How to Grow Daylilies Plant Profile

Guide to Growing, Caring For and Selecting Popular Daylily Plants

Apr 26, 2009

Daylilies (Hemerocallis) are popular flowering perennials with dozens of blooms, each lasting only one day. Hardy plants and colorful blooms look great in the garden.

Each daylily flower only lasts for a single day, but with each plant producing several flower buds, daylilies can provide color to the garden for weeks on end. Daylily plants are popular with many hybridizers and as a result, there are literally hundreds of daylily cultivars to choose from.

Botanical and Common Name: Daylilies have the scientific name Hemerocallis but are usually called daylilies.

Bloom Time and Color: Daylily blooms can be almost any color and are available in bicolor or tricolor. Daylilies begin blooming in late spring with the latest blooming cultivars beginning their flowering weeks in midsummer or late summer.

Foliage: The strappy, grass-like foliage is also considered semi-evergreen as it stays colorful year round in moderate climates.

Growth Habit: Daylilies grow in large grass-like clumps of leaves with several flowering stems rising up over the foliage.

Dimensions: Daylily plants are available anywhere from 1 to 5 feet tall and about 1 to 3 feet wide.

Maintenance: Divide daylily clumps every two or three years to keep them flowering at their peak. Gardeners should also provide even moisture throughout the growing season, however, daylilies are not fussy plants so little other maintenance is needed.

Pests or Diseases:Daylily plants have few pests or diseases to worry about and none are major problems.

Propagation Methods: Plant breeders develop new cultivars by growing daylilies from seed, however most gardeners prefer to purchase plants already one or two years old for immediate blooming. Propagation through division is another great way for gardeners to obtain inexpensive plants for their gardens.

Preferred Conditions: Daylilies prefer full sun but will tolerate part shade if they are not kept too dry.

Companion Plants: Daylilies are an excellent plant selection for butterfly gardens, so gardeners can combine them with other plants that attract butterflies.

Uses in the Garden: Use daylilies to fill in the empty spaces left by early spring flowering bulbs. Add these perennials for low-maintenance color to a butterfly garden or mixed border garden.

Daylilies have been popular for a long time for good reasons: colorful flowers, easy care, fun to grow, long-lasting flowering season, and hundreds of daylily choices to choose from. There are so many reasons to try growing a daylily plant that everyone should try a plant or two. In fact, some gardeners plant their entire garden only in daylilies and with so many options, that would never get boring.

The copyright of the article How to Grow Daylilies Plant Profile in Perennial Plants is owned by Angela England. Permission to republish How to Grow Daylilies Plant Profile in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.