P. Allen Smith's

Daylilies

I always recommend daylilies for a garden because they’re low-maintenance, showy, and the late-blooming varieties will offer bold, trumpet blossoms until fall. I plant them everywhere at the farm—in the terrace gardens, near the house in containers, and even in the vegetable garden.

Give them full sun and they will produce seemingly endless waves of trumpet-shaped flowers. And if you choose early, mid, and late-season blooming varieties you will reap these rewards well into summer.

Daylilies

The daylily is a member of the lily family as are such other plants as onions and hyacinths, but it is not a lily. Its botanical name is HEMEROCALLIS, derived from two Greek words meaning “beauty” and “day”. Individual blooms are generally open for only a day, but there are successive flowers for a number of days during the blooming season.


The daylily is a fibrous-rooted, hardy, herbaceous perennial. Roots are finger-like in appearance, varying in size from tiny and threadlike to large, rounded, fleshy. There is a crown at the junction where the roots and leaves join. The foliage is narrow and long, and grows more or less in the shape of a fan.

CLICK HERE FOR A PLANTING GUIDE FOR DAYLILIES

Daylily

Hemerocallis spp.

4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Loamy, Sandy

Spring through Fall

Full Sun

Daylily Articles

The Bare Essentials

Somewhere between seeds and seedlings is the bare-root plant starter. It may not look as pretty as the potted plants you get in the nursery,

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Seize the Daylily!

If your grandmother had a garden, chances are good she grew daylilies. This easygoing perennial has been a favorite for generations, but the newer kids

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Bulbs that Naturalize

One of my favorite areas of the Moss Mountain Farm Garden Home is Daffodil Hill. We’ve planted over 200,000 daffodil bulbs there and in spring

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Which Flowers are Edible?

It’s easy to forget that many flowers are actually edible. But more and more restaurants are adding edible decorations like nasturtiums, with a distinct, almost

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Garden To Do List August

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Daylily Rust

Lately I’ve noticed that quite a bit of attention has been given to a new nemesis on the American gardening scene – daylily rust. This

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Dividing Daylilies

When is the best time to separate and transplant daylilies? For me, the best value in plants is generally determined by three factors. I want

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No Fail Plants for Summer

As a self-professed plant geek, I’m compelled to try obscure varieties and plants that have a reputation for being difficult. I just can’t resist the

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Daylily Videos

Daylily gallery