Cultural notes on Daylilies grown in Australia.
The Daylily is a perennial that is a very easy plant to grow, and doesn’t require much fuss and attention.
Daylilies grow in almost any climate here in Australia ... in dry well-drained gardens or in wet, boggy conditions.
They can withstand droughts, hail, floods and are tolerant to snow, frosts, high winds and sea salt spray.
Daylilies can even survive a big tree collapsing down on them, (from personal experience). They can be dug up and left bare-rooted for a lengthy period of days, even weeks and once re-planted bounce back to life.
However the dormant varieties tend to do better in cooler climates.
Daylilies grow well on sides of banks holding the soils together. They look great grown in an old wheel-barrow, pots of all sorts, down the sides of driveways. The miniature varieties grow well as a border plant in garden beds or rockeries and beside ponds. They can grow in part shade, or in the dappled sunlight of trees.
Be used as cut flowers, or to garnish salads, (all parts of the daylily are edible). I have also used the daylily buds in a stir-fry.
The modern daylily comes in a variety of beautiful colours (except for a true blue, but many Hybridizers are working on it), fancy edges, eyes, shapes and sizes to whatever suits your gardens.
Many Daylilies of today have two to four flushes of flowers in a season, with the first flush starting around early October. Many re-bloom in the winter months, but the colour of their blooms may not be as strong, but are still very welcome for this time of year especially when all other flowering plants are in their dormancy period.
The modern daylily isn´t as invasive as some of the older varieties, but rapidly multiply into tidy, healthy, colourful clumps.
I find daylilies are a guaranteed splash of colour to gardens.
Daylilies perform much better in a sunny position requiring at least 4 hours full sun a day. If grown in hot climates they grow better when the soils are well mulched which protects the root base from heat and retains moisture for a longer period.
Fertilize 1 – 2 times per year, more if you want.
Any or more of the following fertilizers will do:
Compost, Animal Manures, Blood and Bone, Dynamic Lifter, Osmocote, Multigrow, Charlie Carp, and whatever is on special.
Mulch for best results.
You can use one or more of the following:
straw, bark, wood chips, newspaper, leaves and grass clippings, (if using grass clippings, it may pay to put down a layer of newspaper over the clippings followed by the wood chips).
POSTAGE COSTS:
Happy Gardening
Shelli Green