Daylilies leaves

A master gardener told me he cuts the leaves of day lilies after the bloomed to encourage new leaves before winter. I am under the impression the leaves will encourage next years grows and not to cut them. What is the right thing to do?

I dont cut mine down at all and they grow back just fine, I just take off any that are dead. Also noticed alot of new leave growth after the blooms are gone.
Did he say what the importance was for all the new leaf growth? Just curious, I thought the main importance was for rootgrowth, but then again Im just a newbie and still have alot to learn.
Someone will come on to say if its a good idea or makes a difference or not

I understood it was for improving the appearance of a garden
but I still wonder if it is detrimental to the lily without leaves feeding the root system.

Try posting this question or a link to this thread in the Daylily forum. Much more people who know will see it and you can most likely get an answer alot faster. This is a very intersting question to me.

I'm interested too - just started in daylilies. Perhaps you could ask Dave to move the whole thread for you. Post that in the Dave's Garden forum, aria. :)

aria, I see no reason to cut the leaves back-- leaves are what manufacture food for the plant. The roots are no doubt well-established already... so I think leave them. Also, what would be the point of new leaves before winter? I see you are in MA, perhaps the MG was speaking of people growing evergreen daylilies in the warmer zones like FL.

This would be a good question for the Daylily Forum-- I'd like to hear everyone's replies also!

No, is from Rhode Island but we do have very early Daylilies blooming along with Iris, the yellow and purple together is very beautiful.
I asked to transfer my thread to the lilies but so far, just as I expected, no such luck. Funny, eh?

I will try to do it myself.

A little patience goes a long way, aria. The editors do pages of work everyday and since you requested just yesterday, they will probably get to you today. I'm wondering why you are saying 'just as I expected' - did you expect it to work the same as clicking on an item? A transfer of a thread has to be done manually, as I understand it, but I am a computer dummy, I know just what I have picked up by reading lots of threads here on DG. You can not transfer a thread yourself, but you can repost it in the Daylily Forum. If I had realized you were looking for an immediate answer, I wouldn't have suggested moving the thread. Sorry!

Patience has never been one of my virtues. Now that I am pushing 80 years I have aquired even less patience since I don't have too much time left to learn all the things I still want to know. Sorry if I offended anyone.

:) I hear you!

When I'm pushing 80, I hope I'm as open to new things as you are! Go for it aria!

I cut off dead or yellowing leaves after the daylilies bloom. I cut down the height of daylilies if I move them. Removing green leaves just to "tidy up"? seems like sacrilige to me! I do cut down the expended scapes. This encourages growth to go into the roots instead of into seed pods. It also makes the garden look "neater" since the drying scapes are not sticking up any more above the foliage. Could this "scape removal" be what the Master Gardener is talking about?

Now, Wanda, I just learned something new: 'scapes'. Never knew that, always called stems, dead or alive. And I do cut them as soon as there is no more Lily bud in view. I always remove the bygone blossoms every day I have tons of lilis, it takes forever to clean them up and my back knows it too!
I wish now I had taken a picture of them, they were beautiful.

I don't think he was talking about scapes, it was just a remark about taking care of gardens to make them look better and that he likes the new growth better than nothing in its spot.

But that is stupid! Daylilies have a handsome green clump when they are not blooming. And if they spend all that time replenishing leaves, when will they have time to strengthen themselves for the cold months ahead? I don't even clean up my dormant ones until March or so. The dead foliage gives a bit of protection to my plants from the freeze & thaw cycles of late fall & early spring. I like to clean my beds in early April while it is still cold outside. of course, I'm not a Master Gardener--I've only grown daylilies for 40 years or so...

I've asked your question in the Daylily forum.

http://davesgarden.com/t/447232/