August is a good month to separate daylily clumps.
The blooms are long past, and the leaves are dying back. Over time one bunch of daylilies can quickly spread to an entire bed. Clumps of daylilies need to be thinned to keep them in check and to keep the plants blooming. Late summer is an ideal time for dividing the clumps, as there still is time for root systems to become established before winter.
The daylily is a perennial, herbaceous plant. Daylilies do produce seed, but seed production of daylily is used almost exclusively by plant breeders to develop new cultivars. The technique requires six weeks of cold, moist conditions for germination. Germination takes up to seven weeks.
Gardeners propagate daylily plants by crown divisions. The underground parts of the daylily are tuberous roots that are enlarged fleshy roots with shoots produced at one end and roots formed on the other end.
To make a crown division, plants are dug and cut into sections. Lift daylily clumps with a digging fork. Dig under all sides and gently lift the clump. Place clumps on concrete or brick and wash soil from roots with a substantial spray of water. After soil has been removed, fleshy roots can be easily separated by gently disentangling them. Separate the fleshy roots into sections that have about three offshoots.
To plant prepare a hole that is wider than the division so that roots are not forced into the hole. Mound soil in the center and fan roots out over the mound. Cover with soil, tamping lightly.
Daylilies bloom best when grown in full sun. Periodically thinning clumps will keep the daylily flowering next year with more robust and vibrantly colored flowers.
Ellen Peffley Harp, a retired professor of horticulture at Texas Tech University, writes about gardening for several Texas newspapers.
SOME DAYLILY TRIVIA: The daylily is in the genus Hemerocallis in the family Asphodelaceae. This becomes important because, while the daylily is called a lily, they are not true lilies, as are members of the family Liliaceae. The generic name Hemerocallis (pronounced hem-er-oh-KAL-is) is a derivative of the Greek words hemera, meaning ‘day’ and kalos for ‘beauty’, and so it is a descriptive name, since individual daylily flowers last for only one day. Flowers open when the sun rises and they wither with the setting sun. Hence, the day lily is called daylily. Subsequent flowers on the same stalk open in subsequent days.
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