The Story of Oakes Daylilies | How It All Began in the 1960s

Oakes Daylilies is a classic story of what we like to call "a hobby gone out of control."

Our family-owned business grew out of a backyard garden. Bill Oakes started with a couple of daylilies, fell in love with how beautiful they were and so easy to care for, and quickly bought a few more. His son, Stewart, became obsessed with daylilies, too and the two of them kept adding to the garden. Pretty soon, their neighbors started asking for some for their own yards.

Oakes Daylilies was born.

In the beginning, the daylilies were dug fresh and sold the same day from a truck bed parked in the front yard of Bill's house. The very first job Ken Oakes had was digging daylilies from his Papaw's garden.

Ken doesn't dig daylilies quite as much as he used to, but not much else has changed since the early days. We moved the growing fields to a much larger space and no longer sell from the back of a pickup truck, but we still grow everything we sell, and our daylilies are still freshly dug right before they're shipped. Today, Ken runs the family business with his son, Bill's great grandson, Joshua.

From the thousands of available daylily varieties, we have selected varieties (including many award winners) that we know will grow and perform well in your garden. We like to say, "if we wouldn't plant it in our garden, we won't sell it to you." And that's true. All our daylilies are tried and tested for excellent performance. If for some reason they don't survive for you, we'll replace them for free.

In our opinion, daylilies are the perfect plant. A house is not a home without a daylily or two in the garden!

1960s

Father and son, Bill and Stewart Oakes, started growing a few daylilies in the 1960s. The daylilies performed so well they bought a few more, and a few more. We're not exactly sure what year it was ... But when they came home from visiting gardens with their first $75 daylily, we knew they had been bitten hard by the daylily bug.

1970s

In the 1970s, they began offering daylilies for sale out of the garden at Bill's house. Customers would visit during bloom season, pick what they liked, and Stewart or Bill would dig for them to take home.

1980s

In the 1980s, they started offering their daylilies via a black and white mail order listing. Stewart's son, Ken, began helping at the nursery in the summer, digging plants for customers.

1990s

The first color catalog was published in 1990, Ken's first contribution as a full-time member of the business. The color pictures were well-received, since many folks weren't that familiar with all the colors available in daylilies.

1999

Our first daylily festival was held in 1999, and with the exception of 2020, has continued each June since.

These Days

Since Bill Oakes' passing in 1998 and Stewart's recent retirement, Ken and his son Joshua have continued adding and testing new varieties each year; currently growing thousands of daylilies over 50 acres. Oakes Daylilies ships plants around the country and our annual Daylily Festival attracts folks around the nation. Thanks to our large, healthy daylilies, our lifetime guarantee, superior customer service, and a passion for what we do, we have earned a stellar reputation across the country. We continue to take your trust -- and our daylilies -- seriously.

Big Plants!

From the beginning, Stewart's vision was to ship extra-large plants that would take off and bloom right away. He got the idea after being frustrated by the size of some of the plants he ordered from other nurseries. We may not always have the lowest price, but we guarantee you've never gotten a larger plant. And larger plants means you can look forward to more blooms in a shorter amount of time.

Free "Bonus" Daylilies in Each Order!

Including free (we call them "bonus") plants with each order is something we've done since we began selling daylilies. Our bonus plants are the same huge, healthy plants we sell -- they're just free as our "thank you" for ordering.

Guaranteed Forever!

For Your Confidence -- Maybe you aren't very familiar with daylilies (or our company). We want to make sure that you feel confident that you can order with complete assurance of satisfaction. You will enjoy the daylilies we send you -- we guarantee it!