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Bulbs/Day Lillies

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Expert: Long Island Gardener - 7/15/2007


Question
How soon can I cut the plants down after my day lillie's bloom  Thanks Rich

Answer
These are the long-leaved tall-stalk 'Hemerocallis' Daylilies?  Leaves on many deciduous Daylilies will begin to deteriorate soon after they are done flowering for the season; they look unkempt this way and almost NEED to be tidied up.  You do not harm by cutting the foliage of finished Daylilies back as low as 4 to 6 inches.  Do not fertilize or water.  Next spring, when they resume growth, they will start fresh.

Lilies - the single-stalked stately waxen-flowered bulb with short leaves up and down the stem - are a different story.  Remove those stalks and you won't see another bloom for at least a year, even if you need one for a bouquet.  They need their foliage; those energy-guzzling blooms take tons of lightcandles' worth of photosynthesis to build.  Different plant, similar name.

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Long Island Gardener

Expertise

Growing Tulips? Dahlias? Daffodils? Gladiolus? It doesn't get easier than bulbs and tubers. Once in a while, something goes wrong: The dreaded Narcissus Bulb Fly, which resembles a honeybee. Mosaic virus, which can ignite a field of tulips in a single season. Nematodes, lurking underground. Here on the North Shore of Long Island, the garden is full of surprises. If you live in the Northeast/Atlantic Coast, I can help you pick the right bulb for every season, indoors and out, and help you fertilize, bloom and harvest for home or work. How: I have degrees in related fields, but my best understanding is all learned from trial and error. For most of my 53 years I have been gardening somewhere. No matter what the problem, I've learned the best answers are always Organic -- Earth friendly, less expensive, healthier for people and pets, easier and cleaner than toxic liquids and powders that big chemical companies sell so smoothly.

Experience

Besides degrees in related fields, and a few favorite horticultural societies, I work as a docent at our local botanical gardens -- but it's the years of work in the garden that's the real test.

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