I am in zone 5b and wondered if you could offer any advice as to using raised beds and still planting semi-evergreen and evergreen? I have ordered a few cultivars of each and really hope they will over winter here as I am planning on planting them in raised beds.

Thanks!

The guideline of "dormant types for the north" seems to be somewhat loose. On the recommendation of another Florida gardener, who has grown daylilies as far south as near Miami, I recently ordered 'Siloam Double Classic' which the seller has classified as a dormant type. It was a surprise to me, but I'm going with it.

Hi Cat,

I think in zone 5b your daylilies will do just fine in a raised bed. I bought a lot of daylilies from a grower in zone 5 and most of the daylilies were grown in raised beds, they had dormant, semi-evergreen and evergreen. Enjoy your new babies!

Great! I thought they would be okay from the info I had been able to gather. Just some of them can get a little pricey and I don't want to be loosing any! I am really excited for them to get here! Almost like expecting a Baby, lol.

The BX Creek daylily farm even keep the plants they don't sell during the spring and summer in 1 gal pots over the winter and most survive, they tip the pots on their side and cover with a thick layer of leaves. I bought several that had survived in the pots, I figured they must be good and tough which they have to be to survive here.

I was just worried if they were semi-ever green and ever green and were above ground (which technically in a raised bed they are) they would not do as well here in Indiana.

Cat, I don't have any experience with raised beds but I would give it a try. You can always mulch the bed in the fall if you are a bit worried about them surviving. I think having them in a raised bed and in pots are 2 totally different approaches. I know daylilies in pots will not survive winter in my zone here, I have tried it.

Well I have been told by a few on the Region 2 Robin list that they should be fine but I read an article on here the other day that said the ever greens wouldn't last here in zoned 5. So, I guess I will mulch them and hopefully the ever greens and semi ever greens will make it. I am a little nervous about it but I guess I'll see what happens.

Some evergreens are hardier than you think. Some of the earlier tets hybridized by Munson that are evergreens are a little tender for me but I think a lot of the newer ones have a lot of dormant genetics. Hybridizers are deliberately breeding dormancy in the newer ones so they will be hardy for us here in the north.

Yes, I am really glad they are. There are some Beautiful Ever greens! I know when I listened to the Curt Hanson pod cast he talked about that a little. Something to keep in mind when I try my hand at hybridizing!!