Mom is doing pretty well, she will be 88 on Wed. My sister that trades out with me is really having problems with her Parkison's. I had to drive her to mom's today.

The common ditch lily or Hemerocallis fulva 'Europa' is a triploid and more or less sterile both as a pod and a pollen parent. If one hand pollinates hundreds of tetraploid flowers with the pollen from 'Europa' one might get a few seeds. There would be more seeds from those crosses than similar crosses using diploid daylilies as the pod parents. Probably all of the seedlings that might develop from those seeds will be triploids.

'Europa' is self-incompatible. Stout determined this; it is not self fertile.

Teresa, glad your mom is going strong!

Maurice, thank you for that info. I'm clear that the thing I might need to watch is just how aggressively these critters occupy space.

Thank you, Kyla
We are taking Mom to a Amish buffet place in IN for her birthday. I have been bringing her the Amish books to read in Large print from the library.

I have been resetting a lot of dls today. We have been so dry that I have been watering everything. Odd, most of the year we have had good rainfall.

You received great advice. Do want to endorse what was said about the ditch lilies AKA H. fulva It can be very aggressive. Great for erosion control, not so great for your bed. It reproduces via stolons or runners which is why it is so difficult to get rid of and why it is spreads so easily.

I have some out by my mail box in solitary confinement (surrounded on three sides by concrete or asphalt) that has so far kept them under control.

Ditchlily, we cross posted. Yep, that's the critter alrighty.

Teresa, that buffet sounds yummy!

Is "resetting" the same as transplanting? Or?

We've been very very dry here. 1.25 inches of rain all of the month. Yesterday it rained just lightly all day and at least kept what moisture was in the ground from evaporating. I've been watering a lot.

One of yours you sent me is for some reason very attractive to something that is munching down on its leaves. I had taken it up at one point when it was munched down to almost nothing, and grown it for a while in a pot and then ?reset? it in the bed and dang if it isn't getting munched again. None of the others is. I think I am going to lift it and just grow it in a pot overwinter and maybe even into the season! If it's that tasty, it must be special. It's strong though, keeps rebounding.

Well, maybe I will lift those Fulva.... Then I'll have space for the ones I'm going to grow from Cindy's seeds.

I have Ditch lilies out on a steep bank all alone. They are free to spread and they do! I have read that Round Up will not even kill them. The state road dept cuts them down every year but it doesn't bother them.

I am so thankful that I am not bothered by deer. We have a neighbor's beagle that loves to run them away.

Funny, that they keep choosing the same one.

I separated all my "ditch lilies" by making a row of them out by the road so they do not take over my other daylilies. They are lovely and I enjoy them but they must have their own space.

All right. Early this morning, I took up the row of them I had planted in the same bed as my new dls. I put them way in the end of the back yard by the fence, where I hope they will migrate out toward the alley.

There are other clumps here and there in other beds but I'll deal with those as I go along; it was this one bed that was of concern to me, for now.

Yes they are gorgeous! But....

Oh dear, my Kwanzo has struggled for the last 3 years. Today I noticed shoots up to a foot away from it. It is still yet to flower. But in fairness the cockatoos stripped the buds last year.
I have a feeling one other I have found in an abandoned garden is a single bloom ditch lily too. I may have to move and confine them if they are as aggressive as everyone says.

Cockatoos. Now, that's one challenge I don't face.

I am surprised to see that the ditch lilies might be sterile. I crossed them with pollen from several of my other lilies and have gotten seed last year and this year. My plants from last year's seed are obviously not old enough to bloom and I haven't planted this years seeds yet. I did use it's pollen on my neighbors pink lily that is similar to the ditch lily and there were no seeds, but since her lily is unnamed it could be a Dip. I can't wait to see what I get from those seeds!

Another question......my seedlings from last year are still kinda small, but they have nice roots starting to come out of the bottoms of the pots. Should I plant them, or is it too late (zone 6A) I can keep them in my garage heated garage til next spring?

Could this be a "Ditch Lily?"

It stays green year round here in zone 9a.
Bloom early like April, takes a brief break, comes back and blooms until end of Sept.


Color is more golden or orange.
Also doesn't like to hold pods, although 1 pod did have seeds, but don't know if they are fertile.

Xenacrockett said:Could this be a "Ditch Lily?"

No, the "ditch lily" is Hemerocallis fulva 'Europa'.

Doesn't look like a ditchlily to me Pat. Almost looks like Frans Hal but Frans Hal will get lots of pods.