spent a week in fredericksburg virginia and everywhere i looked -- orange day lillies--i assume they grow wild, are easy to grow and spread---they were everywhere!
don't see many here and would love to change that-- am talking about roadside variety
if you have any tubors ( bulbs?) would love to have one of the packed boxes that the post office lets you fill for 9 dollars and will pay you back postage and will include seeds also
if this is a bad time to plant them (very hot here) let me know and i will wait for fall
thanks in advance for any help
orange day lillies
you can plant them anytime, they are very vigorous. Can be invasive, and will crowd out desirable plants if you are not careful.
yup. They will invade, hence, great plants for roadsides to keep out other weeds
i have some areas that i could let them spread and would be very happy to do so!
thanks for such quick feedback and am glad to find i can plant them any time--i look forward to giving them a try--i did see some potted ones for sale at the farmers market in virginia but couldn't take on plane and she didn't have any bulbs
We call them 'ditch lillies' here because they are in the ditches along all the roadsides in the country areas. I dug mine up from out by my mom-in-laws house in July, planted them that afternoon and the next year they came up by the dozens. I'll see if I can get some for you when I go out there in a few days - they pretty easy to dig there, mine are stuck in rock-hard clay.
Di
This message was edited Jun 13, 2010 11:02 PM
thanks--i hope they do as well here!
one caveat, linda - they grow in roadside ditches because that's where the water is. In TX you might have trouble getting them to thrive without irrigation. I can't remember how much rainfall the Plano area gets.
Oh, no believe me they will survive this hot, humidity with no water. I dug tons of them and gave them away last year and they have replaced themsevles this year.
not much rain fall!
This are at my moms's in zone 8. Not much rain fall there either. I sent you a D-mail. If you want to make a trip when I'm up there you can have all you want. Just come and dig.
cross posted so my last reply looks wrong after yours angedawn-
i am curious if they are always grown in sun--i have both sunny and shady areas --i am guessing they like full sun but just wondered
Can grow in full or part sun. Don't worry about that. I have been trying to find someone to get them, they are taking over the Tiger Lillies. I have heard to plant them away from other daylilies. You can check that out.
Mom's are in full sun. I used to have some in part-sun. Do you remember how they were planted in Fredricksburg?
I recently went to Baton Rouge and the landscapers there are planting all colors of caladiums in full sun. I thought some needed shade in southern climates.
they grow in both sun and partial shade - they bloom best in sun and grow best in partial shade.
I have heard they carry more diseases and will spread to you other daylilies. Hate to be gloom and doom, but thought you might want to know. You probably have a good spot for them. I wouldn't plant them with other daylilies. They grow in the ditches here also. They're in bloom right now.
They are pretty and will spread like wildfire...
Definitely don't plant them with Daylilys - they will take over...
thank you for all of your help--didn't know that about the other day lilies--i only have a few of those and i will make sure to keep my new ones away from them
Yep, I have mine in a bed by themselves in full sun and they love it.
I've never noticed any diseases on ours. They are as hardy and healthy as a June bug.
I never had trouble with any diseases, if anything they are very hardy, it's those frilly little expensive new thingies that always have bug and rust damage ect.
But they will crowd out the others. They have to be planted separately with lots of room. Some people mow them after they bloom, I would not do that. Since the foliage does get thick, you might spray a few times a year for aphids.
The ditch lilies have grown here for years with no diseases. They are the toughest plants I've ever seen. They grow along roadsides, in fields, around abandoned houses, etc with absolutely no care. We have similar climates--hot and dry. The ditch lilies will do great for you with no problem. Plant 'em and forget 'em.
They do tend to spread out, with the daylilies "running". So if planted near other daylilies, they may "run" into your other daylilies. Being rather vigorous and prolific, they can deprive your better daylilies of nutrients as well.
If I were going to load up on ditch lilies, I'd go for the triple lilies, Kwanso. They're prettier with their big frilly blooms. They're also found along ditches, roadsides, and old homesteads. Look around and you can probably find some of those. They get rather tall for me, around 5 or so ft.
that is good to see that they will do so well here--i wonder why i don't see them everywhere like i did in virginia--do they bloom most of the summer?
i will try and add tripple lilies to my collection - : )
No, they don't bloom most of the summer. A large clump will bloom for about a month.. Different daylilies have different bloom times, but still, each cultivar only blooms for a few weeks. By adding daylilies with different bloom times, you can extend the blooms in your garden. So when adding new daylilies to your collection, look them up in Tinkers database to see what season they are (early, mid, late, reblooming). So you could have some kind of bloom going on most of the summer.
Here's the database:
http://db.tinkersgardens.com/?script=3.1
Just type the name of the cultivar you're interested in in the search bar and the results will give you lots of info on that particular daylily.
I must warn you, though, that daylilies are addictive. And if you're not careful, your yard might look like this.
beautiful yard--would love to have lilies rather than grass--and maybe if these ditch lilies spread like everyone is telling me i will get my wish!
Once, I had a yardful of the ditch lilies and thought they were so cool. But the orange quickly got boring as I discovered all the other colors and forms daylilies come in. Now I have around 550 cultivars. And I don't have any of the single ditch lilies anymore. I have a large clump of the Kwanso (triple ditch lilies), but I just had to have all the pinks, purples, near blacks, ruffles, edges, and eyes I could find. (And I still don't have enough! LOL)
wow! 550 cultivatars?! do they all spread? maybe not fast like the ditch ones
it's funny but for some reason lately i keep seeing orange--in advertisments, clothing etc and i don't know if it is that i am more drawn to it or if it has become a popular color
Most daylilies are pretty prolific. Most tend to stay neat and tidy, not spreading out by runners like the ditch lilies. The clumps just keep getting bigger. So they're easy to keep separated.
Yes, I focused on daylilies for years and have few other perennials. This year, I'm adding in other perennials so I have some variety and so something is blooming all the time. The daylilies are in full bloom right now, but in another month or so, they'll fizzle out and I'll just be left with green grasslike foliage.
I'm culling out about 50 varieties this year, but I see more I want to add, and they're so hard to resist. Of course my brother does have about another 1/4 acre of land next door. If I'm not careful, I'll take it over too. LOL
what does it mean to cull out 50 varieties?
maybe your brother will thank you if you do take over his lot with those beauties
Butterflychaser, if you do cull out 50 varieties please let us know.
Planolinda, re. the color orange, I found a purse a few years ago in a bright, yet pretty orange. Everywhere I went I got compliments on it. It was noticable and gave a punch of color. It drew attention to itself.
You probably don't see those lilies much, because they are considered common, and people would rather have something not so common. Especially in a newer subdivision with more manicured lawns. Saying that, I'll say this, I haven't considered transplanting any ot my mom's ditch lilies to my house until this year. I was thinking I could fill in a pretty big area with them. And there's so many of them I could probably divide them and go around my whole property line with them. Not that I would, hmmm, on the other hand......lol.
I'm going to get some and be proud of them since they were something my grandmother planted.
i even go to a website called orange (might have more to the name) done by a very creative girl ----
Culling out means I'll trade or sell them. I have a post on the plant trading forum right now for a few of them. As I get newer ones, I just have to cull out older ones, just like with the clothes in my closet. I only have so much space, so out with the old, in with the new. I took a few with me to a plant swap last weekend and traded them for other perennials.
do the ditch lilys produce seed
No, they're sterile, thank goodness. They're prolific enough without seeds. LOL
Butterflychaser: It sounds like you are really organized. I wish I were more so. Could you come to my house for a couple of weeks?? :) I need my garden "culled" out and my closet!