I have a border of daylilies in a bed that has suffered this summer and turned brown. Not completly, there is SOME green and a lone flower or two. The entire bed looks a bit scorched. I'm ready to call it a summer. Can I cut back the daylilies to the ground and mulch over top without hurting them for next year?

Hey Crystal, Thanks for posting.

You can. I prefer to leave any green to feed the roots.

It's normal for some daylillies to turn brown after blooming. They may send up new growth yet this autumn. But remulching them before winter is a good idea, topdress them with a couple inches of manure if you have it.

Crystal and all,

I recently joined and am coming into this topic rather late, but perhaps I can give some guidance for the coming growing season.

First of all, contrary to what some have written about daylily care, they do have some basic requirements, regular watering is the most important, especially during prolonged dry periods. This alone will help prevent a lot of the dying back of foliage that can happen after bloom. It will also encourage better scape production and more blooms. Cultivars that have been bred to produce rebloom will be more dependable to continue to bloom if the plants are receiving adequate water and nutrients.

Mulching at the beginning of the bloom season will help hold in soil moisture, but do not cover the crowns of the plants. Instead, apply the mulch to within an inch of the crowns, this allows "breathing" room as well as room for new fans to emerge without excessive moisture being trapped too close to the growing points and possibly causing the fans to have problems emerging.

Never cut daylily foliage off at ground level! Plants may be cut back at the end of the bloom season to 6 to 8 inches above the crown, Side dress with a light application of lawn fertilizer (just the straight stuff w/o any additives), and water this in. New growth will be noticeable within a few days and by fall all of the plants will have grown, new, lush foliage to take them into fall and help the plants prepare for winter.

Winter mulch can be applied after the ground is frozen, but is not really necessary as the foliage will act as a mulch over the crowns of the plants. Please note, not all varieties of daylilies lose their foliage during winter and you do not want to remove any foliage that is still green and healthy looks. I always wait until spring to remove the previous years foliage and then carefully so not to damage new growth as it is emerging. As far as what to use for winter protection, I have found that "pine straw" (pine needles) or pine branches is one of the best as is it slow to break down and does not pack tightly against the crown of the plant and possibly causing crown rot. Any mulch you do use should be pulled back from the crowns of the plants in early spring. This much can be left over the root area to help conserve soil moisture during summer and simply added to for winter protection, but it should not build up to more than 2 inches deep or be closer than 2 inches to the crowns of the plants as this can trap excessive moisture over the crowns and cause problems.

I hope this information proves helpful for all interested.


Rebecca
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Thanks Rebecca for your thoughtful response.

It's been my experience that every garden that I do is different and the things that work in one garden may not work in another. Gardening seems to be about paying attention to what our plants tell us.

I mulch my daylillies with manure in the autumn-early winter, actually throwing it on top of the plants whose foilage has died back with good results. I cover the manure with wood chips. In the spring, the foilage comes up through the material with no problems. I've had daylilies that were buried under several inches of this process....they were thriving. I've found that in my garden watering extra isn't required....I'm not saying that I didn't lose some daylilies...It's entirely possible that I did. The daylilies that thrived without extra watering went on to become parents to future generations in my hybridization efforts....Passing along these extra hardy genes.

In my garden, I plant stuff that either lives or dies with the natural water that falls from the sky. If I plant something that dies, I plant something else...Again, it's important to pay attention to what our plants tell us.

Stone,

How true! What works for one will not necessarily work for everyone.

I don't give additional water to all of my beds, more the display beds and seedling beds, although not all of them. I have a small portion of a neighbor's veggie garden that I use for seedlings and the few line outs I do and after being watered in about the only water they get is what falls from the sky. This bed doesn't get any winter protection either other than the leaves that are blown in and the foliage as it dies back. The bed is very open and exposed, so makes a good test for hardiness.

I would like to add one bit of info about your mulching technique (which is a good one), daylilies will often refuse to bloom if the crowns get too deep from repeated applications of mulch. Their bloom count also tends to reduce when the clumps get too large. 'Stella D'Oro' comes to mind immediately as one that really tapers off it amount of bloom. It's also a bear to divide!, but I have found that if I divide my few clumps of it about every third or fourth year, it preforms much better. I have a clump of 'Shepherd's Light' that has been in place for three, maybe four years now and it hasn't slowed down a bit! It just keeps getting better. Unfortunately it doesn't have a lot of space and I really should divide it this spring.

I think a lot of the older varieties can go years without being divided, but a lot of the more modern ones seem to actually do better when divided on a regular basis. Again, Stone, it is like you stated, one must pay attention to the plants and what they are telling us. ;)


Rebecca