What are hemerocallis?
Hemerocallis are popular border plants with lily-like summer flowers in a wide range of colours and forms. Individual blooms are short-lived, hence the common name daylily, but they’re produced in rapid succession, with multiple flowering stems per plant, so creating an abundant show.
They are hardy, so can survive British winters outdoors with no additional protection, and most are herbaceous perennials, meaning they die down every autumn, then re-sprout reliably every spring. Some are evergreen, keeping their leaves all year round.
They need little attention once settled in, and are happy in borders and containers.
Choosing the right hemerocallis
Hemerocallis have been widely bred to produce a vast array of cultivars, with flowers of different colours, shapes and sizes.
Flowers range from yellow, orange and red to purple, pink and white, often flashed or patterned with contrasting or complementary hues. Petals may be wide or narrow, rounded or pointed, smooth or ruffled, forming trumpets or starry shapes, up to 20cm (8in) across.
There are early-season, mid- and late-season cultivars, some are fragrant, and plants range in height from 20cm (8in) up to 1.5m (5ft), for the front, middle or back of borders.
Daylilies are easy to grow and thrive in almost any soil, in sun or partial shade, and will survive even the coldest winters. They combine well with many other border plants, including ornamental grasses, in both formal and informal, traditional and contemporary settings. The dwarf forms are ideal when space is limited.
How and what to buy
Daylilies can be bought in containers or as These have been lifted from the ground while dormant, with little or no soil around their roots. Various plants may be available bare root, including fruit trees, hedging plants and some perennials. They are generally cheaper than plants in containers, but are only available in winter/early spring, while dormant
bare-root plants (without soil).
Containerised plants are usually available between spring and autumn from garden centres and online suppliers. You will often have a choice between small or larger plants:
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Smaller, younger plants (in 9cm/3½in pots) are cheaper, but need to be grown on in containers for a few months, before they’re ready to be planted into borders
Bare-root plants (without soil) are also available in some garden centres or from some online suppliers, usually between spring and autumn. Several specialist Perennials are plants that live for multiple years. They come in all shapes and sizes and fill our gardens with colourful flowers and ornamental foliage. Many are hardy and can survive outdoors all year round, while less hardy types need protection over winter. The term herbaceous perennial is used to describe long-lived plants without a permanent woody structure (they die back to ground level each autumn), distinguishing them from trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs.
perennial suppliers offer a particularly wide range of cultivars. Bare-root plants need a little extra attention to start them off successfully.
To browse photos and descriptions of some of the many cultivars, go to RHS Find a Plant and search for ‘hemerocallis’. You'll also find growing advice and details of suppliers.
Several cultivars are available from the RHS Shop.