The American Hemerocallis Society database
currently contains 58,450 different named daylilly cultivars. There's no telling just how many unnamed hybrids exist, everybody in the neighborhood can have daylillies w/o repeating!
Daylillies like sun and plenty of water, and in good soil will thrive with no additional watering. Daylillies will tolerate some shade, but 1/2 day or more of shade will result in a lack of growth. They will still bloom, the clump just won't increase.
Divide daylillies by digging up large clumps and soaking in water to loosen. Pull apart or cut apart with a shovel. I suggest not dividing down to single fans, but keeping 3 or more fans per clump when re-planting.
Daylillies can be transplanted at any time, my preferred time is in the spring when the new shoots are newly emerged from the soil. Moving them in the summer and pruning off the tops is likely to result in a loss of bloom next year. There's no point in deadheading Daylillies. The flowers drop off by themselves.
Don't prune your daylillies.The bloom stalks can be pulled from the clump after they turn brown.
With their outsized reproductive organs, daylillies are a hybridizers dream! Just take a pollen stem from one plant and rub pollen on the female organ of another plant.
There will be a seed pod left behind if the hybridization effort was successful. When the seed pod swells and splits open, the seeds will be ripe.
Prepare a seed bed, (raised beds are ideal for this), plant in rows like carrots-immediately. Perenials usually set seed at the right time to plant. The seedling daylillies should bloom in about 18 months. (not next spring, the spring after that). Something new under the sun!
The Hybridizer's Corner
is a comprehensive list of Daylilly hybridizers websites, sent to me by Gerrit Snoek Pres. Hemerocallis Europa for inclusion on this page.
I recieved a letter from a lady asking about planting depth, or how deep do you plant daylillies?
I hope that she found my response helpful. I told her that daylillies were very easy to plant, that the roots should be covered by soil and the foliage should be above ground. Of far more importance in my opinion is the need for well prepared planting beds.
My page on soil work stresses deeply dug soil with lots of amendments.
The crown of the plant should be at soil level. While daylillies are nearly impossible to kill, there is an optimum way to plant them.
Creating a new bed in turf Mulching daylilies
