Category Archives: Daylily

Daylily Propagation by Proliferation

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Daylily Proliferation shown on scape below seed pod.

Daylily Proliferation, July, 2014.

Daylilies can be propagated by “proliferations” (or by seed, or by division).

Proliferations are the small plants that arise from “joints” in the scape (see photo left); these small plants can emerge at any time after the scape develops. All daylilies are capable of producing proliferations—if environmental conditions are favorable. There is one daylily in my collection that produces viable proliferations each year; the others do not.

Notice that the proliferation on this scape is beneath a seed pod. The plant will keep the seed pod alive and that, in turn, keeps the proliferation alive. If the seed pod dies, the scape also dies and turns brown, destroying any immature proliferations still attached to the scape.

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The “Red” Daylilies

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Picture of maroon-colored daylily, 'Theron'

‘Theron’, May 2014

There are two “red” daylilies in my perennial gardens; one is ‘Prelude to Love’ and the other is ‘Theron’. I describe each of them as maroon–probably due to my Aggie lens! (We are both Texas A&M University former students).

Theron was the first “red” daylily—bred by Stout and released in 1934 (Dormant, blooms mid-May throught mid-June, no repeat) This was a pass along plant for my mother-in-law, and I acquired it from her about 8 years ago. I found it in a garden bed near the house, shaded from overgrown oak trees planted over 20 years earlier (but originally in full sun). Once carefully dug, I realized that there really wasn’t much time left because the tubers were tiny and there were only 3 of them. With care, I managed to bring it back to blooming and spreading.

Purchase in 1995, ‘Prelude to Love’ was one of the first daylilies I bought (that maroon lens again!).

Maroon to red colored daylily pictured.

‘Prelude to Love’, June 2014

This is a dormant, mid-June through July repeat bloomer.

Until this year, I thought that both of these were gone. They were discovered in unruly clumps of daylily tubers and roots—continued growing, but ceased blooming.

This year, they both have new locations in the improved raised bed. I expect to see a lot more of both of them from now on!

 

 

Dividing Daylilies (Part 2)

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Clump of Daylilies

Clump of Daylilies

After preparing new bed space (Part 1), Here’s how I divided the daylilies, beginning with one Clump of Daylilies (see photo, left). this clump was dug with a hand spade; this clump has quite a bit of bermuda grass and weeds woven throughout the daylily roots–those can be removed as the clump is divided into single plants (also called “fans”).

Over time, grass, sedge, and other undesired plants will happily find a new home with  the daylily root system. Removing grass and weeds removes competition for nutrients and space in the soil. Before I divided the dayliles (and physically removed all obvious weeds and grass, several of my daylily varieties stopped blooming–I’ve recently discovered two varieties as they are now blooming. Do not underestimate the competition that grasses and weeds will inflict on daylilies. (There are also herbicides to remedy the bermuda grass and other weeds, just check with your local county extension agent to learn more about those chemical controls.) Continue reading →

Dividing Daylilies (Part 1)

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By the time that I decided to divide my daylilies (early Spring, this year—recall the mess—), I realized that I could identify only two of the unruly clumps. So, the choice was made to start raised beds that would give me room to sort them by variety. Here’s how I did it:

1) the daylilies were dug up and clumps were placed in pots with potting soil—essentially I stored the clumps for future transplanting to the new beds (see pots in picture at the bottom of this post). Continue reading →

Perennial Bed is Ready for Spring!

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Perennial Bed--Oct. 27, 2013

Perennial Bed–Oct. 27, 2013

Last year was the conclusion of about a 3 year period where I failed to clean up weeds and grass in the perennial bed, and the end of about a 5 year period in which I did not divide the daylilies. As a consequence, the entire bed was a huge grassy mess (picture at left, from October, 2013) with extra large clumps of daylilies with fewer and fewer blooms each year. Continue reading →