Hey group! I am a guy and not a Gardner by any means so forgive me if I have silly questions. Restoring a 1920's home I bought about a year ago. The home was owned by one family since new and was a bit neglected but not constantly "redone". I mention this because I have no idea the age of these day lilies. Last year when first getting to work on it I cleaned all the weeds out of the flower garden area and trimmed dead leaves off the Lillies.

Questions

What are they exactly? (About 4 ft tall if that helps)

Is it safe to now cut them all the way back?

Could they be transplanted?

When the talks are straight and the flowers bloom they are so dang pretty and I think they just match the house. So any tips and assistance is greatly appreciated.

Location is Montgomery, al. (Lower middle half of state)

What colour are they? Do you have any photos? That would help us identify them.

Yes, they can be cut back, especially if you are going to transplant them. It makes them easier to handle, and lets the plants adjust to the move. Daylilies transplant very well.

No question is silly, and feel free to ask. We love to talk daylilies and

I have my doubts about them being daylilies, "when the stalks are straight" sounds nothing like a daylily.

Sounds like Lilium.

At 4ft tall and overgrown, they could be the old "ditch lily", Hemerocallis fulva 'Europa'. Do they look like this?

Thought I had them attached to the 1st post

Seedfork said:I have my doubts about them being daylilies, "when the stalks are straight" sounds nothing like a daylily.

They are normally straight but some are so large or maybe damaged they fall over. I attached pictures that so it a bit better.

Think there are a total of 8 main clusters of plants.

sooby said:

At 4ft tall and overgrown, they could be the old "ditch lily", Hemerocallis fulva 'Europa'. Do they look like this?

• Ditch Lily (Hemerocallis 'Europa')
• Uploaded by Heart2Heart

Nope, finally attached some pictures. Leaves are wide and strong plus the stalks or stems to the flowers are thing and strong.

It's not a daylily. It's not a true lily (Lilium) either. Someone familiar with what grows in your climate there in Montgomery AL will be able to tell you what it is. If not here, you might want to post the pictures in the Plant ID forum.

I think it is a crinum.

Xsnail, Welcome to the forum. I forgot to say that at the beginning.

I don't recognize the exact plant, but I do agree that it is probably some type of crinum.
Here is one type growing in my yard, I do have a few different types. That would be a typical "hand me down" type of plant found around old homes here in Alabama.



I have never cut mine back, but I would think that as long as the leaves are green they are building the bulbs for next year. Normally the frost and cold will kill the foliage back. When it does, you can trim them. Some crinums develop huge bulbs and are very hard to dig up. I have transplanted many of them and always had good luck, I have given them away and they always do well. It it might take them a year or two to settle in when transplanted.

@Xsnail

It's surely a crinum of some sort. In my part of Texas they are called Crinum Lilies as a common name. You would probably find this thread over on the Texas Forum interesting. Quite a few photos there. Crinum definitely match the vintage of your home. I have friends that have an old Sears home of similar vintage and the whole north side yard is a dense mass of crinums.
The thread "Solving this Crinum..." in Texas Gardening forum

I stumbled across some other info on crinums here and I think I found those by following threads under the photos of crinums in the database. You might check out crinums in the database and check some of those out.

Thank you to everyone!!!!!

is the same thing as a suprise lily? or are they different?

Frillylily said:is the same thing as a suprise lily? or are they different?

Common names are subject to a lot of variables, and best avoided.

Crinum are generally tropical or subtropical, and for the most part, rather substantial bulbs.

'Surprise Lilies', as I know them, are Lycoris sp., generally small-to-medium size, fairly hardy bulbs, more along the lines of Nerine and Amaryllis belladonna, (Naked Ladies), but able to withstand colder winters.

There are good photographic examples of most of these in the database here, but for more comprehensive information, see the Pacific Bulb Society 'Photographs and Information' page;

http://www.pacificbulbsociety....