Daylily plants are hardy perennial plants that produce an abundance of showy flowers. Each flower lasts only a day but there are so many flowers on each plant that the prettiness can last for 30 to 45 days. Daylilies spread very easily so you will want to prepare a bed or a section of a bed that they can dominate. Because daylilies are vigorous growers they are perfect to divide and transplant. As one of my homestead projects I am creating edible landscaping. Here I will share with you when to divide daylilies, when to transplant daylilies, and how to make a bed of daylily plants for eating.
Early Spring Is When To Transplant Daylilies
The best time when to transplant daylilies is the early spring. On my daily walking route down a country road, I spotted a large young growth of daylilies. They must be escapees from a old homestead. Ideal capture! Other ideas for getting them free is ask a neighbor who has them for a few of the spring starts shooting up right now, or find them on roadside, church yards, the edge of a cemetery or public garden. Of course you will probably need to ask permission depending on the location.
Dividing Daylily Plants
Take with you a bucket and a small trowel or shovel. Dig up the smallish shoots with the smaller bulbs. I dug up some of these daylily plants yesterday after a rain and the soil was nice and moist, making it easy to work with. I took little clumps of soil with each plant. This is good because you keep the roots in tact and can ensure a healthy take in its new location, plus you get the benefit of not having to dig as deep a hole in your prepared location you plan to transplant these plants into.
When choosing a spot in your yard or garden you may want to consider using them in borders or a sectioned off area where they won’t be competing with other plants. Keep in mind, they do spread rapidly. I dug my daylilies in along the walkway for easy access. After I watered them, I laid some bark I found over them to help keep their soil moist while they settle in. Daylilies can be very useful in landscaping certain areas of your yard and they have an added benefit.
Daylilies Are Edible
Daylilies are quite edible! You can eat daylily plant tubers, young shoots, flower buds and flowers. Before, eating any daylily plants, please make sure you have correctly identified the species (eating the wrong plants can be dangerous). You may wish to refer to tacticalintelligence.net for help with daylily identification. We batter and fry the daylily flowers like tempura. We also use the daylily flowers diced in as the vegetable inside a lasagna.
Do you grow daylilies? I hope you found this helpful for knowing when to divide daylilies and when to transplant daylilies as well as how they can be used as part of your edible landscaping. Have you eating daylilies before?
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I had no idea daylilies were edible! So cool! I absolutely love having an edible landscape, and always keep that in mind when planting, too.