A brightly coloured plant that grows new flowers every single day could be a great addition to your garden – but you need to make sure to plant it this spring. Daylilies, or hemerocallis, are perennials that come in a wide variety of colours with flowers that burst open like trumpets in the summer.
They are best planted in the spring or autumn and are sturdy plants that are easy to maintain – meaning they are happy in most types of soil, but flower more in full sun. “They are stunning, enormous flowers. They are called the daylily because they produce a flower every single day, which is great,” gardening expert @bloom.room.garden shared on TikTok.
However, this also means “you have deadheads pretty much every day as well,” she explained.
Fortunately, it is easy enough to get rid of the deadheads – simply snap them off each day. You don’t need secateurs, the gardener said, as they snap off quickly. Keeping up with this will ensure the plant looks healthier and fresher.
Daylilies are popular border plants, and survive cold winters, RHS explains, but you should avoid planting in heavy shade as this could lead to straggly plants. While they are best planted in the autumn or spring, you can also plant them in the summer if you ensure the soil around the new plants is kept moist.
They are relatively drought-tolerant but perform best when they have plenty of water during the growing season. Daylillies don’t tend to need feeding but you could try a general-purpose fertiliser in the spring to boost growth, RHS advises.
Fortunately, the plants are not at risk of any significant diseases, though the hemerocallis gall midge can sometimes reduce flowering displays.
Perennials are long-lived plants that can perform year-after-year, and there are many different types including woody perennial, hardy perennial, herbaceous perennial, and short-lived perennial. They are seen as good value for money as they can live for many years, and are usually easy to propagate.
Comparatively, annual plants will flower, set seed, and then die within 12 months. Other fast-growing perennial plants include agastache, coreopsis, catmint, salvia, kniphofia, perennial geranium, gaura, bee balm, and blanket flower.
