What time of year is best for dividing daylily clumps? We have been having an early spring and my daylilies are already 2 - 3 inches high. I was out today looking at them and some of them are getting really big clumps. Maybe 20 - 25 fans in some of them. Should I divide them now, or wait until the leaves are bigger? We will probably still have more freezing weather and snow this year. It's just so much easier to see the clumps now when they are small instead of waiting until everything is grown. But I don't want to kill everything because it is the wrong time.

Dorothy, I'm glad you asked this question, because I need to know too. I have a massive clump of Stella that needs to be divided. I'll bet there are more than 100 fans in there. But, I'm worried about freezing too. We've had some really nice weather, and everything is growing, but we're back down to freezing again at night, and not warm at all during the day. I'm just afraid that the longer I wait, the bigger the job will be!

If you expect to get more cold weather, I would not divide until after danger of frost. When you do divide, you can cut the foliage back to about 6 inches. Then you can see the divisions better and won't have all the leaves in the way while you divide the clump.

Personally, I wouldn't worry so much about frost as long as the days are warm. If you're likely to have cool/cold days right after you want to divide, I would wait.

Sounds like you will have a big job sooner or later. With 100 fans you can populate a small city with them.

That was a very conservative estimate! There are probably more like 200 fans! And, there is another clump of something next to it that is just as large. I've had nightmares, just thinking about dividing them! They came with the house though. I wouldn't have let the clumps get this big if I had planted them.

Looks like it is good that I didn't divide already. It's in the 20s today, and the ground is frozen.

Thank you for your replies. I guess I'd better wait. There will be many more freezes and snow before May. By the way, daylily "Fooled Me" multiplies like crazy. I think it about triples or more every year. Maybe there are more that do that, but this is the only one that multiplies that fast in my gardens. I'm sure there are 40 or more fans in it this year. I need to find new homes for most of them.