... a flower which perisheth at night, and buddeth at the sunne rising,
... and therefore is called the Day Lillie, or Lillie for a day.
John Gerard, 1597
Daylilies. Norman S. Track; Hawkeye: Toronto, Canada. 1997 8½" x 11", 96 pp., 60 plus colour photos, hardbound. $25.00 ISBN 0-9681703-0-7

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Daylilies celebrates the four hundredth anniversary of John Gerard's introduction of the term 'Day Lillie' in The Herball or Generall Historie of Plants.  Douglas Lycett and Henry Lorrain have been breeding daylilies for just over a decade and their already significant, and exciting, contribution speaks dramatically from each of the exquisite photographs.
 
 

"Eye-smashing, breathtaking photographs of daylily flowers by Dr. Norman S. Track are the feature of this 96 page book. ... Charming quotations from prose and poetry add interest to many pages. Because the cultivar descriptions are quite brief, the reader must be content with the visual appreciation of these flowers - a task not at all difficult to accomplish."

"Dr. Norman S. Track's photographs have captured some of the most intriguing Daylilies this continent knows.  The magical light of the Ontario summer mornings appears perfectly timed.  Natural beauty enhanced to a point that the reader may touch the paper expecting to sense the texture of the blossoms.  The Cinderella-like history of the Hemerocallis is chronicled in an interesting, almost narrative format enhanced with interstitial quotes from notables such as Aristotle, William Wordsworth, and Albert Einstein.  A short read, spiced with just enough "horticulturally-challenging" vocabulary and absolutely breathtaking photography.  Readers will most likely leave the text to the second or more review of the book, enjoying the rich texture, colours and even the names of the vast selection of Daylilies."

"... is simply the most beautiful horticultural book ever produced in Canada. The photographs, many evocative of Georgia O'Keefe's paintings, were taken at We're In The Hayfield Now Daylily Gardens near Toronto."

John Gerard would be dumbfounded to see how dramatically daylilies have  changed in four hundred years.
 

Although Douglas Lycett died suddenly on September 15th, 1998, his passion for life and daylilies clearly lives on through his eternal energy captured in this book.