In zone 8 I have many daylilys that do not go totally dormant or die back on the foliage until December or a hard frost..

The daylillys all have lush tall green leaves now
should I cut them with scissors straight across
and leave 8 inches of green sometime in October
and dispose of the green leaves...

I wanted to tidy up the flower bed and the daylilys
but not sure what month to do this..
Thanks for any answers!
Sheri/sheridragonfly

Hi Sheri,

I trim foliage back in Oct and Nov usually on the ones that I don't dig up and divide when I replenish the fertilizer.

Is this just done to tidy up the garden, are there any benefits to the plants to cut back the foliage? I am assuming there are no bad effects or tink would not be doing it.

I had read that anything that has leaves that turn brown and fall to the ground
that is the time to cut the leaf off...

that insects live under them in the dirt more so..more nematodes etc..

That is why I asked..

all the daylilys in my garden will turn brown by december..and it would be neater
and collect less leaves from fall tree shedding if I were to clip across the daylilys by hand...

and have that out of the way when March comes and time to blow leaves out which there will be a huge amount on my flower bed..

and then
when those leaves are gotten out of the bed, then time to buy cypress mulch
and then also do individual fertilizing ..

That included daylilys, iris and a few more on a fall flower garden tidying up
article I had read this week..on tidying them up..

so I put it out there on this site for others to tell me their thoughts
Thank you both, and hope we get more answers...
Sheri/sheridragonfly

Seedfork said:Is this just done to tidy up the garden, are there any benefits to the plants to cut back the foliage? I am assuming there are no bad effects or tink would not be doing it.

I do it to tidy up the beds and do it's easier to put down fertlizer and alfalfa and such.

I let mine die back until the whole mound is brown, then it is easy to just scoop it all out by hand.

Ours never turn brown here, well some get a little raggedy looking but still green, and even most of the dormants do not go dormant so they really need to be trimmed to get a good cleanup done and room to work to put down fertilizer etc.

Sheri, I'm in the Pacific NW Zone 8, whearas Tink is in Florida Zone 8 - not sure which part of the country your Zone 8 is in, so pick and choose what might work best for you. Such differences within zones...

Deb I am in the same zone as Michelle..
southeast alabama..zone 8 here
lower part of zone 8..

I guess I can leave them till they turn brownish or go ahead in late october
when they do not need the green leaves anymore to grow
and cut straight across to tidy up the daylily bed and then the falling
leaves will be easier to blow out of the bed when late feb comes...

I use the Toro yard blower to blow the leaves out...of the beds
and then blow the dust and dirt off myself after I plug my ears
up lst... with ear plugs to perserve hearing..

Good idea to use ear plugs when using the vacumn in the house or yard blowers
outside or any loud noise machines..
thanks to all who have replied
Sheri/sheridragonfly

Sheri, I can have flowering all year round but I remove dead leaves periodically. It looks good, and, as Tink says, they get in the way of you adding your increments. Moreover, because I have some rust buckets, which I sentimentally won't compost, I do cut them back to green on their leaves if spraying has not worked too well on them.

I've never heard of blowing leaves out of a bed. For what purpose? I mulch with shredded leaves in the fall and just let them decompose at their leisure.

I don't know about other areas, but we get enough moisture here that the daylilies don't flourish if there are leaves in the box. My boxes are on the other side of the yard from the trees.

I don't know what you mean by boxes? Raised beds?

Deb, I grow daylilies and vegetables in raised boxes. Mr. Kinnebrew showed us how to build them. Now the boxes are 12 yr old. They look weathered but are holding up very well. Plants that I value don't go in the sand here on the beach. Very hard to keep them fertilized and too there are nematodes in the sand that destroy most plants. Raised boxes are the way to go here.

I have a line of 13 daylilies in one of my beds that is perfect for the mower.

It might be a little more difficult this year because I just added the mulch.

usually i mow and throw out on the grass and then mow and throw back to the garden.