Our daylilies grow in home gardens, city parks, and botanical gardens across the nation -- including Hawaii and Canada. We are known in the industry as daylily experts and grow over 1000 varieties of daylilies on nearly 50 acres. But over 50 years ago we started just like you -- with one daylily in a home garden. To read a brief history of how we got started, click here.
We know that gardening can be overwhelming at first. Even if you have gardening experience -- but are unfamiliar with daylilies -- you may have questions about our plants. We have a series of commonly asked questions below. If you don't see an answer to your particular question, just shoot us an email to support@oakesdaylilies.com and we'll be glad to help. The important thing to remember is that daylilies are one of the easiest summer flowers to grow. It's nearly impossible to kill a daylily!
When it comes to daylily plants, bigger is better! All of the plants we ship will be three fans or larger -- two or three times (or more) what you might receive from other companies. We know it's tempting, but don't separate the plants when you receive them. Larger plants get established faster and produce more blooms quicker.
Any daylily plants you order from us will be freshly dug when you order. The leaves are trimmed and the plants are washed and air-dried. Your daylilies will be out the ground less than 48 hours before they're headed your way, and they'll be ready to plant once they arrive.
Daylilies are classified as Dormant, Evergreen ,and Semi-Evergreen. This refers to the foliage and whether or not it dies back during the winter. Dormant daylilies like to have a cold period in the winter when they can go dormant as the foliage dies back to the ground. Evergreen daylilies try to grow foliage all year long, and semi-evergreen daylilies are somewhere in the middle -- not full foliage but not completely dormant.
It's pretty simple ... most of you can grow any of the daylilies we sell. If you live in an area with a sustained cold period like we have in East Tennessee, you can grow all the varieties we offer. However, if you live in an area that doesn't get freezing weather in the winter, dormant varieties won't work for you. You'll need to choose evergreen or semi-evergreen varieties instead.
Daylilies love sun! They need at least 6 hours a day to really thrive. If you live in a super warm planting zone, the color on some of your darker daylilies (like purple or red) may fade. In this case, it's fine to plant them where they can get a little afternoon shade.
Every spring before our daylilies bloom, we sprinkle a high-quality, nitrogen-rich fertilizer around the drip line of our plants. What's the drip line? This is the area around the base of the plant but not too close to the stalk. After we fertilize, we water the plants well and wait for bloom season! If you are looking for a great daylily fertilizer, try our blend that was specially formulated for our customers.
Yes you can! We recommend fertilizing only in the spring and only before your daylilies bloom. If you fertilize more often than that, the plant will spend all its energy making foliage instead of producing blooms. Although daylily foliage is lovely, we're all growing these to see the beautiful blooms!
Your plants will look like ours once they get established in your garden. It requires a lot of plant energy to adapt to new surroundings. Once they get settled, they'll take off and grow fast!
Just like most plants, daylilies have bloom seasons. We live in East Tennessee and so our bloom season is a few weeks ahead of folks to the north of us, and a few weeks behind those to our south.
Daylilies are pretty drought-tolerant once they're established. In the first few years though, they'll need regular drinks from the garden hose -- unless it's a rainy summer. If you plant daylilies in containers or large pots, you need to be vigilant with the water. Depending on where you live, you may need to water these twice a day during the warmer months. Daylilies in containers and pots will dry out much faster than those in the ground.
Our YouTube channel has lots of great videos with daylily growing tips, top 10 lists of our favorite varieties, and short videos featuring specific varieties.
