Bonehead said: I have several daylily clumps of the same variety, perhaps I'll try a 'cut to the ground' on some and 'leave them be' on others and see if there is any difference next season.
That would be a great experiment, if you do it please let us know what happens next bloom season. In theory, because next year's flower scapes typically have start forming by late fall, cutting back green leaves late in the season may cause the plant to use its stored resources from photosynthesis to grow new leaves instead of concentrating on next year's flowers. It could also disrupt the natural growth cycles. Also it may not be a good idea to trim anything planted that same year or which is iffy for hardiness because it forces them to use the food they have made to grow new leaves, leaving less for overwintering and spring growth.
Where the cultivar is established, robust and hardy for the area then if anything at all is negatively affected it would most likely be primarily the number of next year's flowers. Your experiment would be a great test of that.
Sometimes there's a trade-off between what's best for the plant and what's best for us. We're growing them for looks and certainly cutting back after flowering makes them look a whole lot better.
