As most of you know, I'm moving out of state soon, and plan on taking all of my daylilies with me. It's warmed up a bit and is raining today, so some of the snow has melted in the daylily bed against the back of my house. I can see a little bit of green here and there, which is really exciting! But, I also have large areas where the dormant daylilies haven't started growing yet.

I know that it would be much easier to dig them up when I can see some growth, but that may not happen. I'm also well aware of the fact that since I'm moving them, I may not get any blooms this year. I'm just wondering if there are any issues with digging up the dormant ones before they have any growth on them? I stuck a small shovel in the ground in this bed, and did go into the ground, but the flower beds on the side of the yard are still frozen solid. I'm not sure if I'll even be able to dig deep enough at this point, to get the plants out, but I'd like to get started this week if possible.

Any suggestions on digging dormants while they are still dormant would be most appreciated!

Hi Natalie - A few years ago I had to transplant dormant daylilies in winter and they were fine. It wasn't fun digging in the frozen ground though.
In 7A, I transplanted in pots and watered well so that they would freeze and stay dormant until spring. In your zone you probably will not have to even to the watering.

Thanks for the info. I should have clarified that I can't pot them up to move them because I don't have room for all the pots that I'd need. So, I'll just wait a while longer and hopefully things will thaw out some more.

Let me know if some don't survive and I'll ship some to you.

Aww! That is so sweet of you! I think I'll be okay though. Looks like we won't be able to move the plants until after the end of the month, and it should be warmer by then. A few of them are starting to grow, and it looks like my seedlings have survived as well, so I should have more plants than I can handle! I really do appreciate your offer though!