Incorporating Daylilies with Other Plants

I love daylilies, but I also love other plants. I have a very young garden, and I bring in new plants to try every chance I get. Annuals and perennials, I love to see them all mixed together: from ferns to roses, short or tall, and from large flowers like the huge Mammoth Sunflowers to the very small blooms of the Toad Lily.

One thing about a daylily: It looks good when mixed with almost any other plants. I even plant a few daylilies in my vegetable garden just to brighten it up a bit. It also distracts people from noticing the chewed up veggies. Their attention is automatically drawn to the beautiful daylilies.

Another great thing about daylilies is that their needs are so compatible with other plants. I can plant purple coneflowers right next to daylilies and not have to worry too much about changing my watering or fertilizing routine for either. When I first started out, I made the mistake of planting bearded irises and daylilies in the same bed. Later I learned that bearded irises don’t like to be watered all that much, but still they grew and bloomed and I had no problem with root rot because my soil in that bed drains exceptionally well. Other irises I have, such as the Siberian and the Dutch irises, grow right along with my daylilies just as well as my cannas and Asiatic and Oriental lilies do.

Daylilies work perfectly for my type of gardening. I tend to buy plants as my budget allows, and that is normally just impulse buying, when I get excited to see a new plant at a bargain price. It seems that no matter where I stick the new daylily in the garden, it looks great, but if it ever does need to be moved, that can also be done easily.

For gardeners like me with limited budgets and few gardening skills, daylilies have proved to be the almost perfect plant. They have been around for a long time and they tend to multiply rapidly, so other gardeners often have plants to divide and sell very cheaply or to even give away. New gardeners always seem to be able to find space in their gardens and marvel that someone would give away such a beautiful plant. I remember giving away my very first daylily. It was sort of like a rite of passage in becoming a gardener. In my mind, it meant I had achieved a certain level of proficiency. I had been skilled enough to grow and multiply plants just like “real” gardeners do.

When I received my first free gifts of daylilies, I wanted to spread them out and make them cover the entire garden, but I later learned that a clump does better, and even multiplies faster, than little individual fans. I still struggle with that at times, but I try to keep at least two to three fans together. However, if a single fan is all you have, don’t worry, it will do fine. It will just take a little longer to form those enviable clumps with dozens of blooms.

There is nothing as beautiful as a garden full of bright colorful flowers and vegetables, but without daylilies it just would not seem complete.