The Perfect Time to Plant!

What is the best time to plant daylilies?  After the spring weather is settled in mid-May?  Any time they are actively growing?  In the fall after they go dormant?  From our experience, you may want to consider much earlier planting, say, around your last frost date. 

We are zone 5/6 in west-central Indiana.  Most daylily growers wait until mid-May to ship to our area.  If they are Southern growers, they start shipping to the south and work their way upward, zone by zone, and our shipments are usually mid- to late May.  Northern growers wait until their weather is settled and the plants have good growth before shipping to us, also around the same time.  Both northern and southern growers are shipping actively growing plants,  with many southern ones showing developing bloom scapes or even already bloomed-out scapes when they are shipped. 

Shipping requires the removal of most of the top growth of the plant to get it into a shipping carton, which goes along with the best planting practices since some top foliage is reduced which balances the loss of root surface.  The point being that mid-May or late May shipments end up with the loss of a great deal of foliage from either Northern or Southern growers.  

And where does that spring foliage come from?  It is initially produced with food stored in the roots the previous summer and fall. After that, the foliage needs to be created and sustained by the current year's root growth.  So, might it not make sense to ship daylilies early in the season before the roots have depleted their stored energy?  That lets the roots and tops develop at the same time from stored energy in the roots as a new root system and top are developed. 

I would assume from the comments and complaints on the internet regarding the quality of shipments received that most buyers prefer to receive plants that were previously in full growth and were severely cut back for shipment.  In our experience, this is misguided.  Based on our own experience, mid-April shipments (around out average last frost date) do better than those shipped later in the season.  Several years ago we made a fairly good sized order from someone who was clearing out their garden in mid-April.  We wanted them early and the grower wanted them out of their garden.  This was a northern grower, so the tops were so small they didn't need to be cut back.  The roots were, however, great.  The bottom line is that the plants hit the soil, took off, and grew like they had been in place the previous season.  We repeated this experience with plants from another northern grower last season.  We requested shipment in April, knowing the plants wouldn't have much leaf growth.  They were planted and grew wonderfully with no setback. 

An additional problem that we have seen from late shipments (May and after) if putting the new plants into an existing bed, is that the new plants are often overshadowed by the established plants and fail to achieve their potential despite some assistance from us with staking competing foliage out of the way. The new plants never have a chance to show their stuff first season.  (Yes, we do plant closely due to space considerations!)

When daylilies are planted 'extra early', in addition to being able to utilize the food still stored in their roots, the plants got to enjoy our spring weather with rain, cool nights, and warm days that naturally produce strong and healthy gradual growth without any setback. They also are able to compete with their companions in an existing bed without being overshadowed.  Daylilies are, after all, hardy temperate-zone perennials that can take a bit of cool weather and even some frost when they first start to grow,  

Think about it.  Why not try earlier planting and see if you don't like it like we do.