Hello, not sure if this is the right forum for this but I have what I believe to be a patch of orange lilies. Around here they are more commonly called ditch lilies. My question/problem is they have never bloomed, not one flower and its been over 10 years. The patch has continued to get bigger, just no flowers. They are planted on the west side of my house, morning shade, all afternoon sun. What can I do to get some blooms?

I would first ask if they are in a dry area? Daylilies love water. Have they ever been fertilized? Those are the first two things that come to mind, even though I have never heard of daylilies not blooming over such a long period of time. So I would suggest lots of water and some balanced fertilizer to start with, of course a soil test is always advised when you have such problems.
Edited to add:
If they have been there for 10 years and had no blooms, they might benefit for digging them all up, adding compost and other amendments to the the soil, thinning them out and replanting them.

I agree, I would divide & thin them down, fertilize the soil a bit. Have you ever seen them bloom at all? It's just that I would question them being ditch lilies. I can imagine you might get a finicky hybridized daylily that might not bloom due to crowding, etc. But I've never seen a ditch lily not bloom, they seem to bloom in all kinds of horrific situations.

I am going to go out on a limb and say that after ten years of no bloom, water or no water, that what you have is most likely some type of grass. I have a clump of ditch lily on the north side of the house in a mostly dry environment that blooms every year. That's just my opinion of course.

Mike I had ditch lilies at my old house, I lived there 5 years and never knew they where even flowers until we had a septic leak and they bloomed. So there is a chance they could not be getting enough water especially if they are in New Mexico. look at Edgewood, NM on google maps then click the earth box it looks like a desert.

Hello and thank you all for the advice. I got s small clump of them in a trade several years ago and that's what I was told they were, orange ditch lilies. They are actuslly in one of the best spots in my yard. The soil has been amended with compost & peat moss. Is fertilized ,3 times a year I use mircle-gro plant fertilizer. It gets s good amount of water. They are planted between roses which are thriving. I am going to dog them up this fall and tr to find happier spots for them, certainly can't hurt.

So called 'ditch lilies' hated me. I acquired mine from a person who was unsuccessfully trying to eradicate them from their property. They looked great there, but really were taking over and overrunning everything included the alley :). They grew for me well enough, but blooms were rare. They also weren't rampant. I moved them around and even brought some with me when I relocated. Bought cultivars planted next to them did a lot better in terms of providing bloom and almost as well in providing vegetative growth. If I hadn't seen the occasional bloom from them, I'd have thought I didn't get the weedy one. It matched and I think that was the only daylily growing there anyway. So I'm thinking even a ditch lily can be choosy at times.

Keep us posted on this, Colleen! This inquiring mind wants to know the results!

My ditch lily on the dry north side of the house and one of two huge clumps by the south fence.

You've about got me swayed, Mike! I've thought of ditch lillies as plain and ordinary...yours aren't! Maybe I'm moving away from the DLs I thought I wanted!

I really don't know anything about New Mexico, except that it can get hot there. Is there any way that you can plant a few on the opposite
side of the house where they will get afternoon shade? Perhaps the drier hotter climate is partly the problem.

I'm willing to try. Am redoing the westside flower beds. Will be moving all the once blooming roses and can easily move those lilies (or what ever they are,) may be a new spot will be just what they need.

Just a thought here - how far down (below the soil and mulch level) are the crowns (where the leaves and the roots come together)?

If the crowns are too deep (more than about an inch or so) then that could be the reason you have no blooms, despite the abundant water and faithful fertilizing. Daylilies are touchy in that respect; they will sulk if they are planted (or pull themselves down) too deep.

That happened to me once with a seedling, which had somehow dug itself down so the crown was about 3" below the soil grade. Once I excavated and replanted it, it bloomed the next season.

So go scratch around the fans and see how deep the crowns are.

OK l will make a note to check the crowns and see how deep they are when I go to move them. Thanks for all the advice on fixing the problem with these lilies. In the last 4 years or so I have been seeing irises pop up twords the one edge of the lilies. Thing is I don't remember planting any iris in the west side flower beds. First there was only one for a couple years and yes they bloom. There are now about five or six. Maybe nature just knows where it wants to grow