Dazzling Daylilies for Your Iowa Garden

Who doesn’t love daylilies? They’re a reliable, easy to grow perennial that flowers beautifully. Because they’re so popular and easy to grow, breeders have developed and registered over 15,000 varieties!

Daylilies are a great plant to make the transition from spring to midsummer. These are primarily a June to July bloomer here in Iowa. They are named daylilies because each individual flower lasts only a single day. But, new flowers continually open, almost every day, and the blooming period can last three weeks or more. 

Daylilies have come a long way from the orange or yellow ones that used to be so common. They now come in a staggering variety of styles, heights, and colors. Almost any color, and color combination, that you can think of! 

There are early, late, and even reblooming varieties of daylily. Some varieties have double blossoms, some have wider open-faced flowers, some have long, slender, curving leaves, and some have a ruffled edge on their petals. The new varieties are also great because, unlike the old ditch lilies, the new varieties don’t take over your flower beds. 

How to Grow Daylilies

Daylilies are pretty low maintenance; if you get them set up in a good location, they’ll reward you with blooms for many years to come. You can essentially plant these and forget about them. Water when you plant them, and let them get to growing. If the weather is really dry, it would be good to water them every now and then. You can use some bulb fertilizer when you plant them, but you won’t need to fertilize them again. 

Daylilies need good drainage and full sun for at least half the day. Some shade in the afternoon is ok and can help some of the darker colored daylilies retain their blossom color. 

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Daylilies should be divided every 4-5 years when they become crowded and flowering declines. Late summer is the best time to separate them. Simply dig up the whole clump and use a sharp knife to split them into smaller clumps, with 2-3 fans of leaves and lots of roots. Immediately replant them and cut the foliage back to about 6 inches tall. 

Here are a few Awesome Daylilies to add to your collection.

Tuscawilla Tigress has huge tangerine-orange blooms with soft orange rays. These flowers may get as big as 8 inches across!

Moses Fire is a stunning mid-season rebloomer. Its cherry-red double blossoms feature gold edges with hints of gold variegations on the petals. 

Bridgeton Invention is a stunning mid-season rebloomer. It features creamy-white petals with a deep magenta eye-zone that fades into the yellow throat.

Scarlet Orbit is a gorgeous deep red daylily with a chartreuse yellow throat.  It is an early bloomer and has a beautiful fragrance. . 

Chesapeake Crab Legs a showstopping mid-season rebloomer with ruffled spider style flowers. It features rich orangey-red petals with subtle rays of orange and a chevron pattern at the top of its yellow throat.

Witches Hand is a mid-season rebloomer featuring dark burgundy-almost black petals, with a golden yellow throat. 

Now is an excellent time to add some daylilies to your garden for gorgeous and reliable flowers every year. You may even get a few blooms on mid-season varieties this season! Stop by the garden center, shop online, or call ahead to find out what varieties we have available.