How to Transplant Daylilies
Dividing daylilies is a great way to keep your garden thriving or share your love for daylilies with someone else. Whatever your reason for dividing them, this guide will help you do it right, without harming your daylilies in either your new garden or the old one.
Daylilies are inexpensive, easy, and a beautiful perennial to add to your backyard garden. I love these low-maintenance plants.
They are also one of the easiest perennials to divide. It is a great way to share them with friends or family or expand your own daylily collection.
I started a whole new garden bed simply by transplanting daylilies from one area of my yard to another. I cannot wait until next Spring to see how my new planting site looks in full bloom.
It’s simple. All you have to do is trim the leaves, dig up the clump, divide them into smaller groups by untangling the roots, and replant.
(Be sure to also check out this post for more information on How to Grow Daylilies.) Let me show you how to divide your daylilies.
How do you divide and replant daylilies?
When you have a clump of daylilies that are becoming too dense or want to move them somewhere else, you will need to divide and replant them. If the clump becomes too dense, you will get fewer flowers, so don’t skip this step!
Here are the steps to divide and replant:
- Dig up daylily clumps and shake off any excess soil.
- Next, use a weeding tool to pull the clump apart into sections with several fleshy roots. Make sure you have at least 1-2 fans of leaves; for best results, 3-4 are better because they’ll reestablish quicker once planted.
- Cut back the leaves to six inches before replanting in a new location.
When you’re ready to replant your daylilies, make sure to follow these steps:
- Space your daylilies at least 18-24 inches apart.
- Dig a hole big enough for the daylily roots to spread.
- Next, build a cone of soil in the middle of the hole and spread the roots along it.
- Plant your daylily divisions so the crowns are an inch or less under the soil.
- Make sure that the soil is firm around the roots.
- Water well.
How often should you split them?
Dividing and splitting daylilies comes down to part personal preference and part what your plant needs. Split and divide them only when you’re ready to move them, or if you’re breaking up larger clumps.
As we mentioned earlier, you won’t get as many flower buds if they are too close together, so you may want to move some over time. Year after year, you will see new growth.
When should you split daylilies?
You will want to transplant your daylilies in the early spring or or late summer into early September. While you can do this any time of year, this is the ideal time because they are most tolerant.
If you want them to establish more quickly, maintain a moderate soil temperature.
They will still be planted in time to bloom for that year when they are transplanted in the early spring. However, if you transplant them during the summer, they won’t bloom until the following year. If you transplant in the fall, they will need six more weeks before the frost to establish, but that won’t delay your next bloom season.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some questions (and answers!) readers often ask about growing and transplanting daylilies.
Daylilies prefer full sun, but will also tolerate light shade.
Ideally, these beautiful flowers need 4-6 hours of sun each day.
Daylilies will bloom from 1 to 5 weeks, depending on the variety and where you live. To keep them blooming longer, deadhead the plants often.
Transplant shock happens when roots are damaged when you divide individual plants. The good news is that daylilies are a tough plant.
Your transplanted daylilies might look a little wilted for a couple of days, but they should perk up in their new home in about a week.
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