The secret to growing in pots is size. The size mine like best is twenty gallon tree size pots. They are all about 22 inches across the tops. Some in the front on the patio are in bigger pots, they are much deeper and it is really wasted space. We have to water every other day in summer, it is grueling in the Texas heat. My wonderful son does most of the watering for me.

Here are a couple more pictures in the pots. Some are in the middle of the grass because of limited space.

Row down the center of the grass.


When the row down the grass was started in 2012. Pots are from Walmart, they are about 20" across the tops. Pots along the fence are free black tree pots from a neighbor.


"Can't Touch This" happily blooming in it's new pot in 2012.


Another view from this year.


A very happy Dragonfly Dawn on a new plant from florida from the Trimmers. It turned from three large fans into 12 fans and 12 scapes before it was all over. Just potting soil, Texas sunshine and lots of rain this spring. I have ordered two more plants from them for next spring. It is a pod setting fiend.

Dot - Oh my! I love your Dragonfly Dawn plant! Beautiful! Nice to hear about the growth on it as well.

That is an impressive set-up with all those pots! My daylily areas are a mish-mash of raised beds and borders. Nothing matches at this time ... though I hope I can pull it all together in the future. I love the idea of pots as you can move them or change the garden area, but the watering would be a real challenge here in Florida in the Summer as well. I'd have to do a drip irrigation system or something to water so many.

How many daylilies do you actually have? I currently have 49 registered daylilies and over 200+ seedlings growing everywhere!

Boy, they sure look very healthy Dot

hi Dot,

your pot ghetto looks amazing!!

Do you know how deep your pots are?
I had my Wilson Spider in a pot this summer and in 4+ months it made so many roots that it couldn't stay in there much longer...



Mayo

I could not imagine keeping them in pots unless they were very large containers. And then they would probably have to be divided annually?

Just curious .... when you divide daylilies, do you share (or sell) the outer (newer) fans with others or the older inner fans?

I like full clumps so I don't divide them often. I usually sell when I am getting in new stuff to make space. So I sell all of them. Some of mine have been in the same pots for years. At my age it would be impossible to divide everything every year.

The Bombay planters that I bought at Walmart are 20" across the top and 15" deep. This seems to be the perfect size for them for me. The free tree pots that I have are about the same size. If they are in three gallon pots you could only keep them there a couple of years unless they are a small variety.

I never count my daylilies or record all of them. I would guess that I have over 100 varieties. I rotate them out every year, add some sell some. My back yard space is very limited, city lot.

Dot

Dot - You sell them as clumps, you don't divide the cultivars? Have you kept any for a long time? If so, which ones have been your favorites that you have not sold off?

I am impressed because you are just a zone or two different than me. And you also get the hot summers.

Ladylovingdove said:I never count my daylilies or record all of them. I would guess that I have over 100 varieties. I rotate them out every year, add some sell some. My back yard space is very limited, city lot.

Dot

I'm very new to loving DL's myself and am still in the stage that I only want móre
My garden is a véry limited city lot too, but just the thought of 'rotating' my DL's the way you do makes me queasy...
Perhaps I'm a bit younger than you are, but I'm looking into expanding my space by leasing / letting / buying some extra ground

Need some space to plant all my seedlings!


Mayo

You use just potting soil? I grow mine in big pots as well, but my soil in the pots has been shrinking. I've been dumping them out and adding more soil underneath and on the sides. I've bulked up the potting soil with organic material. That's mainly to cut cost. It's worked, but it may be why I'm seeing the shrinkage. I'm about 100 miles due west of Fort Worth. More wind, a bit lower humidity, probably. Sometimes I water 5 of 7 days, but I'm never sure if they need it or not. Most of my big containers are clay with a few being pottery or plastic. That makes adding new soil a chore. Plus I've discovered fire ants love to invade the pots. That slowed down replenishing the soil, but I can't always tell whether they've invaded or not. Sometimes I can only tell by feel , but then it's too late!

Becky, I will divide clumps if they are big enough when I sell. Sometimes I just don't like something that I got and will make the space for something new. I'm 75 now and dividing things up and lining them out to sell just isn't feasible for me. I garden in pots just to be able to continue to garden. I have some raised beds but they are full of irises and weeds simply because I cannot now get up into the gardens to maintain them. I grow daylilies in pots because of space and ease of gardening.

I use potting soil mixed with pine fines or something that will make the potting soil a little lighter. I also use Nutricote timed release fertilizer and Milorganite to feed. And yes it does shrink back, then it has to be lifted and more soil added.

Dot

My problem here w using pots like that is we have really cold winters with lots of moisture and they freeze and burst. I don't know how to get around that?

I have been told thatntomsurvive the cold winters in pots that they need to be turned on their sides so they don't collect water and rot from freeze thaw cycles. I have lost overwintered daylilies when left standing up, have never tried tipping on their side ~ Jan

I bet tipping the pots of daylilies on their sides would work very well!

I have done that with seedlings that I didn't get planted. I tip them on their side and pile a bag of mulch on top of the pots. This is my third winter of doing that and it has worked and they all survived.

well don't they get dry like that with no moisture?

If they go dormant, it is probably okay. And they have the reserves in their roots, correct?

No Frilly, if they do get dry, the colder temperatures of winter do make them go dormant. This will be my 3rd winter doing this and I have had no problems. Better dry than wet and rotting.

oh, I agree about the wet and rotting thing for sure. But we have occasionally winters that are so dry, in warm spells I have to go out to water or they shrivel away so bad. Would probably be ok if the temps stayed cold, but when we get 50's for a couple weeks w lots of wind and no moisture and then it pluments to teens or even 0 and back and forth like that, they dry out. Some winters are really wet w lots of rain and snow but we vary so much.