Orange Day Lily Care & Growing Tips

The Orange Day Lily (Hemerocallis fulva), often known as the ditch lily, is a low-maintenance, easy-to-care-for hardy perennial that produces large, beautiful flowers throughout summer. It has grass-like foliage that is comparable to that of ornamental grasses, which makes it attractive even when it is not in flower. However, it is only when the flowers come that the real show begins.

Day-lily flowers only survive one day, which is why they are given this name, yet these plants never seem to run out of new blooms to enjoy. The margins of their famed five-inch star-shaped blooms may be gently ruffled to give them a more feminine appearance. They have varied colors of orange on each of their flowers, which makes for a spectacular show.

Care for established orange day lily plants is straightforward, and they need little in the way of upkeep. Pruning and watering will suffice on occasion, but for the most part, they are plants that need little attention.

Planting your orange day lily in the spring or autumn will provide the greatest results, so attempt to do so. Although it is suggested to amend the soil with compost, these hardy flowers are tolerant of a wide range of soil conditions. Make sure to put them in full light to ensure that they produce the most flowers.

Deer repellent may be required depending on where you reside in order to prevent your gorgeous blooms from becoming a noon snack for the local herd.

The Light

These bright blooms thrive in areas with plenty of sunlight. It is preferable to plant them in a spot where they will get early light, as well as some shade in the afternoon. While they may still thrive in more shady environments, they will not produce as many blossoms as they would in more sunlight.

The Soil

When it comes to soil conditions, the orange day lily isn’t finicky and can endure a wide variety of diverse soil types and conditions. Their common name comes from the fact that they are often found in ditches or on the sides of highways, where the soil may not be ideal for growing plants.

Day-lily plants thrive in wet, well-draining soil, despite the fact that they are quite resilient and adaptive to their environment.

The water Element

Following in the footsteps of its low-maintenance nature, the day-lily does not need much watering unless you are in the midst of a drought or have had very little rainfall.

When they are initially planted, they do benefit from a drink every couple of days or so. You may reduce the frequency of watering to once or twice a week when the plant has become established. Depending on where you live, you may not need to water your plants at all by the second year of growth.

Temperature and Humidity Factors

It is possible to cultivate the hardy day-lily from USDA zone 3 to zone 9, which means that they can withstand both summer heat and humidity, as well as returning each year after a harsh winter.

Fertilizer

Because these plants are not finicky about the kind of soil they grow in, they do not need fertilizing unless you have really bad soil conditions.

Overfeeding may be avoided by providing it with some new organic matter or fertilizer just once a year, rather than many times a day. The ideal time to do this is generally in the spring.

Tree Pruning

It may be necessary to do some minimal deadheading on your orange day-lily in order to keep it looking fresh and healthy. If all of the blooms on a flower stalk have blossomed, you may trim the whole stalk all the way down to the ground to maintain a neat appearance in the garden. Please feel free to remove any ugly foliage or seed pods that may have accumulated.

The best thing to do when winter approaches is to leave the foliage in place, allowing it to fall off and completely cover the plant. This will aid in the insulation of the home and function as a protective barrier during the winter months.

Orange Day lily plants are propagated through division. The day-lily’s subterranean rhizomes allow it to expand at a very quick rate. You may split your day-lily plant in the autumn to protect it from becoming overloaded and to propagate new day-lily plants. Here’s how it’s done:

• Wait till your day-lily’s flowers have finished flowering.
• Digging up the root system should be done gently.
• Make two or more parts out of the whole plant, using sharp garden snips or a spade to separate it.
• Move the separated pieces of your day-lily to a different area and replace your day-lily with the earth.

Harvesting Phase

Despite the fact that the orange day lily is not the first garden plant that comes to mind when thinking about edible plants, this perennial is often utilized in Asian culinary preparations. Young shoots, petals, flowers, and tubers are the most often utilized ingredients in salads and roasted dishes. Simply snip off any new branches or blossoms that are growing on the plant.

Early spring is the best time to harvest day-lily tubers since they are easy to dig up and remove most, but not all, of the tubers from the root system. After that, bury the plant in the ground to enable it to continue to develop naturally.

Container gardening is a method of growing plants in containers. It is not much different from planting orange daylily plants in the ground; both are low-maintenance and simple to care for.

It is important to select pots with drainage holes if you are growing in containers. It is preferable to use potting soil instead of garden soil in the container since heavy garden soil might clump after repeated waterings and suffocate the plant’s roots. The light weight of the potting soil enables water to drain quickly, which helps to keep the plant healthy.

Make a compost mixture for your potting soil, put your daylily inside, maintain it in a bright location, and take pleasure in your potted plant!

Lily vs Daylily: a Battle of Flowers

Because the daylily and the lily have blossoms that are almost similar in appearance, they are sometimes mistaken for one another. There are, nevertheless, some significant distinctions. Daylily foliage is distinguished by its length and the fact that it grows from the ground. They are quite similar in appearance to ornamental grasses. In addition to the blooms, their flower stalks are devoid of any leaves. The lily, on the other hand, has a single stem that contains both its leaves and its blooms. The foliage of the lily grows in spikes from a stalk, much like the leaves of a pineapple.

The root system of a daylily has rhizomes as well, while the root system of a lily is derived from a bulb. Lily blooms may be pointed downwards with petals that curve back, but daylily blossoms are always pointed upwards, regardless of their position.