TheAmerican Hemerocallis Societyadvises cutting back old foliage ondaylilies .Hemerocallis spp . ) after blooming cease , but daylily gardeners also dress plants after the foliage pass back in fall . Sometimes they waitress until spring . The timing of this simple sanitation criterion is determined by the quiescency blueprint of the cultivars in your garden — and what daylily predators lurk in your ground or shrubs .

Daylily Sanitation Basics

Daylilies are herbaceous perennial , dauntless depending on cultivar or cross , in U.S. Department of Agriculture works hardiness zone 3 through 9 . Plants expire back to theircrowns — thick lily-white areas at the base of the unripe * fanof leaves . day lily are susceptible to jacket crown rot , so sanitization , on the earth and in the buff , is vitally important . drained folio on the plant after bloom cease and litter that accumulates on the basis should be removed .

Unless you plan on gather seminal fluid pods , remove faded flowersdaily andsnip spent shaft — the branches that contain the prime — close to the base of the fan . Whenever you cut , sanitize bladeswith a half - and - half solution of rubbing alcohol and weewee between plants .

Dormant vs. Evergreen

select a time to bring down back your daylily can also depend on their increase habit . Old - fashioned tawny daylilies ( Hemerocallis fulva , USDA zones 3 through 9 ) , lemon lilies ( Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus , USDA zones4 through 10 ) and many of their early hybrid bloom once and enter dormancy in late declivity .

More modern loan-blend , known asevergreen , semi - evergreen orremontant , hold on to their leaf until a protracted freeze , or they bloom repeatedly as long as spend blooms and flower stalk are promptly deadheaded . For these , prune in late fall in northern grow zona or hold pruning until spring in southern zones where winter freezes are rarefied or non - existent .

The Second Flush and Propagation

Along about mid - August , after the high temperature of summertime abates , many daylilies get asecond flushof development . This is a good time to skip withered foliage back to 3 to 4 inches improbable and weewee daylilies well . With inscrutable watering , foliation will grow in sharply , and remontant diversity will get a second wind for reblooming . August and former September are also prime hebdomad fordivision of large clumpsthat have declined in bloom vigor . Cut fans back before dividing to ease manipulation and reduce the load on divided roots .

Winter and Critter Considerations

Provided you ’ve kept the ground clean and pulled shitty leaves , you could allow faded leaves to stay on the works until spring when they ’ll require to be pulled off the works , piddle way for new green leave . If you live in USDAzone 6 or aboveor have evergreen variety , this is a autumn parturiency - lay aside scheme . If , however , you survive in a colder clime where snow and piles of daylily dust might formhandy habitat for rodentsand insect larvae , you should cut those leaves back to a few inches above the crown after the first freeze . The leaf remnants will fall aside in the spring , and those critters will have to search elsewhere for wintertime habitat .

References

Daylily Fields