Gardener Mary Walton Upchurch describes her unique approach to the copious but brief blossoms in a letter to daylilies, which she grows as cut flowers for the home rather than as yard ornaments.
I occasionally pause throughout the year to determine how many months remain until the daylilies bloom. They are the garden’s horticultural high point. I am in daylily heaven from the end of May until the start of August. I follow the development of the first daylily bud in the garden in May as it emerges and starts to enlarge. And when it does open, I experience the same rush I do when I first see the ocean at the beach.
I grow daylilies differently than most people do—I grow them for cut flowers for indoor usage rather than as yard ornaments. Since they must be cultivated in full sun, I find their spiky foliage to be unappealing outside, and in June and July it is simply too hot to take my time admiring each gorgeous bloom in the daylily garden. However, you can get near to and frequently enjoy daylilies if you bring the flowers indoors.
When I went to a woman’s daylily garden, I once attempted to convince her of this. She and I were visiting a common friend; I didn’t know her. A true daylily aficionado, our hostess happily guided us through her garden. Each daylily in her collection has numerous flowers in vibrant hues and shapes. However, despite her interest, it was obvious that our hostess was not in excellent health. She walked awkwardly and her brow was visibly perspiring. I questioned her about the possibility of bringing some daylilies inside and putting them in a little dish so she could enjoy them all day. I wanted to demonstrate to her a simple and relaxing approach to enjoy her flowers as one daylily lover to another. But I fell short. She wouldn’t try it, I could tell by the look in her eyes.
I was unable to convince her, but maybe I can convince you. Bring some flowers inside to get things going. You’ll become addicted once you realize how frequently you enjoy gazing at them indoors.
The daylilies arrive slowly at the beginning of the season, and I adore each bloom, pinching off each blossom as it begins to open on the stalk and rushing inside with it. These particular blossoms are arranged in little bowls.
“They barely last a day? I had no idea! I recall the young bride’s distressed voice, who had used daylilies to decorate for an evening celebration. The dining room table was covered in shriveled daylilies, which created a sad spectacle as the guests entered. Daylilies only bloom for one day, even if I have since learned about certain varieties that remain open into the evening. This was 40 years ago. Their scientific name, Hemerocallis, literally translates to “beauty for a day.” I believe that this characteristic restricts the gardener’s creativity when utilizing daylilies in arrangements, but it shouldn’t because today is such a beautiful day!
Perhaps you’re picturing the traditional daylily that the Romans cultivated, the orange lilies that bloom by the side of the road in the summer. Oh reader, reconsider. Daylilies come in a variety of tantalizing hues, shapes, and sizes in this brave new world. A daylily catalog is full of temptation, which may be found on every page. There are spiders with long, graceful petals, double daylilies that look like full roses, singles with piecrust edges—my personal weakness. Some daylilies are aromatic and have diamond dust on them. Some flowers have tiny, 10-inch-wide blossoms. Their appeal is limitless.
Daylily catalogs are now much more alluring because they not only come in the mail but also online. It is quite simple to click “Place in Basket. When I browsed the Oakes Daylilies catalog online last year, my finger kept clicking of its own accord “Place in Basket. My spouse was yelling in the background, but “There is no more room for daylilies! My fingers were unable to stop pressing that button.
Losing my mind while creating arrangements is half of the fun, but I do have a plan for selecting daylilies that work well together. I use colors that are close to one another on the color wheel in an analogous color scheme. Warm yellow, orange yellow, yellow orange, orange, red orange, orange red, red, and burgundy are the hues I opt for. A daylily will probably complement other plants in the same range if it falls anywhere along this continuum. It is fun to play around with different color schemes, and placing daylilies in a vase is undoubtedly simpler and more satisfying than placing them in a garden border.
On the color wheel, I typically select hues that are close to one another. Citrus Sparkles, Savannah Debutante, and Jersey Spider, for instance, are light cadmium yellow, cadmium yellow apricot, and cadmium yellow orange, respectively. With songs like “Better than Butter” (5-inch piecrust yellow), “Let it Rip” (10-inch gold and persimmon orange spider), and “Selma Longlegs,” the arrangement occasionally jumps around on the continuum (9-inch spider light tangerine brushed with cinnamon.) Add “Night Embers” for contrast (5-inch dark-red double with a golden wire edge). How can you resist when the catalogs include descriptions like these?
The virtually white daylilies “Marque Moon,” “Sunday Gloves,” “Heavenly Angel Ice,” “Boundless Beauty,” and “as majestic as any orchid” have recently won me over. I paid $50 for one daylily, which is an absurd amount of money. But I have been amply rewarded with big, graceful blooms that open over a number of days, first revealing the white piecrust petal edge, then an arabesque of beauty as the petals spread out to 71/2 inches, and finally fading late in the evening to a delicate crepe texture. As usual, the petals are punctuated with golden anthers covered in pollen.
The daylilies arrive slowly at the beginning of the season, and I adore each bloom, pinching off each blossom as it begins to open on the stalk and rushing inside with it. These particular blossoms are arranged in little bowls. I don’t clip the entire stalk of buds because some of them won’t open indoors, causing me to lose those potential blossoms.
But as the year goes on and the daylilies bloom profusely, I occasionally chop the entire stalk off and bring it inside, sacrificing some buds because the garden is blooming with so many blooms at once. I pinch off the majority of the buds from a stalk that has an open flower and numerous buds, leaving one or two huge buds to open on subsequent days. These long, colored buds are lavish highlights in an arrangement.
I cut the stalks once more as the season draws to a close and the last daylily blooms open on each one, and I arrange them in a tall vase with their delicate foliage. A daylily-only bouquet can look amazing. It might also be lovely to include a few on their stalks in a bouquet with other flowers. I experience the same sadness when I take my final look at the ocean as I do when I leave the beach as I watch the last daylily wilt.
The opportunities for experimentation, temptation, and pleasure are limitless. Try it out during the daylily season.
Can you cut daylilies for arrangements?
Although it may surprise you, daylilies make excellent cut flowers—at least, our elegant ancestral types do. Individual blooms only last a day, but buds can stay up to a week indoors before they start to open.
Here are a few bouquets to get you started, and in our Daylily Archives, you can read what a 1954 USDA brochure had to say on the matter.
July 7, 2015: The choices seem limitless when the daylily season gets underway. With purple-headed garlic (also known as drumsticks), purple coneflower, snapdragons, a nameless lily, and other flowers, this arrangement on our front porch features, clockwise from top left: golden, trumpet-shaped ‘Ophir’, dark purplish-red ‘Potentate’, cheery yellow ‘Circe’ (which we’ll offer again in 2017), another ‘Ophir’, and rusty red ‘Port’.
May 27, 2015: Surprisingly early for spring, our first daylilies blossom as summer approaches. With purple smoke-bush foliage, ferns, honesty, forget-me-nots, and two very early peonies, those are “Sovereign” on the left, “Orangeman” in the middle (and top), and one lone “Gold Dust” on the right.
How long do daylilies last in a vase?
Just carry out these actions.
- Give them a brand-new trim. Remove the cellophane packing with care.
- As required, remove the leaves. Once your vase is filled, you don’t want any greenery to be below the waterline.
- Put them in a vase filled with clean water.
- Feed them.
- Keep them away of the sun’s direct rays.
- Refresh the water.
- Get rid of the pollen.
- Enjoy!
Can a lily be cut for a vase?
When cutting lilies for vases, no more than one-third of the leaves should be removed. Lilies require leaves to store nutrients for the blossoms of the following season, just like tulips and daffodils do. Cutting individual flowers doesn’t harm them. Any lily that is cut should only have 1/2 to 2/3 of the stem (leaves) removed; otherwise, they won’t be able to repair themselves and bloom the following summer. You must take care of the one stem that lily bulbs only produce once a year. A better option for cutting would be bulbs with stems that are at least 4 feet tall. This will allow space to remove the top while still leaving enough leaves to support the bulb.
If at all possible, cut flowers before the sun becomes too hot, especially if you intend to take them out of the water and deliver them to a friend or a flower show. Moisture is stored in the bulb rather than the stem when the air is hot and dry. Water is “wicked” back into the stem and blossoms at night. For stems to avoid wilting, the optimum time to cut them is in the morning, preferably by eight in most regions.
How can you make lilies in a vase bloom?
How to Make Buds Open on Cut Stems So that the blooms open equally, turn the vase every day. When cut lilies are brought indoors and placed in water, they should begin to open. Make a fresh cut 1 inch or more up the stem to create new capillaries that will carry water upward to promote bud opening.
How should daylilies be handled after blooming?
The easiest to maintain perennial flowering plant is the daylily. The plants have rapid growth and a long lifespan. They can grow in practically any type of soil, in full sun or partial shade, and are rarely bothered by disease or insect pests. Although daylilies are renowned for their hardiness, their vibrant and many blossoms are equally stunning. With new blossoms emerging every day, blooming begins in the middle of summer and lasts through the beginning of autumn.
Plan for Success
Sun and Shade: Daylilies grow best in broad sunlight. Even in partial shade, the plants can thrive, though they could yield fewer flowers.
Zones 4-9. Hardiness zones are where most daylilies can flourish. Uncertain of your growing zone? Look at this USDA zone map.
Daylilies should be planted bareroot in the early spring while they are still dormant. You can plant daylilies in pots at any point during the growth season.
How to Plant Daylilies
To a depth of twelve, loosen the ground. Compost and general-purpose granular fertilizer should be combined (if desired).
Place the daylily in the hole with its crown—where the roots and stem meet—one inch below the soil line.
Where to Plant Daylilies
Continual Gardens Daylilies give flower beds and borders color in the middle of summer. They flower at the same time as Shasta daisies, bee balm, and garden phlox, which are high summer bloomers. It’s simple to pick a height, bloom time, and color combination that work for your garden from the thousands of types available.
Nature Reserves Despite the fact that daylilies are not native to a region, their flowers and foliage complement ornamental grasses, asters, echinacea, rudbeckia, and other plants with an unstructured growth pattern and the strength to survive on their own.
Grassy Slopes Daylilies can be an attractive, low-maintenance option for sloped or otherwise challenging-to-mow lawn areas. Their extensive root network prevents soil erosion and can suffocate the majority of weeds. Daffodils are best paired with daylilies. In late April, the daylily foliage emerges and covers the dying back daffodil foliage.
Wet Regions Daylilies can withstand dry conditions as well as wet feet. They work well in rain gardens and are ideal for planting next to ponds or streams.
Building Blocks and Fence Lines The use of daylilies to create a low-maintenance border along a fence, by a walkway or driveway, or up against an outbuilding is highly recommended. They’ll ease the burden of pruning and mowing by softerening sharp lines.
Containers Daylilies do well in pots, especially some of the dwarf types. The luxuriant foliage serves as an excellent backdrop for other flowers even when they are not in bloom.
What to Expect
Daylilies don’t care much about the soil and can grow in conditions that would be too damp or dry for most other perennials. Having said that, good, well-drained soil is ideal for growing daylilies.
Daylilies need watering in dry weather throughout their initial growing season. They will establish themselves more swiftly as a result. Water sparingly but thoroughly, ensuring that the water reaches the root zone. Mulching will help keep the soil moist and lessen weed competition around newly planted daylilies.
Daylilies need a year or two to establish themselves and find their footing, like the majority of perennials. They will bloom consistently after that for many years.
How to Care for Daylilies
A daylily flower only blooms once. Snap off the spent blooms to maintain the plants looking their best, being careful not to disrupt neighboring buds. Cut the scapes down to the ground once they have finished blooming to maintain the plants’ clean appearance and stop them from investing energy in seed formation. Additionally, this might help the plant to grow more flower spikes.
Although certain species of daylilies maintain their green color far into the winter, the foliage often starts to turn yellow in late fall. Late fall or early spring are good times to remove spent leaves. Waiting until spring will make it simple to remove.
Daylilies benefit from an annual spring application of granular all-purpose fertilizer, depending on the soil’s fertility (follow package directions). When you remove the foliage from the previous year, scatter the fertilizer all around the base of the plant.
Daylilies benefit from having bark, leaves, or other organic materials mulched around them. It makes weed management simple and maintains soil moisture.
Daylilies can flourish for many years without any care, although dividing the plants around every five years will increase flower production. After the plants have stopped blooming in the late summer, this is a work to be done. The entire plant should be dug out and laid out on a tarp. To make the clump easier to handle, cut or pull it apart. Use scissors to cut the leaves back to 5 or 6 inches before transplanting.