I am starting this thread out of necessity. I have several shady areas around my yard that I want to put a garden in. I would like to add a daylily or two cultivar as well.

First ... can daylilies grow and bloom in light shade?

Second .... if so, which cultivars seem to do well in filtered or light shade?

I hope folks jump on this one, Becky. Inquiring minds want to know!

I grow the majority of my daylilies with at least some shade. I live on a treed property, and it is impossible to find an area with all day sun. I will make a list of the ones that are growing in the most shade and post it.

Please also let me know how they fair against their Plant Database stats.

I would choose dl that open in the evening, unless you will have direct sunlight on them in the mornings. Of course you are in a much warmer zone than I am experienced with. Around here we have cool mornings sometimes and those morning openers need sun on them to open fully, so in the shaded areas I use nocturnal bloomers, they look nice in the mornings when I go out to see them even if it is early.

Becky, here in the brutal FL sun, most daylilies prefer a spot with some shade. Every daylily box I have is provided some shade during the day. In the back yard, tall palm trees offer dappled shade most of the day and the daylilies flourish. Usually doesn't hurt bud count, either.

The daylilies in my shadiest bed is:
Mini Pearl
Mini Stella
Penny's Worth
Strawberry Candy
Russian Easter
Luxury Lace
Miniature King
Ah Youth
Shy Maiden
Bertie Ferris
Catherine Woodbery
Feather Down
Little Wine Cup
Prairie Blue Eyes
Cosmopolitan
Cute As Can Be
Precious de Oro
These are all older cultivars that I planted when we first started the garden, so they have been in this very shady bed for 20 years, at least. All bloom well and have overwintered through some extremely harsh conditions. There are a handful that were planted later, maybe in the last 5-10 years or so. This bed doesn't get any direct, full sun and only receives some sun coming in under the tall pine trees. All of the other nearly 200 daylilies that I grow receive some shade throughout the day, some more than others.

That is very helpful, Valerie. Thanks!

I think I remember reading somewhere that minis preform better in shade than others do.

Valarie - Thank you! I will look up each of those to determine which ones might be rust resistant and do well in shade.

Elaine - I have some very shady spots in my yard that don't get a lot of full sun at all. So I know most daylilies do need some sunshine. I am hoping there are some cultivars that actually do quite well in shady spots. The west side of my house gets mostly shade for most of the day. I believe you when you say daylilies in Florida appreciate some shade. I know that for a fact because the one full sun raised bed that I have has struggling daylilies in it. It's just too hot! Many go heat dormant and some die completely.

Peggy Estes had a small shady backyard garden and she grew really nice daylilies. Her secret was she really babied them. No weeds, good soil, mulch, not too much water or fertilizer, magic fingers.

Good luck.

Charley

I actually have the front row of this bed planted with short minis. Including the really tiny ones like Penny's Worth and Mini Stella. I have slightly taller ones with small blooms in the middle row, then taller ones, still with fairly small blooms in the back row. So, you are right, that most of these have relatively small flowers. I just added some minis this year, but didn't include them in the list, since they haven't overwintered. They are older cultivars as well, including Welchkins, 12", 2.6" bloom, Bumble Bee, 12", 2" bloom and Popeye, 16", 2.5" bloom.

I just went out and took this picture of the shadiest part of the garden. The daylilies (other than the extra early minis that have already bloomed) are just starting. The photo shows the dappled shade (and all the forget-me-nots that seed themselves everywhere!)

I have quite a few trees and stick to the minimum of 6 hours of sunlight at some point during the day everything is in shade. It is nice for dead heading and walking the garden. Can't seem to get my husband to understand the more flowers I plant the less time he would have to mow. LOL

Mine are in full sun just for few hours a day. The first in the row starts to get sun at 11 - 12 AM and by 5 PM it's in shade. They are in a row perpendicular to the movement of the sun.

But this year I got many many flowers.

Liz lovely combination of plants. I have tons of different nandina I rooted from cuttings this past fall. only have 2 I put in ground so far. I may plant a few more but will probably trade or sell the others this fall. I only was able to get 2 Ruby Loropetalum cuttings to root and have planted them behind some kaleidoscope abelia. One day if I can get the Bermuda grass and weeds under control I'd love to share some pics of my landscape also. Do you ever have issues with rolly pollies with all the mulch you use? Also what coral bells do you grow and is that Dracunculus vulgaris in the foreground?

I have a lot of shade and have had very limited luck putting daylilies there. If they get morning sun and avoid the hot afternoon sun, then they do well. Of course the ones that tend to fade or melt in the sun would be my first choice of ones to move to a shadier location and see how they would do there. I know I want to move 'Soothsayer', it fades very quickly in the sun. I would like to try Carlotta in a little more shade also. I do have 'Irish Envy' and 'Filled with Joy' under the shade of a 'Crape Myrtle' and they have done extremely well, the others in that bed have not been up to par though. In the heavier shade of another 'Crape Myrtle' due to the angle of the sun during the day, the daylilies as a whole underperform.

I have Lullaby Baby and Chorus Line in an area that gets sunshine only til about 10 am. Lullaby Baby bloomed really well- but I do have some scape lean as they try for more sun. Kind of a late bloom pic...

Many of my daylilies are grown in part shade. At some point, however, it gets too shady for most daylilies to put out more than a few blooms, if that. At least, that has been my experience here. (A big surprise to me this season was that 'Let Me Be Clear' sent up rebloom scapes. It is growing in a one gallon pot in an area which gets maybe one hour of sunlight a day, during the peak sunlight hours of the year. It is a winter-bred dormant diploid, though, so it may not do well in southern gardens.)

A few daylilies here which are grown in part shade, which seem to perform well (or at least well enough):

Black Falcon Ritual (or (long story) possibly a seedling thereof)
Insider Trading
Madge Cayse (gets a fair amount of shade so does not rebloom here)
One Fine Day (blooms E-EM, then again in late summer/early fall)
Osterized
Sears Tower

It has been my observation that some daylilies which reliably rebloomed at our old house (which had little shade) do not do so here. Two that come to mind are 'Bamboo Spitfire' and 'Green Dolphin Street'. My takeaway from that is that while you may get a decent amount of initial bloom in part shade, you may - with some cultivars - lose rebloom.

I've read that many of Bill Munson's cultivars were shade tolerant. The only one of his that I still have is 'Burmese Buddha'. While it blooms and some years reblooms, I can't say that it is putting on that great of a show. I'm not sure about bud count changes (it was in a little shade at the old house), but the % of polymerous blooms that I see here is much lower, almost non-existent. To be honest, though, that could be a result of a change in other growth parameters. At the last house it was in a whiskey barrel (containing whatever potting soil and compost) and got hand watered with a hose at least 3x a week. Here it is in the native clay soil, and besides getting a lot of shade, is only getting irrigated twice a week.

Good to know, Poly. Thanks!

I've got a shady spot along my driveway that will at some point be a large "shade bed". I have a variety of 5-7 year old hostas needing division and plans for one supersize hosta and other shade plants. The 'shade' is provided by a shed and two Maple trees but along the driveway I get enough sun to get blooms on 'Lilting Bell', and invasive chunk of H. Fulva that's about to meet Mr. Round-Up, a tall yellow which might indeed be 'August King' as a member so kindly pointed out, and 'South Seas'. No pictures handy but I'll look and see if I didn't post some to my all-but-forgotten photobucket account.

The "tall yellow" blooms a foot shorter in shade but still buds up and blooms well. 'South Seas' is stunning in the limited/filtered sun. Flat gorgeous all day long! If I were to plant it where I've planted most of my new buys here at mom's house it would be the ugliest bloom but I am kinda rough on the new ones. Plenty of water but bare soil, no fertilizer. As I plan to transplant all, they got "basic holes" compared to "keeper holes". Keeper holes are twice as big and deep with additions such as sand, fresh topsoil, Canadian peat and often a little pea gravel. Plants get mulched, general purpose fertilizer (M-Gro), and extra special watering, dead-heading, and any encouragement/support they might need as "permanent landscape additions"...LOL!

I say it's all trial and error but I'm a firm believer that certain delicate colors are better off with fewer blooms if shade provides for better blooms. Experiment. I just re-purchased 'Salieri' which was my first 'near black'. In mostly shade it was a "BBB" (Bud Building _____). Beautiful. I experimented with full, all day sun with a near-white ('Wedding Band'?) on each side. Absolute disaster. I know I have comparison pics but I'll have to dig deep and it's time for my nightly slug patrol.

I shall return with some pics....