One point of confusion for people who are new to daylilies is "what time of year do EE or M daylilies bloom in my area?" Before I buy daylilies to fill my garden, I need to know approximately when they bloom, for many practical reasons. For instance, I can hardly enjoy a blooming garden in late July when the temps are firmly stuck around 100 degrees, but would love to have lots of blooms in the cooler months in spring and fall. And, the amount of care and watering in those same super-hot months (July and August) means that it would take a lot of water to maintain plants that are trying to bloom. I'm sure there might be similar, if different, concerns for new people in other zones, too.

So, if you would be so kind to give us a general idea of what the different dayliliy blooming seasons are in your zone, we'd have some point of reference to start from. Naturally, each year's weather, and each garden's conditions must make this a very general idea, and even areas very close to each other can vary greatly (coastal versus inland, separated by only 30 miles, can be extremely different). But, with some pooling of ranges found in the different zones, maybe it would help guide those who are trying to buy daylilies a bit 'blindly' as they have to wait a year or two after planting to find out generally what time of summer their first blooms will really show up.

I have never tracked dates for early, mid-season, or late.

However, I can tell you that in central Ohio, peak bloom would be between the first and third week of July.

Thanks, Juli! I'm still so new that I'm not really sure what "peak bloom" means Is that when "mid-season" blooms are blooming? Or does it mean something else ... like "when most varieties bloom" and may generally include EM-M cultivars as well as EE and E rebloomers?

I did find a nice chart for Zone 5, but that doesn't help me much in Zone 8 ... perhaps it is a starting point, though:

http://www.bloomingfieldsfarm....

And, also of some help, a general idea of growing seasons in general, though I'm not sure if they are accurate, and would love some feedback:

Long growing season-- March 1 to November 15, USDA zones 7, 8, 9
Medium growing season-- April 15 to October 15, USDA zones 5, 6
Short growing season-- May 15 to September 30, USDA zones 4, 5

Tina, This is a fantastic question, and one I've wondered about myself. However, there are so many variables that it may be impossible to figure it all out! I'm in zone 5a, and in a normal year, my first blooms don't open until about July 4th. This year, they were 2 or 3 weeks earlier than that. My last bloom was about a month or so ago. But, this year was anything but normal. Also, I have no idea if my daylilies are early, mid season, or late. I've only been seriously growing them for about 4 years, but I'm sure that each year, it's been a different plant that has been the first and last to bloom. I fall into the short growing season range, where planting anything before May 15th is usually out of the question due to late frost. That probably has made it so that some of my daylilies bloom later than they should.

Peak to me is when the early ones are still blooming, mid season is in full swing, and the lates are just starting. So - the time when you have the most in bloom at once.

Peak season here is mid May

Our daylilies start blooming end of March and early April depending on the weather. We will have blooms (rebloom) until November it looks like. We would have more, but after we are done hybridizing we try and keep the scapes cut off so the energy will go into growing not blooming. I've never really tracked the seasons of what we have to see if they bloom according to their registered season, but I do know that in 2011 nothing was blooming according to their bloom time. I had Mids blooming before EE and E blooming before EE, lates blooming in mid season. Sometimes I think they will just bloom when they get good and ready. They may need to get acclimated to the zone they are in before they bloom true season, but then again if they are say a late in a Florida hybridizer's garden then they may just be an E or EE in a more northern garden.

This year I only have 3 lates and they were blooming with the EM and I had a M that wanted to send up a scape late; it bloomed mid May last year.

My typical peak bloom starts mid July here and continues through the first part of August. I have a long growing season, but don't usually get much warm weather until July and it often ends by mid September. I can't always depend on a daylily blooming when it should though. I've had Earlie's bloom mid and mid bloom late. This year everything was a couple weeks early, last year they were a couple weeks late.

In south central Wisconsin, mid season and peak for me, is July.

Except this year, when all of my mids started blooming in mid June

Here in the mid-atlantic We start getting early bloom in June, Peak bloom is around July 4th. Late bloomers start coming in at the end of July early August. We get rebloom all the way up to frost on some varieties. Depends on the years weather how much though. For reference I am in zone 6, Northwest of Baltimore. Stella Starts blooming sometime in May and takes a rest in July and then blooms from August til a hard frost.

I am in northern Alabama in zone 7b. In 2011 my first flower opened in mid May and most of my Mids were open in by the middle of June. This year the first flower open was the end of April, so I was about two week early. I even had one brave seedling that tried to open 4/18/12!

Peak for my yard was end of May-first week of June. We had an exceptionally warm winter and everything started early. Haven't been in daylilies long enough to know what normal is for me.

All this info is so very helpful to lend a reference to new people, thanks! Knowing the general environment in different states or cities makes it possible to estimate based on everyone's different experiences ... and now I know for my zone what my likely range will be. It's saved me from spending too much on cultivars that would likely want to bloom when its just too hot for them to perform well, or for me to spend any time outside enjoying them. It'll be fun to see which ones do surprise me by showing up early or "out of season order".

Anyone who can add to this info will be helping others to understand their zones too ... and ultimately that gets new people ready to select and purchase their first plants, with the added confidence that they can put together a grouping that may blossom more in concert, and when they are best able to give them optimal conditions.

Do not forget to add rebloom to your consideration if you live in a zone that allows it. Some of the colder ones have a short enough blooming season that rebloom is less likely, but here I do get it and enjoy the results. Those that do rebloom for me usually take a rest before they put up new scapes. Some rest longer than others. I do not always get rebloom every year from the same ones. Some are pretty consistant, but others will rebloom one year and not the next.

Reblooms from last year in August: Chireno, Dark Forces and SInster Minster


FFO for Chireno last year was 5-29-11. It hit its stride a week later.


Dark Forces FFO was 7-7-11. A week later


Sometime rebloom are even better. Compare this one to the one above.
Sinster Minster 6-6-11


Vernal Tutone is an EE that started blooming for me in early May this year.

May 4th

A week later, 5/11/12


Another week, Vernal Tutone 5-17-12


It just rebloomed this last week (unfortunately I did not get photos)

Another one that is one of the earliest to bloom here (even though it is registered as an EM) is Belle Isle Sentry.
FFO was 4-30-12


It reblooms late here as I have had scapes on it as late as December. Did not do them much good though as we had an early snow that year!
Belle Isle Sentry 12-5-09


Rebloom was a bit earlier in 2008. Rebloom in October. (sorry for the quality as this was taken with my phone camera before I bought the better one I have use now)
Belle Isle Sentry

That's a good point Laura. I don't get a lot of rebloom here most years and what I do get is pretty sporadic. Like you, I don't get rebloom on the same plants every year and sometimes those scapes come up too late to do any good. Once our cooler, wet weather arrives, nothing opens well even if it does bloom.

Today we are getting our first rain of the season after a longer than normal warm, dry spell. Normally we'd be cooler and wet by mid Sept. So I got to enjoy some nice rebloom from a few of my plants.



Stella's Ruffled Fingers on rebloom


Blueberry Breakfast rebloom

Like that Blueberry Breakfast.

Thanks Debra. It's one of my favorites.

I have a couple with scapes now - and I doubt they will bloom for me. Any other year, I doubt I would even see the scapes, but the 'season' was 2 weeks longer this year. I was hoping for more rebloom than I had, but I am sure the drought affected it.

On the other hand, Indian Ripple has been reblooming for a month, and the neatest thing is that with our cooler days, the flowers seem to last twice as long ~Jan

Hi, Tina,

Just a quick note about ‘daylily season,’ down here, somewhat southwest of you. Though technically we’re in the same zone, I don’t find the old or new zones (or even Sunset’s, for that matter) at all useful, if we’re talking about daylilies.

In a normal season, for me summer bloom begins roughly at the beginning of May, and continues until Thanksgiving. Peak bloom is around the 4th of July until the end of the month. True summer reblooming continues through September and October’s Indian summer (with the superstars performing into November), and the flowers look much the same as when they bloomed earlier. However, reblooming also occurs sporadically throughout the winter in the Bay Area, though then the flowers have a yellowish cast, even if they’re melon-colored, lavender or pink during normal bloom season, and will have a modest edge (if any).

How close is your garden to http://www.goldcoastdaylilies.... or http://www.amadorflowerfarm.co... ? Their peak season seems to be 2-6 weeks earlier than mine. This might give you a gauge to determine your peak blooming season, and I would expect it to be quite earlier than mine.

All the best - Elizabete

I live in southern Indiana in zone 6b (almost on the cusp of 6a) and my peak bloom season is right around July 4th. There used to be a daylily farm about 10 miles from me and they would always have their open gardens the last weekend in June and the first weekend in July during peak bloom season.

2012 was an unusual year with everything being at least 3 weeks earlier than normal, so I am going by the three previous years for my estimates.

My early bloomers are usually around May 28th-June 7th. Some daylilies that I have in this category would be Strawberry Candy, Happy Returns, Stella de Oro, and Moonlit Masquerade.

Late bloomers start around August 1st and some that I have in this category are Lady Neva, Tommy Lee Joiner, Savannah Debutante, and Autumn Wood.

Good idea to list some specific names with each bloom time, Vickie. I like Lauras photos with dates (love photos always ) and a text list is helpful to me, as well. Will need another few years before I am able to make one for here, but will begin next spring.