Species Daylily, Orange Daylily, Tawny Daylily, Ditch Lily

We have such an overabundance of Tawny Daylilies that I've had to dig up many flower beds to remove them. They seem to take so much nutri...Read Moreents, that other plants can't strive.
That is the only negative thing for me. On a positive note, the deer just love to eat the blossoms! As of September 2017 we had three does, and two skippers visiting our back field, and up into our back yard to eat them! Last year I planted a few in very fertile soil, and they grew close to four feet tall.
I would love to offer them to anyone who wants them, but I'm not sure how one would go about shipping the rhizomes.

I have several of these, and I was going to rip them all out this year, because I have nicer day lilies now that I wanted to put in those...Read More spots ...
But then the last 2 summers, the Day Lily Midge* has migrated to my area (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada).... and in finally figuring out what the heck is deforming the bloom buds on my Tawny Day Lily, and spending several hours learning about it, and realizing how devastating the Day Lily Midge is to day lily flowers, I have just in the last 2 days decided to keep the Tawny Ditch Lilies, because they bloom first, which draws the adult midges to lay eggs in their blooms, instead of in my "good" day lilies.
So I am leaving a review of "positive" of this type of day lily, based mostly on that.

I also like that they are good for difficult areas, such as my really hot and very dry south-facing hill garden, and even blooming nicely in full (albeit bright) shade.

* ~ If any members here are noticing some of their day lily flower buds suddenly becoming deformed, PLEASE snip them off, break them open and put them in a bucket of soapy water to kill the larvae. They are VERY tiny, microscopically small, when they first hatch. They feed on the flowers from the inside, so insecticides won't touch them. The adults are so extremely small (2mm maximum length) that they are all but invisible when flying & mating. They use a long ovipositor to deposit eggs inside the flower buds of day lilies. The eggs hatch and the larvae feed on the flower bud, then drop to the soil to pupate. They overwinter in the soil below the day lily, then come up the next spring to start they cycle anew.
If you have a "bait" day lily, such as the tawny, it is very early-blooming, so the midges flock to them. I hope this helps!

All the comments have been extremely useful. I had no idea about the invasive nature of ditch lilies until I read the comments. However, ...Read Moreas I live in high desert, only 12 inches of annual precipitation - mostly snow, with an extreme soil pH of 8.4, the ditch lily grows admirably. But, heeding the warnings, I'll be sure not to transplant ditch lilies to my flower beds.

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I enjoyed these growing up in Illinois and have been surprised they do well here in New Orleans (zone 9b) in part shade. While they do f...Read Moreorm a dense clump that gradually spreads out, I have never found them to be aggressive and use them when I'm looking for something to fill a spot and choke out weeds. Dave's Garden lists it as "semi-evergreen;" for me here in zone 9b it seems to be on almost the exact same schedule as its grandparent plants back home in Illinois, with the foliage dying out at the end of the summer and starting fresh in the spring.

An overwhelming competitor for other plants, this "lily" will quickly kill any other shorter stemmed species with which it is planted. It...Read More has a strong, tall foliage growth - which blocks sunlight and space for other plants - and a rapid spreading habit with its invasive sub-surface rhizome structure. This root structure throws up new shoots regularly so the original planting rapidly expands outwards. It is therefore only suitable for ground cover in less important locations where it can be contained. Whilst having attractive flowers, they are shortlived and for most of the year the planting is a featureless mass of tall green leaves.
Have it, but contain it!

H. fulva var. fulva is widely naturalized in North America, and often marks the sites of old homesteads. Tough and vigorous, it can bloom...Read More in more shade than other daylilies, but like them it performs best in full sun. It blooms for 2-3 weeks, and its season is early, shortly after Stella blooms. It does not repeat. Scapes are generally 3-4' tall. It is hardy to Z3.

Like other daylilies, the foliage goes semi-dormant after flowering, with many dead leaves. If you run a lawnmower over it then, it will quickly send up fresh, more attractive new foliage.

It is a sterile triploid and does not set seed, but in the garden it spreads aggressively by long underground rhizomes (to 2'). It is not a good neighbor to other plants in a mixed border, and it is best planted in a bed by itself where its spread is confined by mowing or a soil barrier. Unlike most daylilies, it can regenerate from rhizome fragments without a crown attached. If you want to reclaim a bed that it's taken over, you can painstakingly dig out all crowns and rhizome fragments, or you can kill it with 2% glyphosate herbicide.

I don't consider this a good groundcover. Though it will outcompete many garden perennials, it doesn't grow densely enough to exclude weeds, and is often invaded by perennial weed grasses. The foliage is messy, as the leaves are continually dying off after bloom.

Though aggressive in the garden, it is not widely considered invasive of natural habitat. It is sterile, and it's spread only through human activity. It's naturalized in 42 states and 5 provinces, but it's on the invasive plants lists of only two states.

Because of its aggressive habits, this is perhaps my least favorite daylily.

There are other forms of H. fulva which are not H. fulva var. fulva---the two terms are not synonyms.

I thought I was crazy when it occurred to me that these daylilies were multiplying faster and faster as I tried to dig them out. And whe...Read Morere have my scores of other much more lovely daylilies gone? They have been convinced by this INVASIVE common daylily not to be showy. They joined ranks and reverted back to roadside refuse. Ugh.

plant information was very informative.

I had two huge mulched areas on either side of my driveway that were so big that it would have cost a fortune to plant into regular garde...Read Morens. I solved the problem by planting these lilies. I bought 100 little fans from http://www.classygroundcovers.com and planted them in late spring 2011. I was surprised that I got flowers that first year; it was blazing hot that summer with very little rain, and I didn't think they'd survive. Summer 2012, the foliage filled out thickly, providing a great ground cover, as well as pretty orange flowers. I am hoping that this year, after a good dose of fertilizer last week, they'll be even lovelier.

I Love this plant for its ability to abide all sorts of weather , dogs digging it up , and come back for more.
Yes, it can be inva...Read Moresive if you dont have it in the right place, such as around an oak, encircled by a driveway, or in a ditch along side my driveway. Out here in the country (west central Wisconsin zone 4B ) it grows freely along side the roads and in old homesteaded farms. ...

Common or not, its still beautiful

This is an INVASIVE species that needs to be eradicated .. It should never be planted as it's on the DO NOT PLANT LIST .. The government ...Read Morespends too much money trying to get rid of plants that hare invasive .. Garden Centers should never sell this plant either!

This plant is perfect for areas that are neglected or difficult to tend. DO NOT plant in well-cultivated soil. DO NOT mix into your "regu...Read Morelar" daylily border. I look at the Ditch Lily as a beautiful, useful weed - highly suitable for the right location, a nightmare in the wrong one - in the same class as Swamp Milkweed, New York Aster, and Sweet Joe-Pye Weed. Encourage and enjoy these plants on the wilder parts of your land, but don't invite them to put down roots in your "tame" beds.
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Mine grow over four feet tall - a bit more than noted in the description.

I have to chime in on the negative side because this plant does not play well with others! It will - quickly - choke out any neigh...Read Moreboring hybrid daylilies and your mixed planting will all be orange ditch lilies. I have seen it happen multiple times.

I can see it has a place FAR away from any attempt at gardening but I would not want anyone to think they can use it as "part" of a garden. It will BE the garden, vanquishing all neighbors.

The latest 'victim' was a cousin who dug various colors (supposedly) of daylilies from my grandmother's garden, at her direction. What my grandmother did not realize is that the ditch lily had choked out those red, purple, yellow, and pink daylilies. The poor cousin (who dug these last year) had all ditch lilies to bloom! My grandmother DID have all those colors and has shared them with me over the years. So I promised the cousin divisions of guaranteed colors!

Grows big, rarely flowers, and spreads into thick patches. Hard to dig out because of its big fleshy roots.

One of the old daylily species that are founded in China (Hunan, and North East provinces). Hardy and can grow in dry arid soil on sunny...Read More slopes. It is one of the food stables in Chinese cuisine, and can be used in fresh or in dry/debydrated form, for steaming or stir-fly with pork/chicken or fish and also for making of soup. They gather the flower buds before blooming. These buds are about 6-7 inches in length, light greenish yellow in color. It has a sweet taste after dehydrating.
Since daylily has many hybrid forms, the Chinese only consume Hemerocallis fulva Linn and Hermerocallis Citrina or use it for medicinal purposes and the rest of the species are found to be poisonous. Be careful not to eat any other daylily flower buds as it will cause diarrhea, stomache, etc food poisoning symptoms and can be life threatening as well. Because of its hardy nature, it can easily spread out and becomes a weed. For purpose of immaculate landscape, Hemerocallis fulva Linn. is not a plant to use.

I know this is a common daylily here, but I still love it. We moved into my house 8 years ago, and there's a 5 x 20 strip of these dayli...Read Morelies. They have been reliable year after year and I've never done anything to them except rake the leaves out in the late winter. They are so easy to dig up and transplant elsewhere in the yard and will still bloom the same year.

When I moved into my house 4 years ago, there was a whole slopeful of these tiger lilies! They seem to appear in more & more places - eve...Read Moren off-slope - every year! They are thriving in both part and full shade. Unfortunately, I seem to be having a problem with some kind of vine that appears in early summer that keeps strangling them; nevertheless, they still return in greater numbers each year! There have not been any drought, pest (the insect kind), or disease problems to date.

One of the tougest of daylilies, it doesn't seed itself but can come up from pieces of roots (must have crown attached) and will still gr...Read Moreows if you pull it up and throw it in a moist enough location (on bare rocks the heat and dryness will kill it). The red, variegated, yellow, double flower forms are just as aggressive as the orginal form though the variegated form tend to revert to green in tough conditions. The number one most common planted daylily species (stella d'oro and allies with grass - like foliages comes in 2nd place with all others a very very distant third place). A heirloom species that people often bring from one house to another even though they are rare in nursery nowaday because of their tendacy to thrive even when neglected - I have seen them in dry shade (never blooming of course and weak) to dry to mesic grassland conditions. Deer loves their flowers and will snacks on them. I have seen them on roadside in both urban and rural environment and like the other message, they are sterile so you can tell where old houses long gone used to be by the daylilies nearby. They are not native but due to their sterile conditons they are easily wiped out if they threaten rare plants if the top 6 inches of soil is removed along with the plants to remove any rhizomes or roots large enough to make new plants. I won't recommends them for mixed gardens with delicate plants or plants smaller than they are. They are best used as massed plants in tough locations like blvds, steep slopes, areas where deer roams, and area where they can be neglected but you have to keep a eye out for taller weeds as they are not a complete sun block - canada thistle tend to be a frequent problems in patches of tawny daylilies.

So pretty that I dug it up and planted it in my front yard around my mailbox. I HOPE it becomes invasive and fights the ugly weeds to the death!

We bought a home in October, 2007, and imagine my happy surprise when these beauties started sprouting up this spring. It feels like hom...Read Moree, as these flowers have been in my family gardens for years. Very hardy and they are ready to be divided. I've never found them to be invasive, but they are usually planted against something like a fence or garage. I also have some red mixed in with the orange and need to get out there and see what is going on.

The ultimate flower, a sure sign that it's summer! Sure, there are all the other varieties of daylily but my house wouldn't be "home" wit...Read Morehout a few clumps scattered about and a row somewhere along a fence or building ( a sloped garage or shed without gutters tends to create a perfect natural edge to keep a row contained). Availability, lack of disease/maintenance, and pretty blooms on tall scapes at the peak of the growing season make these a winner.

Long sunny days with hot, miserable nights...prime for catfishing, BBQ's, family gatherings/parties and (of course) orange ditchlilies. It just wouldn't be summer without these prolific friends on the invite list! (An old, old friend I appreciate both in the wild and my own landscape, they make me smile)

These will take over in no time, especially if you have well amended soil. My neighbor has them along the back fence, and it is a consta...Read Morent battle to keep them out of my garden.

You'll find this beauty growing in ditches all along the roads in many parts of West Virginia. I love having them and always put up signs...Read More to make sure the state road workers don't cut them down! =) All the guys know if they cut it down on the farm they'll get in trouble!! lol The deer love eating them, but there are plenty to go around!

Single form is fulva, triple form is Kwanso.

Hemerocallis fulva "Europa" is a pod sterile triploid mule that almost never bears seeds. If you see it, people have spread the roots. ...Read More Even inch-long pieces can develop into blooming plants busily spreading by underground shoots up to a foot long.
It does persist wonderfully. My parents inherited a bed in 1952 that is already budded for the 2007 season. Because it is pod sterile, the tall scapes are self cleaning. The scapes very rarely have even three branches, so they bud build and bloom over a relatively long season. Here the foliage fails after the last flowers in all but the wettest summers.
We have had accidential success overplanting it with the larger Snowdrops whose yearly cycle is complete by the time the Daylily's growth seriously starts up.

Beautiful, dependable.

We have grown these two plants who have grown into many more offspring for over 25 years. They have always been the orange color--until ...Read Morethis morning. I found one YELLOW flower in with the rest. What a surprise--mutation or what?? I don't know. Yes, they are prolific, but easy to care for and so pretty to look at on the hill. Will try to add the picture of some with the yellow one. Karen (aka liebran)

I have heard this plant can be invasive, however, in my yard, I have grown it in my pathway borders for 3 years and it does beautifully w...Read Moreithout taking over in any way. The other day, I dug up some on the roadway and put them in one of the backs of a garden bed. I love the vivid color and the ease of growing this plant.

Since so little has been mentioned pertaining to the food value of this plant, I thought I'd mention something. The following is from Th...Read Moree Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America by Francois Couplan, PH.D.

"Numerous Hemerocallis spp. are used as food in Eastern Asia, including H. flava and fulva.

The young roots are eaten raw. Older ones must be cooked.

The young shoots are edible raw.

The flower buds are eaten raw or slightly steamed. They are also pickled. They can be made into delicious omelettes.

The expanded flowers are eaten raw, fried, or added to soups as an aromatic thickener. They are often dried or preserved in salt, and must then be soaked in water before using. Wilted flowers are added to soups and stews."

And Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America by Merritt Lyndon Fernald and Alfred Charles Kinsey states the following.

"The fully grown buds or the freshly expanded flowers of Hemerocallis fulva immersed in a batter of beaten egg, milk, flour, and seasoning and browned like fritters in oil or butter are a delicious and quickly prepared vegetable. They require only five minutes (long enough to brown, turned twice, on each side). The fleshy tuber-like roots, borne in clusters like dahlia-roots, boiled in salted water, taste like a blend of sweet corn and salsify."

Good filler for any hard to plant area. Have both the single and double Kwanzo which are beautiful. Dont find them invasive at all

I dug up some of these a few years ago that were growing on the side of the road. Though some folks consider them common and invasive, I ...Read Moredon't find them to be. I think they are lovely, drought and deer- proof plants that require absolutely no care whatsoever.

My Dad did not like these flowers. They were growing in several areas around the yard. He tried to mow them down, they came right back. Y...Read Moreeah, they are definately hardy. They've been in my parents yard as long as I remember, never been let down by them.

I have Kwanso varigated. It comes up with cream and green stripes in the spring, and reverts to green durring the summer. It comes up wit...Read Moreh mostly green leaves in the spring, so I'm constantly digging and discarding them. Only a few come up varigated, so I can keep it under control.

Grows everywhere, but you knew that already.
Just wanted to mention that even though it has invasive qualities, it also is a staun...Read Morech survivor in VERY urban areas.

I was an Urban Park Ranger in New York City for many years and found this lily growing in the absolute worst conditions, where native species would not thrive. Where shrubby understory was torn out of the forests of Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx during the seventies (an uneducated, reactionary tactic to prevent crime!), these lilies have taken over and provide a thick green carpet with orange blossoms all summer, a pleasant surprise in NY! If the lilies were not there, people would be stomping all over the forest, compacting the soil and affecting drainage and ability for other plants to grow in this forest that supports several species of owls as well as other diverse species of wildlife.

So invasive? Yes. Bad? Not always...

This is a good tough plant for a hard area..... most daylilies are but these are the hardiest but also the least showy...... they are n...Read Moreice for naturalistic settings or as I said..... or enmass for low maintenance........ the blossoms are delicious...... the species I think are the tasttiest...... the overall effect is like zucchini...... let the plants bloom so they look pretty then at sundown go an harvest them....... clean them out to make sure there' s no bugs in them...... don't eat the stem..... fry them up like zucchini blossoms....... also you can stuff them with ricotta for a sweet treat sprinkle them with powdered sugar or honey and flavored water...... h mmmmmm ....... They can grow easily by seeds and they can spread.... they're hardly invasive though..... a nice plant to have...... somewhere in your yard........ :)

I live in Utah and my Lillies are the only thing that want to grow. I love my lillies. I have also found that they enjoy grass and gree...Read Moren fert. They say, flowers need a more phospherous fert., they like the nitro rich fert you would typically use on grass.(minus the broad leaf killer)

Grows prolific in Edmonton, AB, Canada.

It grows in Auburn, AL
and Mobile, AL

A native of China that was named by Stout in 1930, the various clones of 'Rosea' average 36-48" tall with 4-5" blooms. All bloom EM and ...Read Moreare DOR. Today's modern hybrids owe their pink coloration to this species. One clone, PASTEL ROSE, does not have a dark eye and was a coveted commodity in the early days of daylily hybridizing.

Hemerocallis fulva spreads underground and can cover a wide area over time. It is considered invasive by some, and will crowd out...Read More other plants close by. I would not use this daylily in a border, or as a feature plant, but the double form, 'Kwanzo' or 'Flore Pleno' (as in one of the submitted pictures)is nice in a natuaralized setting.

Prolific & hardy here in Zone 7. We've had them for several years and enjoy the brilliant orange/yellow shades.

Where I grew up, this was called a railroad lily as it grew next to the railroad tracks that ran through our town. I dug some up this su...Read Moremmer (in IL) and transplanted it back here in AL and it's just thriving.

I have grown this plant in Kentucky and in Zone 8b Florida (U.S.) and love it. This plant is very durable and hardy. In Florida it can ...Read Morerebloom under certain conditions. It goes dormant in both climates.

The common orange daylily has become widely naturalized in fields, hedgerows and along pools or stream. It will tolerate dry to moist so...Read Moreil, full sun to shade, producing orange or tawny-colored blooms from May-July. The tubers and unopened, green flower buds are both edible.

As popular and ubiquitous as it is, it's also considered an invasive pest in some areas; gardeners should be aware of their local guidelines before planting.