I have day lillies and garden lillies. Do I need to cut them back when fall comes ? And if so how far down should I cut them ? And is it true they grow back fuller every year ?
Thanks !
2006-08-25 10:14:10 · 10 answers · asked by Jess 2 in Home & Garden ➔ Garden & Landscape
Hi Jessica K. You have two different types of flowers...a daylilly and a garden lilly. I am guessing that your 'garden lilly' is an asiatic lilly with one thick large stem per cluster of blooms and many shorter green leaves going off from the sides below the flower cluster? If that is the case, you can cut them back to 3 or 4 inches below the bloom when the flowering is done. All perennials benefit from having their green leaves left on to sythesize the energy from the sun. This asiatic lilly is a true lilly, from the liilium family. It produces A bulb underground, and if you are fortunate, many bulbs. They BENEFIT from being broken apart and replanted with a little distance to grow between them. They will also in many cases produce little 'bulbets' right between the leaves along the main stem. These are really neat little things, and if you are not in a hurry to see them bloom, it is great to set up an out of the way 'nursery' bed to start them in. it can take a few years until they finally bloom, but who knows what color they will be? When you break apart the underground bulbs, you can be very sure that you know what color the new lilly will be, it is a clone to the parent unless something has gone terribly wrong in its environent.
Your daylillies...are another plant altogether. They NEED to be divided every three years to avoid overcrowding of the root. The springtime is a good time to do that. You dig out the entire clump and try to pry-off 'chunks' of rootball. If it is impossible, you can use two pitch forks from opposite angles to pry with, and as a last resort...a spade shovel will cut right through the rootball. In the fall, it is easier to tidy up by trimming back the green leaves(which have assuredly flopped over by now) than to wait for the spring when they are papery, tough, and brown.
They are two of the most reliable plants to have in your garden, and two of the most beautiful to behold. Good luck and happy gardening!
2006-08-25 10:41:05 · answer #1 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You have at least two kinds of lilies there, daylilies and what I call garden lilies or asiatic lilies. I'd leave the foliage on for as long as possible, until the green disappears -- for both kinds of plants. Both grow back fuller every year, but both eventually have to be divided. I like to divide daylilies once every three years. If you allow them to get too thick, you won't have many blooms -- a few flowers here and there in a thick bush. I'd just keep my eyes on the asiatics -- how did they do the last blooming season? If it went well, leave them for another year as is. Daylilies grow from tubers; asiatic lilies from bulbs. Both can produce viable seed but that takes forever and a day to get going. Tiger lilies actually reproduce by forming bulbs underground, by seed, and also by bulb formation on the stem -- the miniature bulbs are black. Daylilies are especially "thick" growers. It's been said that only way to keep them is to give some away -- in other words, they do better with a thinning out every once and a while.
2006-08-26 07:10:28 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Remove the foliage when it turns yellow. They are no longer storing energy at that point, so it is safe.
Our local plant guru says to give daylilies a little 10-10-10 in the fall so they will do even better next year. Probably wouldn't hurt garden lilies, either.
2006-08-25 10:43:22 · answer #3 · answered by sweetcake1948 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I live in montana and I never cut anything back in the fall....everything seems to winter over better. Yes, your lilies will grow fuller each year.
2006-08-25 10:18:44 · answer #4 · answered by 000000000000 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I live in Connecticut and never cut back my lillies. I do pulll off the leaves once they die completely but ive never pruned them so to speak and they bloom every year.
2006-08-25 13:37:15 · answer #5 · answered by Kevin P 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Down to the ground in March.
2006-08-25 14:42:07 · answer #6 · answered by Papa John 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Let the exposed leaves stay as long as possible... it helps the bulbs store energy for the next season's blooms.
2006-08-25 10:19:42 · answer #7 · answered by J.D. 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
sweetcake has it, after they start to yellow or before they start to grow. My daylillies were out of the ground growing in march my Aunte still had snow, it all depends on what ZONE you live in.
2006-08-25 15:35:15 · answer #8 · answered by scaper 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they grow from a bulb so you can cut them off at the ground
2006-08-25 10:18:28 · answer #9 · answered by mr handy 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'd let it die back naturally then cut it in the spring.
2006-08-25 10:43:33 · answer #10 · answered by Michelle G 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋