Daylily
Hemerocallis species (LILIACEAE)
Planting and Growing Daylily
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow daylily in the accompanying table’s tabs:
-
- Flowers, foliage, and root structure of daylily
- Season of bloom and planting time for daylily
- Plant hardiness and growing conditions for daylily
- When, how deep, and where to plant daylily
- How to plant daylily
- Watering, fertilizing, care and pests or diseases of daylily
- Landscape and indoor uses of daylily
- Comments about daylily and its features
Growing Daylily
Summer tuberous root. Deciduous or evergreen. About 15 species. Stands to 6 ft. (1.8 m) tall. Narrow, swordlike, arching green leaves.
Daylily Planting and Care Guide
Flowers
Late spring–autumn. Orange, pink, purple, yellow. Multiple flared, trumpet-shaped, sometimes fragrant flowers, to 6 in. (15 cm) wide, in clusters.
Best Climates
U.S.D.A. Plant Hardiness Zones 3–10; ground hardy, zones 3–10.
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist, well-drained soil. Fertility: Average–low. 5.0–7.0 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Spring in full sun to partial shade, zones 3–6; autumn, zones 7–10. Space 15–24 in. (38–60 cm) apart, slightly below soil level.
Proper Care
Easy. Keep moist spring–summer. Avoid fertilizing. Mulch. Propagate by dividing root sections, each with a growth point.
Lifting and Storing
Dark, 40–50°F (4–10°C), in porous container of dampened peat moss.
About This Species
Good choice for beds, borders in cottage gardens and landscapes. Disease, pest resistant. Deer, rodent susceptible.
Daylilies in Color Groups
Yellow or Gold:
-
- ‘Bitsy’ (2002*)
- ‘Happy Returns’
- ‘Lady Florence’
- ‘Miss Victoria’
- ‘Starstruck’ (1998*)
- ‘Yellow Landscape Supreme’
Orange:
-
- ‘Gertrude Condon’
- ‘Lady Lucille’
- ‘Lady Melanie’
- ‘Leebea Orange Crush’ (2002*)
- ‘Leprechauns Wealth’
- ‘Rocket City’
Pink:
-
- ‘Judith’ (2002*)
- ‘Lady Georgia’
- ‘Lady Rose’
- ‘Lullaby Baby’ (2002*)
- ‘Miss Tinkerbell’
- ‘Strawberry Candy’
Red:
-
- ‘Lady Scarlet’
- ‘Little Joy’
- ‘Pardon Me’
Bicolored:
-
- ‘Black-Eyed Stella’ (1994*)
- ‘Lady Eva’ ‘Radiant Greeting’
*All-American Daylily Selections
About Daylilies
More than 15 species comprise the Hemerocallis genus, and all are native to Europe and Asia. These close lily relatives now number several thousand cultivars.
Daylilies are named for the combined Greek words, “day + beautiful.” They have a history dating back to the Old Testament, and are increasingly popular flowers for summer bloom in the home landscape.
All are summer or autumn bloomers and have fleshy, tuberlike, fibrous roots. Many are reliably hardy in U.S.D.A. Plant Hardiness Zones 3–7 when protected by a layer of mulch from freeze-thaw cycles that otherwise would damage their roots.
Species daylilies yielded to many named hybrid cultivars with larger flowers in a greater range of colors than their parent plants.
Beginning in late spring, a flower spike emerges from the center of the plant. For several weeks, trumpetlike flowers in shades of orange, pink, purple, and yellow open in the morning then close at night, gradually working from the bottom to the top of the spike.
Daylilies adapt well to most soil conditions and do best in sites with full to filtered sun. They also are good container plants. In landscapes, they serve many different purposes, including banks, beds, borders, ground covers, massed and mixed plantings.
Daylily carry their clustered, often fragrant blooms on upright stalks that rise above sword-shaped, arching leaves. Their lilylike flowers open sequentially along the stalk from bottom to top over a period of 3–4 weeks.
While new hybrid cultivars arrive season to season, choose from the listing above for several longtime popular choices in each color tested by the All-American Daylily Selection Council.
Planting and Caring for Daylilies
Daylilies are good companions for planting with other sun- and acid-craving plants.
Plant daylilies in moist, well-drained soil in a site with either full sun, or with sun for at least 5 hours each day. They do best in average soil that is acidic.
When blooms dwindle, promptly deadhead the spent spikes. Deadheading prompts the plant to produce a new flower spike.
Cut the foliage back to the ground in autumn and mulch, or lift the roots and store them indoors for the winter. Store the tuberous roots in a porous container filled with damp peat moss. Place the roots in a cool, dark spot.
Daylilies are best planted in multiple groups of 3 or 5 plants and in offset rows that slowly fill to create flowing drifts of colorful flowers.