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Dreaming of Daylilies

Many gardeners have had some contact with Daylilies at some time in their lives. Perhaps it was with the old fashioned taller varieties (in traditional gold and rusty red) or with the gusty miniature Daylily “Stella D`Oro“. However, I wonder how many people are aware of the mesmerising treasure trove of Daylily varieties currently available in Australia?

Many of the new varieties (differing in colours, shapes and sizes) have been imported from the USA where obsessed hybridisers have been working frantically to bring about this wonderful explosion of choice. Other new varieties are the result of the various successful Australian Daylily breeding programmes.

The Dreamy Daylilies of today

Thankfully Daylilies are now available in a rainbow of colours that stretch from rich clean red to soft pastel pink, pure white, brilliant burgundy and near blacks or almost any combination of these colours!

The other wonderful new attribute of these modern `lilies` is their more generous flowering habits. Many of the modern varieties will, once mature, produce loads of flowering stems carrying up to 50 flowers each! This ensures that, even though the individual flowers may only last one day each, the flowering period will easily cover many weeks in Summer and often will be followed by another flowering period in Autumn.

Daylilies are also dazzlingly easy!

One of the best - and most understated - attributes of the Daylily is its accommodating nature. These eye-popping plants are surprisingly easy to grow, long lived, long flowering, versatile and hardy too; all of which makes them ideal candidates for being the back bone plant of your Summer garden or simply an easy care highlight.

Growing Daylilies is delightfully simple. They`re not at all fussy about soil type, tolerant of a wide range of climatic conditions and are virtually indestructible!

Naturally, like all plants, these ones thrive noticeably better if afforded a few luxuries - especially at planting time. Experience has shown that if you invest a little time and attention to planting your Daylilies your ample returns will include loads of flowers from very little effort over very many years.

The first thing to consider at planting is sunlight. Daylilies are sun lovers but the amount they require depends on your climate. In cool climates their preference is for full sun (5-7 hours per day). In cool climates they will tolerate dappled light all day but, as with many plants, fewer flowers are produced in shadier conditions. In warmer climates Daylilies prefer a spot which exposes them to morning sun only.

The second thing you should give thought to at planting time is the soil preparation. If you incorporate generous amounts of well rotted manure and compost you`ll be rewarded with wonderfully vigorous and healthy plants.

Simple Daylily Care for Success

After planting, Daylilies require very little attention to survive but will perform brilliantly if you do two simple things:

Water generously. Although Daylilies are quite drought hardy they will flower more profusely if well watered during Spring and Summer - simply water deeply once weekly during dry periods. A thick mulch is ideal for helping to keep the soil moist.

Feed generously twice annually - August & March - with an organic fertiliser. If you use well rotted animal manure or compost as your mulch material you`ll be feeding and mulching at the same time.

Divide Daylilies for ever increasing Delight!

Daylilies will happily multiply, giving you the capacity for ever increasing enjoyment. It also means however, that clumps of Daylilies will occasionally become over-crowded and require division. All you need do is dig up the clumps and divide them into smaller separate plants which can be spread out, planted in other parts of the garden or given to gardening friends.

The division of Daylilies is rarely required any more frequently than 3 years but the actual timing will depend on the variety and the habitat of your plants. You`ll know the time to divide has arrived once the number of flowers being produced starts to decrease. Dividing is quite simple and is best done in Autumn or early Spring.

Other uses for your Daylilies

As if it weren`t enough for these plants to simply be good natured, beautiful and accommodating, they seem also determined to be useful and for thousands of years they have been grown for applications other than ornamental. Here is just a sample:

pregnant women desiring a baby boy should wear Daylily blooms in their belt - supposedly this will favour the birth of a male child.
eating the Daylily blooms is also said to help relieve your worries since eating the young shoots apparently induces a state of intoxication (!!)
the dried roots are a significant ingredient in some Chinese herbal medicines
the flowers and buds are still used today in salads.

Last Reviewed: 18/02/2004 9:33:41 AM

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