How Do You Plant a Daylily?

H. Way Out There (a spider)

So a friend gave you a daylily and now you are wondering what to do with it. First decide if you are going to plant it in a pot or in your garden. If your garden, then pick either a spot in full sun or one in partial shade. The shade needs to be afternoon shade (morning sun). The daylily technically requires 6 hours of morning sun to open up; however, I do have daylilies which only recieve 1 – 3 hours of morning sun and bloom just fine for me.

Next dig a hole as wide as the tuberous roots and add some long term, slow release fertilizer in the hole. At planting time if your daylily has not had it leaves trimmed, you should do that. Trim the leaves down to 4 – 6 inches high. Make a volcano in the hole, and then set the daylily on top of the volcano. Fill in over the roots and water the plant in well. Planting depth should be no deeper than where the crown meets the foliage (at the base of the leaves). Water for the first 2 weeks until the plant is established and then reduce down the watering to a deep watering once a week. After 2 weeks you can start using a water soluble fertilizer like Hasta Gro, Miracle Gro, Compost tea, fish emulsion, or Peters 20-20-20.

If you want to plant your daylily in a pot – pick the largest pot you have. The pot should be at least 12 inches across, but the bigger the better. Add potting mix about halfway up the pot and then add some long term, slow release fertilizer. Add another scoop or two of the potting mix in a mound. Set the daylily plant (trimmed as noted above) on top of the volcano and then fill around and over the roots with the rest of the potting mix. Water it well. I typically will place my pots in partial shade for the first two weeks until the roots are established and then I move them into the sun. Remember to fertilize your potted plants once a week or at a minimum once every two weeks with a water soluble fertilizer. Potting mixes do not have soil nutrients in them for your plants. I have had a number of daylilies in pots for 4 – 6 years or more. They require a little more watering and feeding than plants in the ground; however, they seem to do just fine in big display pots. You may also need to divide them a little more frequently than your plants in the ground.

After you have planted your daylily, sit back and enjoy the show. It is a great plant that will give you lots of blooms once it gets going.