Daylilies offer easy-care gardening with few cultural requirements. They are generally disease and pest free plants and will grow almost anywhere in Australia.While snails and slugs may congregate among the plants they rarely touch the flowers.
They produce an abundance of beautiful and showy flowers during the late spring and summer. Several hundred varieties abound in colours that now include lemon, ivory, purple and mauve, red and bronze.
Although the blooms last for just one day they bloom so prolifically that continuity of flowers is assured. Each plant can carry from 50-100 buds per stem with adequate watering during the flowering season.
They will grow in practically any situation which makes them very adaptable during periods of dryness or in over-wet soils. Daylilies thrive in sun or shade but flower better where they receive at least half sun. A light feeding of complete plant food or poultry manure in spring will improve both the quality and quantity of flowers.
Daylilies are devided and planted during their dormant period in winter, setting the crown at soil level. Division should be carried out after each two to three years to increase the flowers and their appearance.
Daylilies make great soil binders on steep banks and to prevent soil errosion and make great specimens in perennial borders or as attractive clumps among the shrubbery.
Many gardeners raise their own varieties from seed as many do not self polinate but can be hand pollinated. The seed pods can be distributed in autumn when they are ripe or collected for planting in the following spring. Seedlings normally flowers in two years after planting out.
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