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Planting daylilies:

The planting of daylilies should be done in the period from April to October. Thus, the daylilies have enough time to grow well before the winter. Choose a sunny location to plant a daylily. After the planting hole was dug, create a small hill in the middle were the roots could spread out in all directions. It is important that the root extension have planted approximately 1-2 cm below the surface. Otherwise, the bloom delays until the plant rises to this level by itself.

Especially miniature and small-flowered daylilies, such as the beautiful varieties "Oirlicher Fresien," "Stella d'Oro" or "Pfennig Parade" are also very suitable for pot planting. In summer, watch for adequate substrate, irrigation and fertilizer.

Blooms:

The main flowering period of the daylily is usually five to seven weeks. There are many different flower forms: stars - and trumpet-shaped, round, ruffled, spin-filled and so called "Spider" - varieties with long narrow petals. The colors of flowers extends with all its overtones of orange to yellow, red, pink, purple to almost white and almost black. Breeders failed so for to create a pure white and a pure blue bloom.
In particular, sunny, bright days that follow a humid night, daylilies bloom very good. On these days, the daylilies are completely open in the early morning hours.

All daylily blooms are edible and can be used very creatively for the decoration of dishes such as on the lower photo. In China daylily buds are very estimated. They call them the "Golden needles" because of the dried buds of the yellow Daylily (Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus eg). Young buds refine soups, salads and rice dishes. The roots can be cooked as vegetables.

Care:

The care of daylilies is less expensive than many other perennials. In young orchards it is advisable to cover the previously lightly fertilized areas with mulch. Among their grass-like leaf bushes there grow no weeds. Not without any reason Karl Förster called the daylilies "The Flower of the intelligent lazy ones."

To the main growing season in April / May daylilies need additional water and fertilizer. I use release fertilizer (3-5 months long-term effect). It makes makes sure that the plant is not over-fertilized. Over-fertilized plants tend to have split stems and flowers which are problems during the winter.
The administration of depot fertilizer augments the daylilies with a more luxuriant bloom!

Daylilies know only a few pests. You do not get aphids, caterpillars and do not suffer under a lasting drought or frost. For newer plants (e.g., fresh semi-evergreen varieties from America) it is better to cover them with pine needles - or pine boughs during the winter. After a time of three years a daylily has grown from a small fan to a magnificent Plant with many many flowers.

Location and companion Perennials :

Daylilies don't need many requirements where they are planted, but they are very grateful if you take a nutritious and rich in humus, well-water-permeable substrat. They tolerate a little shade, but best bloom results have achieved at places with direct sunlight. All plants that have the same habitat requirements can be combined with daylilies. The selection is so unimaginably large: for example Rudbeckia, Helenium, Heliopsis, Monarda, Salvia, Anchusa, Helianthus, Achillea, Echinacea, Aster, Delphinium, some grasses and many others.

Samples from the great daylily garden at the University of Ulm:

 

Propagation:

Daylilies can be propagated in different ways. The division of plant here is the most common. In general, a rhizome can be without a great effort divided into individual fans. This works in most cases without a knife, and without major losses. But in case the fans are so close together for example at Little Cadet, Stella d 'Oro, etc., or the roots have grown together, you had to choose a knife and unfortunately you loose a fan quickly. After you have divided the plant you should cut back the foliage in a fan.

Bold is the propagation by division of the crown (and you should not do that with very expensive varieties). I tried it last year with H. 'Strawberry Candy'

Division of the crown Step 1:

Roots carefully free from soil

Division of the crown Step 2:

Llook closely to find the center of the crown. Now cut with a disinfected sharp knife.

Division of the crown Step 3:

Two equal root copies were created.

Division of the crown Step 4:

Planting and wait....

Division of the crown Step 5:

After about 20 days of waiting you get a new fan out of the lower crown section.

Pests:

Luckily, daylilies have only one significant pest - the daylily gall midge. The gall midge damage the substance of the flower bud, so that the thickness swell and linear growth shows no more. The respective individual bud dies. By now, the infested buds have to broken out and dispose at the household waste to prevent a spread.

To detect such an infested bud, we have put together some photos.

 

Shipment of daylilies:

The shipment of daylilies is easy. Because of the fleshy roots water and nutrients are saved for many many days. For this reason, from the U.S. sent daylilies get no damage (the shipment takes often longer than two weeks).

In the fall, when both the soil and the roots are quite dry, I cut back the foliage as in the photo, then the plants get moistened in ordinary newsprint before they can be sent in sufficiently large box.

Daylilies ready for shipment