Ornamental · Asphodelaceae
Daylily
Hemerocallis fulva
Forgiving, quick to settle, and happy in sun, the daylily gives you a fresh bloom each morning all summer long.
Full sun
Every 7–14 days
USDA 3–9
2–6 ft · 0.8–1.8 m
Overview
If you are new to gardening, the daylily is a wonderful place to start, because it asks for so little and gives back so much. Its name fits perfectly: each bloom opens at dawn and fades by dark, with a fresh one waiting on the same scape the next morning. This is a clumping perennial that came originally from Asia and now feels at home across the temperate world, just as content in a neat border as it is growing wild beside a ditch. You really cannot fail with it.
From its thick, fleshy roots the daylily sends up arching, grass-like leaves and tall stalks that hold the flowers right through summer. The common orange fulva spreads quickly by rhizome and can wander, while named hybrids stay put and come in nearly every color but true blue, so there is plenty of room to play. As a lovely bonus, the flowers and buds are edible for people, with a sweet, mild taste.
One point deserves your full attention, and it is worth pausing on. Daylilies are deadly to cats, and even a small taste of leaf, flower, or pollen can shut down a cat's kidneys. If a cat shares your home, please think this through carefully before planting, and never bring cut daylilies indoors. With that one thing handled, you can relax and enjoy a plant that forgives almost every mistake.
Care
The short version: give it full sun and ordinary, well-drained soil, water moderately while it is growing, and split the clump every few years to keep the blooms coming. You have got this.
Light
Your daylilies will bloom their best in full sun, so aim for 6 or more hours a day if you can. They will still cope with partial shade, though in too little light they tend to stretch and give you fewer flowers, so brighter really is better here.
Water
Offer a moderate, even drink through the growing season, roughly every 7 to 14 days once the plant has settled in. Daylilies handle dry spells more gracefully than most perennials, so do not worry if you miss a watering, yet steady moisture is what rewards you with the heaviest flush of blooms.
Soil
Almost any well-drained loam will make them happy, and a little organic matter mixed in goes a long way. They do best at a pH of 6.0 to 7.0, but they are forgiving enough to manage in poor or heavy clay ground that would defeat fussier plants.
Humidity
There is nothing to measure or fret over here, since ordinary outdoor humidity is all they need. What helps more is good airflow around the crown, because the rots that occasionally trouble daylilies take hold in warm, stagnant damp.
Feeding
Daylilies are gentle light feeders and will not ask much of you. A single helping of balanced general-purpose fertilizer in spring is usually enough to carry a planting comfortably through the whole season.
Pruning
Deadhead the spent flowers each day to keep the clump looking tidy, and snip the flower scapes off once blooming has finished. When the foliage dies back, trim it away in late fall or early spring before fresh growth appears, and the plant will reward you.
Size & spacing
Depending on the variety, plants grow 2.5 to 6 feet (76 to 183 cm) tall and form clumps 24 to 30 inches (61 to 76 cm) wide. Give each one a little elbow room when you plant, so air can move freely around the crown and keep it healthy.
When to plant
Daylilies are tough, hardy perennials happy in zones 3 through 9, which means they return on their own each year without any fuss from you. Plant them out in spring or early fall once hard frost has passed, and look forward to the flowers peaking across July and August.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Sow: Not typically grown from seed by home gardeners; hybrids do not come true from seed.
- Plant: Spring or early fall, after the danger of hard frost has passed.
- Harvest: Summer, roughly July to August in the temperate northern hemisphere.
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 3–9
Temperature: down to -40°C
Troubleshooting
Take heart, because daylilies are about as easygoing as a perennial gets, and nearly every problem is cosmetic rather than serious. If something looks off, match it to the notes below and you will know exactly what to do.
The crown softens and gives way in warm, muggy weather
Southern blight turns up during hot, sticky spells, rotting the crown and spinning a white web of threads over the soil dotted with tan, seed-sized sclerotia. Sadly, an infected plant cannot be saved, so lift it out together with the soil around it. Afterward, improve the drainage and keep mulch pulled back from the crown, and you should not see it return.
Fix:
- Remove and destroy infected plants and surrounding soil
- Improve drainage and air circulation
- Avoid burying the crown too deeply
Older clumps grow crowded and flower less over time
Daylilies travel fast by rhizome, and after a few seasons a clump can pack itself so tightly that the middle thins out and the flowers taper off. Happily, the fix is easy division. Lift the clump in early spring or just after bloom, ease it apart into fans, and replant each one with the crown sitting at soil level.
Fix:
- Dig and divide the clump in early spring or after bloom
- Replant divisions with the crown at soil level
Pale winding trails wandering across the leaves
Those squiggly trails are the work of the daylily leafminer, a small larva that feeds inside the leaf and leaves its meandering mines behind. Hold a leaf up toward the light and you can trace the path it took. Try not to worry, because the damage looks far scarier than it is and will not harm an established clump, so simply pull off the worst leaves and let the plant carry on.
Fix:
- Remove and destroy heavily mined leaves
- Maintain plant vigor with adequate water and division
Toxicity
Please read this part slowly if you keep cats. Daylilies are deadly to cats, and swallowing any part, even pollen groomed off the fur or a sip of vase water, can cause fatal kidney failure within hours. The good news for everyone else is that the plant is far gentler on dogs and horses, and the flowers are genuinely edible for people, but for a cat there is simply no safe amount.
Toxic to
Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Safe for
People
Cats Severe
For a cat this is a genuine emergency. Even a nibble of leaf or flower, a lick of pollen off the fur, or a sip of vase water can set off acute kidney failure, and it can turn deadly within hours. Watch for early signs such as vomiting, a refusal to eat, and a growing tiredness, which slide into full renal shutdown if left. Please get the cat to a vet straight away, because treatment only works when it begins early.
Dogs Mild
Dogs come through this far more easily than cats do. A dog that chews on the plant might drool or have a short bout of vomiting or loose stools, but it does not face the kidney danger that makes daylilies so deadly to cats.
Horses Mild
For horses, grazing on daylily foliage usually causes nothing worse than a mild stomach upset, with a bit of drooling or loose manure if they eat much of it.
Rabbits Caution
How daylilies affect rabbits has not been well studied, so it is safest to treat the plant as off limits and not let a rabbit nibble the foliage or flowers.
Livestock Caution
There is little solid data on grazing animals here, so keep cattle, goats, and sheep away from daylily stands as a sensible precaution rather than gamble on an untested plant.
Birds Caution
Nobody has really studied how this affects pet and backyard birds, so keep cuttings and pollen out of their reach until more is known.
People Flowers edible
For people the flowers and buds are edible, with a sweet, mild taste that cooks have enjoyed for ages, which makes the plant safe to eat in moderation. That is never a reason to lower your guard around cats, though, for whom any contact can be fatal.
A feline emergency: keep all parts of the plant, fallen pollen, and any cut-flower water completely away from cats.
Helpline numbers
United States
ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435 (fee applies)
United Kingdom
Animal PoisonLine: 01202 509000 (fee applies)
Australia
Animal Poisons Helpline: 1300 869 738
Varieties
There are tens of thousands of registered daylily hybrids out there, which sounds overwhelming, but only a handful of species and old favorites really anchor the group. Start by getting to know these few.
Hemerocallis fulva (Orange / Tawny daylily, 'Ditch lily')
Spreading vigorously by rhizome, this species carries rusty-orange unscented blooms and has settled along roadsides so widely across North America that people came to call it the ditch lily.
Hemerocallis fulva 'Kwanso'
Bursting with extra petals and lacking working stamens, this double-flowered form sets no seed at all and travels only by spreading its rhizomes.
Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus (lemon daylily)
Blooming early and giving off a sweet scent, its clear-yellow flowers stand in lovely contrast to the unscented orange of the common fulva.
Hemerocallis 'Stella de Oro'
A neat, compact hybrid that reblooms right through the season, sending up one wave of golden-yellow flowers after another.
How to propagate
Making more daylilies could not be simpler, and division is the only method you will ever need to fill a whole bed from one happy clump.
DivisionEasy
Early spring as new growth emerges, or in fall after blooming has finished. · Divisions typically reestablish and resume strong growth within one growing season, often blooming the following year.
Division is how you multiply daylilies, and there is nothing to be nervous about. Do it in early spring as the new growth pushes up, or in fall once the flowers have faded. Dig the clump, gently tease it apart into fans that each keep their roots and a crown, and tuck them back at the depth they were before. They spread fast by rhizome and usually settle in within a single season, often blooming again the very next year.
Myths
Because daylilies are lilies, they must be just as dangerous to cats as any other lily.
Daylilies sit in the genus Hemerocallis, which is genuinely separate from the true lily genus, Lilium, so the botany really is different. The danger, sadly, is exactly the same. Both cause acute kidney failure in cats and must be kept well away from them.
Daylily flowers are poisonous to people in the same way they harm cats.
For people the flowers and buds are perfectly edible, with a sweet, mild flavor that has earned them a place in the kitchen for centuries. None of that applies to cats, though, for whom even a small exposure can prove fatal.