Wedding Band was a shade disaster?? I have that as a new one in full sun, and it's doing fine I think, but I only had two blooms. Good info, Wes. Thanks! Hope to see some pix after beer time!

Daniel:

I don't have a problem with Rollie pollies. The coral bells are Regina and Carmel.
I have the same problem with Bermuda grass in another part of the yard.

The plant was sold to me as a Voodoo lily.

Barbalee said:Wedding Band was a shade disaster?? I have that as a new one in full sun, and it's doing fine I think, but I only had two blooms. Good info, Wes. Thanks! Hope to see some pix after beer time!

'Wedding Band' was no problem in sun, the near-black "Salieri' suffered most. Brutal, all day sun hurt both plants in color and bloom quality. I thought it would be a neat display, all the while I knew it might fail and it did. Near white isn't good in blasting sun, nor is near black. Total fail. This is why we grow shrubs and hedges and tuck plants into the mix. Gardening is a constant experiment. I was drawn in early by career choice after working in millionaire's gardens. Every day was a good day, I miss that but120 miles a day hurts more than the work.

not only black and white flowers but variegated plants also don't like too much sun. I love variegated plants but found out the hard way only abelia and privit can take a full day worth of sun here in SC. As much as I love variegated plants I would never again buy nor suggest privit as a landscape plant. The seedlings pop up everywhere and are fast growers. I enjoy planting specimen trees then planting the understory with daylilies and irses if it gets too shady you just transplant your understory elsewhere and replace with hostas, hydrangeas, coral bells or ferns to name a few. Daylilies need a little more sun then these do so if daylilies fail in a shady spot don't give up just find something else that works there

Last year i began moving some of my plants against the back of the house which faces east so they only get 4-5 hours of direct sun.
Chicago Apache got bigger than ever before and this year also is outdoing itself. Others include Persimmon Punch, Always Regal, Princess Diana, SP Cool Deal and Razzamataz.
We are experiencing a very hot July and wish i had more part shade for some of my favorites.

I have been reading every post here. Thank you each for posting your opinions and lists. Perhaps it may be trial and error for me to get some cultivars/seedlings that are good performers in more shade than direct sun?

Becky I've come to the realization that all gardening is trial and error and more error than trial most of the time

Becky-- Shade is relative. Structures create strong shade that might only change by angle of the sun or time of year. Then there is tree or plant shade. I have three pecan trees, a giant Crepe Myrtle, two paper mulberry, cedar elm and a almost 40 ft pine. I plant anything full sun around the pecans. They are the last tree to leaf out, leaves start to fill out in April. They also loose their leaves quickly in fall. So all iris and daylilies get full sun here when the sun is not at its closest. It is enough sun to carry thru bloom season. The Crepe and pine is filtered sunlight. The paper mulberry are total sunblocks and their invasive roots do not allow anything to grow around or near them. Permanent full shade does not work as well as temporary shade which would be deciduous trees or very tall feathery trees.
Daylilies not affected by tree shade: Leebea Orange Crush, Always Afternoon, Lavender Vista, Dynamite Returns, Night Embers, So Lovely
The saying here is nothing ever means Texas full sun! I think you might be the same in Florida. I grow lilium and Orientals bloom in July here. So they do not do well. Plant in sun they die, plant in shade get one bloom. But right next to them are the above listed daylilies. Daylilies bloom two months before Oriental lily and produce plenty of blooms. I have been known to get out my beach umbrellas for some plants! Have you thought about creating shade with any potted containers of trees or shrubs or latticework. Potted trees are heavy but you can move around with dolly. Many blessings for you to get all the help you need and a spectacular Sunday!

This thread has been interesting.

Lately I have begun to wonder about my daylilies that are in full sun. For at least some of them, the ends of the leaves are brittle, dry, and brown, and I think I recall someone's comment on another thread about "scorching". Now I am wondering if that is my problem, particularly for some of my daylilies on the patio. (I don't know if more water would be a solution to this possible problem, but that is not in the cards here.)

There does seem to be some sort of optimum (wrt bloom and rebloom) amount of sun vs shade. Too much sun, and maybe you get scorching (and other issues)? Too little sun, the foliage gets leggy and bloom declines, and for some daylilies you get no rebloom (this I know for sure). Where is the happy medium, I wonder...

This thread has been interesting.

Lately I have begun to wonder about my daylilies that are in full sun. The ends of the leaves are brittle, dry, and brown, and I think I recall someone's comment on another thread about "scorching". Now I am wondering if that is my problem, particularly for some of my daylilies on the patio.

There does seem to be some sort of optimum (wrt bloom and rebloom) amount of sun and shade. Too much sun, and maybe you get scorching (and other issues)? Too little sun, and bloom declines, and you get no rebloom (this I know for sure). Where is the happy medium, I wonder...

Well I will soon be doing an experiment with shade and daylilies. I have a new, weedless area under a tree (we moved an old truck that was here for years!) and I plan to divide and multiply my favorite DL's and grow them in rows here. I expect that only the DL at the front of each row (in the most sun) will bloom, but I will know what the rest of the row is so I can move them when I get a place for them. clever, huh?

You may not want to put any expensive ones there cause the truck may have leaked gas, oil, antifreeze, or other harmful fluids while sitting that could kill your plants if you are doing it with cheap plants or extras you divided then go for it but use caution on expensive plants so you don't make any expensive mistakes

Just to show a couple other ideas for shade that do not affect daylily performance. I use ornamental sweet potato vine. Yes it needs a bit of water but for me it's invaluable. Here if I cut at ground it comes back year after year. To a certain degree you can move the vines on the ground around. Carmen Renee is in the middle look how green compared to Creatiive Art which receives no shade, but only morning sun. Ornamental sweet potato vine can be grown in pots, which you can move around. Also the mulch does not have to be thick under the sweet potato and the vine blocks weeds! All pictures were taken today.




Chicago Apache is going to rebloom. It is shaded by a medium to small lantana. The lantana is another slow starter. The daylilies get the less harsh sun of spring and early summer.



Lastly, my tall bearded iris have 3ft tall leaves that are very wide. When planting iris on the west sides of the daylilies, it gives shade.


Many blessings for a safe and peaceful week!

Great observation Sharon, thanks for sharing the pics. The foliage on the sweet potato vine also probably helps keep the soil temp down and not just protect the daylilies from the blistering sun. I love using groundcovers as living mulch but it's also important to note that some can be very aggressive growers and need to be kept in check so not to deprive anything else from too much light.

Sweet Potato vine can become invasive if you don't watch it closely. Been there, done that! But it is a really lovely vine and a great ground cover!

I'd love to find a groundcover (that's not so invasive) to grow in my daylily and iris beds to serve as a living mulch. That'd be awesome!

Barbalee I grow Snow in Summer Asiatic Jasmine and it's too aggressive in my area but may be further south. let me know if you want me to try to root you a cutting.

I'm further north, I think, as I'm in 7A (northern Texas). It might be even more aggressive here. What do you think? I'd LOVE to give it a shot, Daniel!! What can I do for you?

I'll try to root a few cuttings, I never tried to root them before but it should be simple. Sharon and Becky want me to try and root y'all one while I'm at it?

Keep me posted, Daniel!