The Best Time To Prune Daylilies For Long-Lasting Blooms

Daylilies (Hemerocallis) are lovely, low-maintenance perennials that don't require a lot of specialized care, making them a nice choice for a beginner's garden full of gorgeous color. Although there isn't a whole lot of work involved in maintaining these plants, one task that will keep them blooming year after year is pruning at the right time and in the right way. There are two best times throughout the year to do some pruning work on your daylilies: midsummer after blooming and late fall after the growing season ends. 

Pruning is not a strictly required part of caring for your daylilies, but it is beneficial. It encourages new flowers and plant growth in both the current and the next growing season. It also helps prevent the spread of any plant diseases that might be hindering the growth of your daylilies and maintains the overall health of the plants. 

Appearance is another good reason to prune daylilies. After the blooming season, daylily plants and their spent flowers can look unkempt and messy, with the stems turning into straw and the blooms turning brown and papery. Pruning takes care of this unsightly look and keeps things looking nice. Deadheading, a specific form of pruning, removes the old, spent flowers. It promotes more blooms and also helps keep the plants looking neat and well-maintained.

One of the two best times to prune your daylilies is in the summer after they bloom. Pruning during this time, including deadheading, will keep the plants from looking worn out and tired and set them up for lovely green foliage for the rest of the season until fall. Getting rid of the spent flowers and dead stems allows the plants to direct all their energy to producing new growth and, potentially, new blooms. Otherwise, the plants focus energy on growing seed pods instead. Even if they can't bloom again before the season ends, you have set the stage for next year's blooms to be bigger and better than ever. Make sure when removing a spent flower, you also cut back the dead stem all the way back to the base of the plant. 

The other best time to prune your daylilies is in the late fall after the growing season ends. This is when you should do a hard pruning and cut the plant all the way to the ground. Some gardeners like to do this in the early spring, but late fall after the first hard frost has killed the top of the plant is a good time because it keeps the garden beds neat and debris-free and prepares the daylilies for the next growing season. The timing of the first frost will depend on your USDA Hardiness Zone; daylilies generally do best in zones 4 to 9. Use sharp cutting shears instead of pulling or breaking the stems, so you eliminate any danger of pulling the roots up.