A breakfast in the garden starting at 6:30am, what a wonderful idea I thought to myself when I received the invitation. A perfect time of day for a gardener who is used to getting up early to beat the heat…especially this year in Middle Tennessee where it has been in the mid-90s for the past 19 1/2 days without a drop of rain (but who’s counting).
Buy daylilies with a double fan (the green leaves) unless specified for best success rate. A triple fan is a good idea for Spider varieties.
Dead heading isn’t necessary but helps to keep a pure cultivar as daylilies can cross.
Daylilies bloom for one day only (hence the name day lily)
Daylilies make lovely cut flowers and buds will continue to bloom but will have to be dead-headed in the vase to keep the arrangement looking pretty.
If you are showing daylilies, live head the night before a show by pulling off blooms and leaving the buds which will open in the morning. This will keep old blooms from discoloring or oozing onto new blooms.
Join a daylily society or club to learn more and to trade lilies when they multiply.
Clubs also have sales where you can buy plants at reasonable prices while supporting the association.
Daylily flowers are edible, Emily thinks yellow and pale yellow are the sweetest flavor, stir-fry the buds, use the flowers in salads and on cakes.
Emily uses a time release fertilizer around daylilies in the spring.
When planting new daylily clumps, Emily adds compost or alfalfa pellets to the hole.
Monty’s Joy Juice is a wonderful natural foliar fertilizer and Emily’s favorite.
Ideally, dormant oil sprayed on daylily clumps once a month in January, February and March help to keep bug problems to a minimum.
Divide every five years; be careful not to plant to deep. Soil line should be where green meets roots.
Best time to divide or move daylilies is May thru the end of September. When one procrastinates and suddenly it is November (no one ever does that, right?) No problem, Emily lays a brick on the east and west side of the fan (leaves) to add heat and to keep the roots from heaving out of the ground during the winter. A trick she learned from her mother.
Alfalfa pellets will heat up in the hole during the winter which helps when you divide and plant later then you should.
If you divide or move in the heat of August cut some maple branches and make a tee pee over the plant. The leaves help the plant to transition in the heat and sun as they shrivel and dry up. Another trick Emily learned from her mom.
When temperatures remain above 90 degrees for a spell, daylilies will go dormant and don’t need excessive amounts of water. Water sprinklers can cause heat dormant lilies to rot.
A local Tennessee source for daylilies, Daylily Cove, Franklin, TN – Al Brewer, 615.790.3306
