Daylily Care and Information

Why our daylilies are the best

Daylilies have long been a favorite with gardeners – they are SO easy to grow, dependably producing their bright blooms despite heat, drought, excess rain, poor soil, and downright neglect! All the selections on this site will grow and thrive over a wide range of climates (Zones 4-9) and soils, even clay.

But the small orange blooms of our grandmothers’ gardens have been superseded by large blooms in pretty much every shade in the rainbow. The modern Daylilies from today’s great breeders have broad petals that open wide for the maximum show of color, they have spectacular ruffling that adds to their visual interest, and they have gorgeous color combinations to delight the eye. They also have a variety of sizes – from petite minis to huge, broad blooms as much as 7 inches across, and the new spiders (varieties with thin, extremely long petals) can reach as much as a foot across! Plus, the most vigorous Daylilies will bloom more than once a season, and a few even give us continuous blooms.

We have selected some of the best of the modern Daylilies for the home gardener. There are several characteristics that make a Daylily outstanding:

1. They not only have superior bloom form and colors, they also are outstanding having a multitude of blooms per stem (referred to as a bud count), and a high bud count means they have a lot of flowers blooming over a long period. Most older Daylilies have 5-8 blooms per stem, but NONE of our Daylilies have less than 10 blooms per stem! In fact, the vast majority has over 15, with some stellar performers having over 20 blooms per stem, and a couple having an amazing 40-50!

2. They have well-branched scapes (many branches on a stem means a lot of blooms open at one time).

3. They have great vigor. This means they have healthy, robust foliage, unlike many older Daylilies, and it also means they are easy to grow!

We invite you to take a few moments to browse through the gorgeous varieties here and choose some of these fabulous Daylilies for your garden – they will bring you beauty and enjoyment for many years!

Fresh-Dug roots, ready for planting!

You will receive premium, large-size bare root plants, fresh-dug and ready to burst into growth with warm weather. You won’t find any fresher or more robust plants, unless you dig them up yourself from your yard!

Small growing varieties will have 4-5 or sometimes more fans; really big growers that have hefty, oversize plants may have only one fan, but they will be as big, if not bigger, than the multiple fans of smaller varieties. The mid-size varieties will have 2 to 4 fans, depending on the size of the fans.

They may cost a little more than smaller, 1-fan plants, but they will give you a head start on having big, beautiful clumps of Daylilies that achieve their potential a season, or even two seasons quicker than starting with smaller plants. These premium plants will not only be quicker to become established, they will be quicker to turn their attention to producing blooms, and they contain a lot more nutrients to support the vigorous growth necessary for this.

Planting and Care Instructions for Daylilies

Basic Facts about Daylilies: Daylilies are tough plants that are easy to grow. They tolerate dry conditions, take summer’s worst heat, grow in most any soil as long as it is well-drained, and live for years. Plant them in the border mixed among other perennials, use as an edging for a larger space, or simply group them in a bed for a mass display. The foliage is generally 18 inches tall and wide, with the flower stems 2-3 feet tall.
Hardiness Zones: 4-9
Grow best in: Sun/Part shade

Planting Daylilies: Plant in full sun (for the most bloom) to a little shade (for the pastel colors). Set Daylilies home 18 to 24 inches apart in average garden soil that is well drained; it helps to add substantial amounts of compost, aged manure and/or leaf mold when working up your dirt and preparing the hole or bed for planting. Make your hole 2 times as wide as the tuberous roots spread out horizontally, and about a foot deep. Place your modified soil in the hole to form a mound in the middle, with the top of the mound slightly lower than ground level. Place the root crown on the mound, spreading the tuberous roots evenly down the sides. Finish filling the hole with soil - the crown should be barely covered. Tamp down the soil and soak with water to ensure good contact of the roots with the soil and to start growth.

Caring for Daylilies: Water in times of severe heat and drought, and mulch to conserve water. Apply a fertilizer high in phosphates one a year in spring. Reblooming Daylily types produce more blooms with a dose of 5-10-10 fertilizer after the first blooms fade. Remove the flower stalks after all the buds have opened and remove the dead foliage in winter. Divide reblooming varieties every 2 years or when the clump becomes crowded and bloom becomes less.

Types of Daylilies

Reblooming Daylilies: Many of the modern Daylilies are so vigorous that they will actually produce a second or even third show of blooms in the summer and early fall, so you get to enjoy them not just once, but several times over the course of the season. A few will even produce continuous bloom – like ‘Apricot Sparkles’ and ‘Going Bananas’!

So double your Daylily pleasure – choose a few rebloomers for your garden from the wide selection we have assembled for you!

WOW Daylilies – the BIG ones!: Just a few years ago, we used to think any Daylily that was 4 inches across was really big! But today’s modern breeders have created many beautiful varieties that are over 5 1/2 inches across, some as much as 7 inches in diameter! A couple of ‘Spider’ types (the name comes from their longer, thinner petals) even reach an amazing 9 inches or more across!

Larger blooms make a larger show of color, so all these big beauties will make quite a statement in your garden, especially as we have also been careful to choose only those which have a good bud count and branching, which translates to lots of blooms over a long period. We also selected varieties possessing good form, with attractive, spreading petals, further maximizing the show of color in the garden.

So, up the WOW! factor of your garden – choose your favorites from these big beauties and place your order today. They will reward you with years of carefree enjoyment!

Fancy Face Daylily Varieties: Many of the New Daylilies have never-before-seen colors and color patterns – beautiful ruffled edges often marked with bands of color, centers with two or even three colors, and hard-to-find shades such as lavender-blues and white-edged maroons. Many, alas, come from parents that are not hardy; however, we have been able to secure some perfectly hardy ones for you to choose from. So select a couple of these eye-catchers to plant in your garden – their ruffles, eyes and edgings will delight you every time you walk by!

Best Performing Daylilies(highest bud count, vigorous plants): These are just plain great Daylilies that will make a tremendous show in your garden simply because they produce such a great quantity of bloom, and they a good growers with healthy, vigorous foliage that is attractive even when they aren’t in bloom. High bud count means that not only will the plant have a lot of blooms at one time and make a colorful show in your garden, but that its bloom period will be extended, so you get to enjoy the beauty of the flowers over a longer time.

Buy some of these great performers for your garden – you will be rewarded by spectacular (and carefree) shows every growing season for years to come!

Newest Daylily Varieties: New is always exciting – we humans just seem to thrive on something new! We Daylily lovers hope for a different color we’ve never seen before, a fuller shape that makes a bigger show in the garden, thicker petals so the blooms look good longer, increased bud count for a bigger display and longer bloom period; and, of course there is increased disease resistance or better ability to withstand adverse conditions. So we’ve put together for you a group of Daylilies that have just recently come into the gardening world. They embody some of the best genetic improvements available, both in looks and in performance, and deserve a place in any garden!

Daylilies by Color: Need a particular color to fit in a color scheme, or to coordinate with a favorite plant in your garden? We’ve grouped our varieties by color to make it easy to find just what you need!

Red Daylilies
Yellow Daylilies
Lavender and Purple Daylilies
Orange Daylilies
White Daylilies
Pink Daylilies
Pastel Daylilies

Have another question? Return to the Customer Service Help page or send an e-mail directly to Customer Service.