Daylily Gardening To-Do List by Doris Bishop
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MARCH
APRIL
MAY
JUNE
1. WATER, WATER, WATER! Daylilies need at least one inch of water each week. Water early in the mornings or late in the afternoons. Never allow water to remain on the foliage when the sun is overhead or else ugly leaf scorch will result.
2. Continue to spray for aphids, thrips, and spider mites and treat for slugs and snails.
3. Check sick daylilies for crown rot. Crown rot will kill a daylily. If caught early, the plant can be treated and possibly saved.
4. Watch for rust if you have added new daylilies from a rust-prone area. Treat immediately before it can spread to neighboring plants. Put any foliage with rust in the trashcan and wash your hands. Rust spores will spread.
4. Pull or clip any yellow or discolored foliage. Yellow foliage may be a sign that the daylilies need water.
5. Deadheading spent blooms keeps the garden neat and presentable.
6. Hybridize to create future Stout Silver Medal winners. Be sure to label your crosses. (Pod parent x pollen parent)
7. Take lots of pictures of your daylilies and the garden. Study the garden pictures to see what you like and what you want to change. You may want to add pictures of each daylily you grow to your daylily database this winter when you finally have spare time.
8. Tour other gardens. Visit the AHS Display Gardens in your area. Ask questions when in the gardens. Take along a pad and pen to list any daylilies that you want to add in the future.
9. Take advantage of plant sales in your area, especially at local daylily shows. Good buys are to be had!
10. Visit and exhibit your daylilies in a local daylily show. You will see many very beautiful daylilies. Be sure to bring that pad and pen with you.
11. Go to AHS Region and/or National meetings. You will tour beautiful daylily gardens and meet other excited daylily lovers.
12. Walk your garden with pad and pen in hand. What changes do you want to make before next year? Which daylilies are not performing well? Would they do better if moved to a new location in your garden or should they find a new home in someone else’s garden? Should that showy clump be moved to a more visible location? Should the reds or dark purples be moved to more shade? Should that short one in the back of the bed be moved to the front or the tall one in front moved to the back? Make note of which clumps need to be divided in September. Don’t rely on your memory. Write it down and put your notes where you can find them later.
13. Above all else, take the time to enjoy your daylilies. June is the peak month for daylily blooms in our area. This is what you have looked forward to since the daylilies quit blooming last summer.
JULY & AUGUST
1. WATER, WATER, WATER! Continue to water even though your blooms have declined or finished. Water helps to produce rebloom scapes and new fans, prevent stress on the plants from the hot, dry periods of summer, grow bigger roots and fans, and prepare the plants for next year’s blooms.
2. Give the daylily foliage a final spraying for insects.
3. As the foliage becomes ragged and dries, it may be mowed a few inches above the ground, clipped or sheared, or weed-eated to keep the beds neat. New foliage will then grow and replace the old. Some growers prefer to leave the foliage and do nothing to it.
4. Supplement your fertilizing program with an additional dose of Milorganite or other non-time release fertilizer and Epsom salt. This will help with fan increase and healthy roots for next spring. After the daylilies finish blooming, they begin preparing for the next year’s growth and blooms. 5. If you are going to get daylily rust, it will show itself by now. You can treat the rust, cut the affected foliage, and destroy the foliage by putting it in the trashcan, or hope that the cold temperatures of winter will destroy the rust. Rust does not kill the daylily but does make the foliage look unsightly.
5. If you hybridize, gather seeds as the pods dry. Be sure to label the seeds as you gather them. Air dry the seeds for a few days or else the seeds may mold when refrigerated. Then refrigerate shelled seeds in small plastic bags for at least two weeks to speed up the germination process. Seeds can then be planted directly in specially prepared ground or pots. Seeds may sprout within a week or two or may take longer. Be sure to water and not let the soil dry out. If the soil dries out, the seeds may not germinate. Continue to water the seeds once they have sprouted. Seeds may be refrigerated in a sealed plastic bag all winter and then planted in the spring.
- Garden cleanup (remove dead scapes, small limbs, dead foliage, etc.)
- Check garden soil for ph and nutrients. Take samples from each bed. Contact your county extension agent. Can buy pH meter at local garden center but it may not always be accurate.
- Amend garden soil. Add organic amendments to the soil every three years and work into the soil when possible. Soil amendments--soil conditioner or finely ground pinebark, compost, sand, bagged topsoil, mushroom compost (check salt content), lime (if needed).
- Add fertilizers, e.g., general all-purpose fertilizer such as 10-10-10, aged manures (horse, cow, chicken), Milorganite, Epsom salts, alfalfa meal or pellets (do not apply in direct contact with the roots), or a time release fertilizer (Nutricote/Dynamite or Osmocote).
- Create new beds. Add a combination of soil amendments for best results (see 3 above). Raised beds provide good drainage. Tilling-in amendments is recommended.
- Mulch beds with pinebark, pinestraw, or aged wood chips. Mulch holds in moisture, controls weeds, cools soil in summer, protects plants in cold weather, and is aesthetically pleasing.
- Daylily clumps can be divided once they begin growing and can be replanted.
- WEED! Never let weeds go to seed !
- Pre-emergents may be applied. Wait until all digging is finished in a bed before applying the pre-emergent Snapshot.
- Check plant labels. Are they still legible?
- Straighten plant stands or markers.
- Make labels for new daylilies arriving in the spring, if not already done.
- Use deer repellent, if needed.
- Shop online or from daylily catalogs for new daylilies to add in April.
APRIL
- Any tasks not completed in March should be finished in early April.
- Daylilies can be divided and replanted. Share daylilies with friends. Work out daylily trades with other daylily growers.
- Plant new daylilies after the threat of frost or be prepared to cover new daylilies directly planted in the ground. New daylilies can be planted in pots and kept in an unheated garage on cold nights until time to be planted in the ground. Water as needed. Do not let pots dry out. Plant in a good soil mix that provides good drainage.
- Water daylilies if spring rain is not adequate. Do not over water.
- Begin treatment program for aphids, spider mites, thrips, and snails. Consider choices available: granular vs. sprays and organic methods vs. chemical treatments. You should select the treatment program best for your garden.
MAY
- Continue insect control (aphids, thrips, spider mites, snails).
- Continue fungicide treatments. As the temperatures rise, fungus and disease increase in the garden. Rust may not show itself until July.
- Water daylilies if rain does not provide at least one inch of water each week. Try to not water the foliage and water early in the mornings. This will help prevent leaf scorch from the hot sun and disease from wet foliage left overnight.
- New daylilies can still be planted but may need extra water as they get adjusted to their new home.
- WEED! Never let weeds go to seed !
- Use deer repellent, if needed.
- Start watching for that first bloom.
- Start hybridizing when daylilies begin blooming. Be sure to label your crosses (pod parent x pollen parent).
- Take time to enjoy your daylilies each day because bloom season will be over much too soon.
JUNE
1. WATER, WATER, WATER! Daylilies need at least one inch of water each week. Water early in the mornings or late in the afternoons. Never allow water to remain on the foliage when the sun is overhead or else ugly leaf scorch will result.
2. Continue to spray for aphids, thrips, and spider mites and treat for slugs and snails.
3. Check sick daylilies for crown rot. Crown rot will kill a daylily. If caught early, the plant can be treated and possibly saved.
4. Watch for rust if you have added new daylilies from a rust-prone area. Treat immediately before it can spread to neighboring plants. Put any foliage with rust in the trashcan and wash your hands. Rust spores will spread.
4. Pull or clip any yellow or discolored foliage. Yellow foliage may be a sign that the daylilies need water.
5. Deadheading spent blooms keeps the garden neat and presentable.
6. Hybridize to create future Stout Silver Medal winners. Be sure to label your crosses. (Pod parent x pollen parent)
7. Take lots of pictures of your daylilies and the garden. Study the garden pictures to see what you like and what you want to change. You may want to add pictures of each daylily you grow to your daylily database this winter when you finally have spare time.
8. Tour other gardens. Visit the AHS Display Gardens in your area. Ask questions when in the gardens. Take along a pad and pen to list any daylilies that you want to add in the future.
9. Take advantage of plant sales in your area, especially at local daylily shows. Good buys are to be had!
10. Visit and exhibit your daylilies in a local daylily show. You will see many very beautiful daylilies. Be sure to bring that pad and pen with you.
11. Go to AHS Region and/or National meetings. You will tour beautiful daylily gardens and meet other excited daylily lovers.
12. Walk your garden with pad and pen in hand. What changes do you want to make before next year? Which daylilies are not performing well? Would they do better if moved to a new location in your garden or should they find a new home in someone else’s garden? Should that showy clump be moved to a more visible location? Should the reds or dark purples be moved to more shade? Should that short one in the back of the bed be moved to the front or the tall one in front moved to the back? Make note of which clumps need to be divided in September. Don’t rely on your memory. Write it down and put your notes where you can find them later.
13. Above all else, take the time to enjoy your daylilies. June is the peak month for daylily blooms in our area. This is what you have looked forward to since the daylilies quit blooming last summer.
JULY & AUGUST
1. WATER, WATER, WATER! Continue to water even though your blooms have declined or finished. Water helps to produce rebloom scapes and new fans, prevent stress on the plants from the hot, dry periods of summer, grow bigger roots and fans, and prepare the plants for next year’s blooms.
2. Give the daylily foliage a final spraying for insects.
3. As the foliage becomes ragged and dries, it may be mowed a few inches above the ground, clipped or sheared, or weed-eated to keep the beds neat. New foliage will then grow and replace the old. Some growers prefer to leave the foliage and do nothing to it.
4. Supplement your fertilizing program with an additional dose of Milorganite or other non-time release fertilizer and Epsom salt. This will help with fan increase and healthy roots for next spring. After the daylilies finish blooming, they begin preparing for the next year’s growth and blooms. 5. If you are going to get daylily rust, it will show itself by now. You can treat the rust, cut the affected foliage, and destroy the foliage by putting it in the trashcan, or hope that the cold temperatures of winter will destroy the rust. Rust does not kill the daylily but does make the foliage look unsightly.
5. If you hybridize, gather seeds as the pods dry. Be sure to label the seeds as you gather them. Air dry the seeds for a few days or else the seeds may mold when refrigerated. Then refrigerate shelled seeds in small plastic bags for at least two weeks to speed up the germination process. Seeds can then be planted directly in specially prepared ground or pots. Seeds may sprout within a week or two or may take longer. Be sure to water and not let the soil dry out. If the soil dries out, the seeds may not germinate. Continue to water the seeds once they have sprouted. Seeds may be refrigerated in a sealed plastic bag all winter and then planted in the spring.
