The illustrated growing guide
Daylily
Hemerocallis
Family Asphodelaceae
Est. zones 3-9
The perennial for people who kill perennials. Roadside orange survives nuclear war; 'Stella' blooms 5 months. Divide-and-conquer landscaping: one clump becomes twenty in a decade.
Full Sun to Part Shade
Low water
Fast growth
Salt-tolerant
Attracts butterflies
Attracts hummingbirdsI
Overview
Will daylily suit your garden, and what goes wrong.
Will it fruit where you are?
Enter your ZIP — we look up your USDA hardiness zone (2023 map) and check it against what daylily actually needs.
Hardy inZones 3-9Daylily at a glance
Common daylily problems
- Daylily Gall Midge (rare)
- Deer (love them)
- Daylily Rust
- Streak
II
Growing
Light, water, soil, propagation and the season’s jobs.
How to grow daylily: light, water & soil
How to plant & propagate daylily
III
The year
What daylily asks for, month by month.
The daylily year, month by month
BloomPruneWhat each band means
- Bloom — flowers open — pollinators working, frost on blossoms is the danger.
- Prune — shape it now — cuts heal cleanly and structure is visible.
The daylily year as text
- Jan quiet month
- Feb quiet month
- Mar pruning
- Apr pruning
- May bloom, pruning
- Jun bloom
- Jul bloom
- Aug bloom
- Sep bloom, pruning
- Oct pruning
- Nov pruning
- Dec quiet month
These are the species' typical months — expect them a few weeks earlier in warm zones and later in cold ones. Watch the plant, not just the calendar.
IV
Ecology & uses
What it does for the garden, and what it is grown for.
Daylily in the garden system
- Herbaceous layer perennial
- Living mulch
What daylily is grown for
⚠ Toxic if eatenHIGHLY toxic to cats
Harvesting & storing daylily
Flowers + buds are EDIBLE (fried daylily buds!)
Edibility, identification, and traditional-use notes here are general reference — not medical or veterinary advice, and not a claim that any plant treats or prevents anything. Medicinal ratings record how strongly a plant features in herbal tradition, nothing more. Never eat or dose a plant you have not positively identified. More on how to use this library.
V
Cultivars
Named varieties of daylily, ruled as a catalogue.
Best daylily varieties & cultivars
'Stella de Oro', 'Happy Returns', ditch orange
VI
Sources & plant ID
Where the care distinctions come from, and how the plant is filed.
Research basis
Sources behind this profile
No extension citations are attached to daylilyyet. The care figures below come from the library's own catalogue rather than a traced primary source.
Plant ID
VII
Where to buy
Third-party nurseries — not Story Thyme Farms.
Third-party nurseries, not Story Thyme Farms. Prices are theirs.
Story Thyme Farms may earn a small commission from these links, at no cost to you — it never changes what we recommend.
VIII
Questions
Daylily questions, answered straight.
Is daylily safe for kids and pets?
No — treat it as toxic if eaten. HIGHLY toxic to cats Site it accordingly if children or pets roam the garden. This is general reference, not medical or veterinary advice — call a vet or poison control if something has actually been eaten.
When do you harvest daylily?
Flowers + buds are EDIBLE (fried daylily buds!).
How do you propagate daylily?
Division or seed.
IX
Elsewhere
Where daylily sits in the library.
Sunflower
Zinnia
Peony
Hardy Banana