early bloomers, extra tall, pigmented scapes and other overlooked attributes are all part of Chris's work.

Beyond that the blueberries and several experimental fruit crops are diligently maintained.

Chris continues growing and hybridizing daylilies. 2017 is the 35th year working with daylilies and close to the 50th year here in Vermont.

We have been or are members of:

American Heather Society
American Hemerocallis Society
American Horticultural Society
North American Rock Garden Society
Seed Savers Exchange
Species Iris Group
Vermont Assoc. of Professional Horticuluralists
Newfane Business Assoc.
Northeast Organic Farmers Association (NOFA)