Hemerocallis or daylily is a perennial plant that grows trumpet like flowers on stems that rise above large clumps of leaves. The long strap like leaves create a mounding plant. Each leafless flower stem, called a scape, will have multiple flower buds. Each flower bud will open and bloom in one day, hence the common name, daylily. The fibrous roots grow thick and intertwined.
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Daylilies grow in full sun but will tolerate part shade. They like moist well-draining soil amended with organic matter. Daylilies will tolerate difficult soil conditions such as heavy clay or competition with tree roots. Established plants will tolerate temporary drought conditions, although a layer of organic mulch will improve success.
Daylilies require minimum fertilizer for flowering and are healthier when dug, divided and replanted approximately every three years. Daylilies will grow quickly, easily filling in garden space.
Daylilies are hardy from USDA zones 3-9. Gardeners should check with local or regional growers for specific cultivar names that have good success. Plants grown in warmer climates, unaccustomed to very cold regions, may need additional care to survive.
Daylilies have a loyal following of hybridizers whose goal is to develop the best, biggest, most colorful, or all of those characteristics in a daylily. This has created a very long list of daylilies from which gardeners can choose. Daylilies will be blooming continually when a variety of early summer, mid, and late summer blooms is chosen.
Some daylilies are meant for mass market selling to gardeners with a limited budget, interest, or time. They are the easiest to grow, often repeat bloomers and least costly. Daylilies called dwarf, miniature, spider or unusual form are specialty daylilies that add interest to a flower garden.
Hybrids are daylilies with inventive names, called cultivars, like ‘Stella de’Oro,’ ‘Barbara Mitchell’ or ‘Dill Pickles.’ They are the result of work by hybridizers who use the diploid or tetraploid chromosomes to create new daylily hybrids.
Dwarf, miniature, spider and unusual form daylilies were developed using the criteria established by daylily hybridizers . For instance, the length of their petals determines spider daylilies. The individual petals must be four times or more long as they are wide.
An unusual form daylily will have petals that look folded, curled or tubular shaped and can be curled or wider at the end of the petal. These characteristics must be found on at least three petals or three sepals. Gardeners who like spiders or unusual forms of daylilies like the showy dance they give to a flower garden.
The term miniature daylily refers to the flower that must be three to four and one-half inches in diameter. Dwarf daylilies require a scape of up to 12 inches tall. These daylilies are useful for small gardens or in container gardening.
Daylilies are grown in butterfly and hummingbird gardens to benefit pollinators and in cutting gardens to use creating bouquets. The flowers are edible, so plant colorful daylilies in a kitchen garden.
The fragrance of some daylilies makes them appropriate for a scented garden. The cultivar descriptions will specify whether or how fragrant a daylily variety will be.
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