Last month I bought a few new daylilies to replace some of my older cultivars. I didn’t think this one (pictured above) was going to make it. After four weeks, whatever green was left in the fan I planted had turned brown and crispy and it showed no signs of life. All my other new daylilies sent up new leaves weeks ago, some of which are already 8-10 inches tall.
Daylilies are just about the most resilient plants I’ve ever grown (other than weeds) so I continued to wait not-so-patiently for something green to appear.
The other day I was ready to declare the plant dead. I peeked in the old scapes and they were as hollow as can be. Nothing was growing from the base. As a last resort, I tugged on the brown remains to see if the plant would slip right out of the ground. It held firm which either meant the plant had indeed sprouted new roots, or I’d really packed it in the ground when I planted it. I decided to give it one more chance.
It’s a good thing I did because the next morning a beautiful set of green leaves was sticking out of one of the hollow scapes.
