Hi everyone!

My husband and I took down our fence last summer. The previous owners had planted Daylilies on the outside of our fence facing our lake. Now with the fence gone I have these two spots in our yard where what looks to be random flowers growing. If my husband is mowing, please brace your self, he will just mow them down. The plots are getting too big to manage and weeds are starting to grow in the middle of them. Plus with the now odd location, is now the best time to relocate them? There are no buds yet but the leaves are above the ground.

Thanks for the help!

I've moved them early in the year when the ground is only just thawed without problems.

I've moved daylilies at virtually anytime of the year with the exception of the winter, with no ill effects.

I've also moved mine all year long, although mid summer requires extra watering. That is, if you are just talking about digging a clump, not dividing. If you are dividing, I would do it soon. Wait too long and you aren't as likely to get bloom this year, although some probably would bloom anyway.

I'm relocating right now, as receive new orders for the spring. I also relocate in the fall when receiving my fall orders. I do not move anything in the summer as it is too hot and humid in my zone 8. My plants look ratty in the summer after the spring bloom period.

I still don't know the best time to move daylilies. I did experiment this year and moved some in Jan., Feb., and March. I don't recall having moved any daylilies that early in the season before. They are all doing fine, even with the late freeze we had in March after I moved them. My least favorite time is during the peak heat of summer, it is very hard on the plants and harder on me. My favorite time is early fall, and if we have many more winters like this year(extremely mild) maybe here in the deep south winter will become a good time to move daylilies. I think fall is best for me because it is after the blooming season and it gives the plants more time to grow and get established before the next blooming season. It seems to me that when I move plants even in early spring it sets back their blooming dates a bit.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I will probably move them on our next nice weekend we have. This weekend it's been in 40-50's and brisk.

All good advice above. Amend the soil, mulch well and they'll be good to grow.
Daylilies are hardy- it takes a lot to get rid of a few varieties! : )

*edited for grammar, etc*

If I am digging the whole plant up with a good root ball, I have moved daylilies anytime during the growing season. I water well afterward and if it is dry, keep it watered.

If I am dividing, I do it in the spring or late summer.

Thank you all for the tips. I started the grueling task and digging up and relocating my Daylillies. I spent two hours digging up just one section. I filled a 15 gallon bucket with just this one section. I put it up for grabs within my HOA as it just WAY too much.




















(For funsies our new kitty acting like a sexy beast)

With a 15 gallon bucket filled with daylilies I seriously didn't know what I was going to do with all of them. And that was just one section that I dug up. I still have another huge section to work on. Gave them away for free and only half were taken. I couldn't let them go to waste so they went into my side flower bed that has nothing in it.









I left 3 spots for bushes that I might want to put in. Not sure what kind of bushes but figure I should leave some open spots. Hopefully a week not being in the ground didn't damage them too badly and I hope they bounce back. Now to figure out what to do with my other ones.

I am wondering if it would be a good idea to cut the leaves back on those newly planted daylilies?
I have been told that cutting the leaves back on plants that have been out of the ground for a while will aid them in recovery and stimulate new leaf growth.

@Seedfork - I've cut the leaves back many times, especially in August when most have finished blooming. The new foliage emerges so fast!

I pulled these before they even bloomed so I'm not sure. I hoping others will also chime in about this. I did wonder if they will bounce back as they turned a bit yellow.

I think because of water loss through transpiration, with the roots damaged from digging up the plants, it is recommended to cut the leaves back. I know that is normally done when shipping, but I think it is done as much to make the shipping easier and cheaper as it is to help the plant. Also I don't know how much transpiration would take place through withered leaves? I would cut them back just to make them look better. If I dig a clump with a good root ball and a lot of dirt I normally don't cut the plants back, but if I dug the plants as bare root and left them out for a week I would for sure trim them back pretty short. I would also love to get some more experienced growers to reply.

Test it out on just one and you'll see how fast they bounce back with fresh, clean leaves.

Yes,they will. One of my daylily orders was lost in the mail for two weeks last spring. They were totally yellow when I got them. They bounced back very quickly, and out of six plants, all but one bloomed that summer.

Larry is correct, the roots are usually inevitably damaged so can't provide as much water to the leaves as they used to. Something like 90% of a plant's water needs are for transpiration. When leaves wilt because there isn't enough water then the leaves can no longer photosynthesize so they are not performing their usual function in any case. If you shorten the leaves then they don't need as much water and they will, in my experience, handle the move better.

Thank you all for the helpful tips. I will make sure to trim them down tomorrow.

If I recall correctly, the standard instructions for dividing daylilies first begin with cutting the foliage back. This is true even for cases where you aren't going to ship them (so you don't need to worry about shipping cost or if the to-be-shipped division(s) will fit into the box). You can argue about whether or not the cutting back is just so that you can see what your are doing, or to help the new divisions out when they are replanted, but the point here is that foliage cutting is done all the time, and it shouldn't hurt the daylilies (so long as you aren't repeatedly cutting foliage all season long).

So just go and do it.