Fill your days and garden with daylilies

Few plants give us give us as much pleasure while asking so little as do daylilies (Hemerocallis).  They are about as close as it gets to having a no maintenance plant as you can get.  They are one of the toughest perennials grown today and they live a long time.  They are easy to propagate, come in an array of warm colors, mix well with most palettes, will grow in most soils and are rarely troubled by disease or insects.  Daylilies are known for their hardiness and the fact that there are different ones that bloom at different times, starting in early summer and finishing in the fall.  

If you are looking to purchase a daylily or two, be sure to know what you are looking for in a daylily.  Do you want to choose ones that bloom at different times or are you wanting one that will bloom at a specific time?  Do you want one that reblooms?   Are you looking for the hardiest one to help hold a bank from washing?  What height do you need because they have some quite short and others that are quite tall?  What color are you wanting to plant?  You need to know what you are looking for because you want it to blend nicely in your garden. 

Daylily get their name from the flowers since their blooms typically last for a day before being replaced by a new bloom.  Also, most of the daylilies in cultivation bloom for only about three weeks and then they are finished.  (Today, some of the newer varieties are breaking the rules.)   

If you are looking to have a dramatic show that will bloom at a specific time, plant a mass of them that will give you a vibrant show all at once. The North Carolina highway department has done a masterful job at creating these vivid shows along the interstates.  They plant one named variety and for about three or four weeks, the display is beautiful.

You might want to tuck some in a perennial border to come along at different times during the summer.  Here is when you should pay attention to whether they are early, mid or late season bloomers. Choosing some from each category, this will extend your enjoyment for months rather than weeks.    

You might be looking for specific colors or daylilies with a more decorative bloom.  Some blooms have ruffled edges with over-lapping peddles while others are more of a spider looking flower.  You can also find some that have one, two, or three colors in a single flower. 

Are you wanting a reblooming or everblooming daylily?  Hybridizers worked hard to develop new daylilies that will rebloom.  Rebloomers were introduced to the American market in 1970.  It started out with Stella de Oro which was lauded for their brilliant yellow flowers that brighten the garden through the summer months when deadheaded and given little fertilizer.  By carefully choosing the variety of reblooming daylilies for your garden, you can be assured of a continuous carpet of color throughout the growing season, which is three months in the north and 10 months in the south. 

Daylilies will take drought but I have also found that daylilies do best when grown in a rich, damp site.  I have some by a stream that shows they will also take wetter conditions.   

Daylilies plants are easy to propagate so you can quickly expand your plantings or share with friends.  They can be divided every three or four years in either fall or very early spring.  To divide, dig up the plant and remove any excess dirt.  Take a sharp knife or shovel and cut through the clump.  Really easy, that is if you are strong enough to cut through the clumps.  They’ll take about a year to establish themselves and to bloom.  This will depend on how large the clump is when dividing. 

Dormant varieties of daylilies generally lose all foliage after the first cold spell.  If they do not, you can cut them back to tidy up your garden or you can wait until spring and pull the dead stems easily from the crown.  For colder climates, a layer of leaf mulch or pine needles placed over the crown before winter temperatures drop will help the plant withstand the freezing and thawing of the ground.    

Daylilies are considered pest-free and strong plants.  Rabbits do not seem to be a problem but I have had deer eat some varieties and not others.  You could have a slug or two get on the leaves.  I have found that slugs do not like to crawl over pine needles and that is one reason I use them.   If your plants tend to turn yellow, it could be that they need more water.   If they get an inch of water each week, that is considered ideal.    

Good luck studying which daylily to plant and be sure to visit a daylily farm.  They have so many different varieties, it makes it hard to make a decision as to which one to purchase.   

Betty Montgomery is a master gardener and author of “Hydrangeas: How To Grow, Cultivate & Enjoy,” and “A Four-Season Southern Garden.” She can be reached at bmontgomery40@gmail.com.