MAINTAINING HEMEROCALLIS [DAYLILY]

Possibly the most durable and cast-iron perennial of all that seems to thrive on neglect, yet even these hardy border troopers benefit from a little attention now and then. Now is a good time to look at your Daylily clumps and give them the once-over. Daylilies fall into two foliage categories – dormant and evergreen/partly evergreen. Now it should be easy to determine which you have growing in your garden. Mostly the older and more common varieties will be dormant and by now all the foliage will be virtually dead. If they still have a good amount of foliage than they should be evergreens. Cut away this foliage now; it has the dual benefit of tidying and cleaning up but also removing any lingering pests and diseases. With the dormant types it’s an easy matter of simply pulling it away – it should come away quite easily. Those that are evergreen will need cutting back virtually to the base of the clump. It might seem strange, cutting away this leaf that is meant to last the winter – but you will find that during any slightly milder spells new foliage will quickl;y appear, and it will be fresher and nicer to look at than the old! There will probably be lingering dead flower stems, so take these off too. Now is also a good time to lift and divide your Daylilies, if you want to. If they didn’t bloom so well last summer, or appear congested it’s probably a good idea to do so and you don’t need much skill. Simply dig up the clump, loosen and shake off as much soil as possible, and roughly chop the clumps into 3 with a sharp spade or knife. You can be quite brutal – Daylilies are very forgiving and even crude methology will usually work! Re-plant with the crown just level with the soil surface and firm well. Make suyre, overwinter, these new plantings do not get loosened in their new soil by the heave-ho effects of frost. Top dress with some bonemeal. I have gathered quite a large collection of these fantastic perennials and brought quite a few over from America [where all the best new varieties are grown] Here’s a few of the more unusual varieties from my collection. 1] Laura Abdallah 2] Handsome Dylan 3] Paiges Pinnata