Go ahead and deadhead your daylily if you don't like looking at the spent flowers. Since it is listed as a late bloomer it probably won't rebloom and in your zone very few daylilies will rebloom. If you want to save seeds and try to grow your own new daylilies you could wait a few days for pods to form and then carefully slip the spent flower off the pod. Since it is it's first year in your garden though I would only let it form a few pods so it doesn't exaust itself.

I always deadhead simply b/c I don't like the look of the spent blossoms. I don't have room in my yard to grow seedlings so saving seed isn't an issue for me.

newer dayliles often self clean anyway...try waiting a week and see if the petals are not gone, leaving the seed pod behind.

Wow, do ALL daylilies seed?

I thought they could only be divided by the tuber or bulb....

...I have been deadheading like crazy not knowing this precious information!

Almendra

I snap my spent blossoms off. We have tons of daylilies in the back garden, so I do a daily walk-through to keep up on it when they're in bloom. It only takes five minutes to do, so it's not bad.

I like to deadhead them to prevent seed development. No need for them to waste energy on making seeds when I won't be saving or sharing them. Plus, I'm a freak about deadheading my flowers. There, I said it... I feel better now.

Tracy

I also always dead head for the above reason and also the spent blooms tend to melt over unopened blooms and make them not open good.

Almendra, all daylilies make seed but because they are all hybrids what you get if you grow out your seeds is going to be a surprise. They don't self-sow very well so if you want babies your best bet is to save seeds and sow them yourself. To collect seeds wait until the pod has started to turn brown and crack open a little bit. You are in a warm enough zone that if you sow the seeds in fall you just might get your first blooms the following year. I generally have to wait two years. I have a few that will bloom for the first time this year. I'll have to try to remember to post pictures of them when they bloom.

if you are going to deadhead, be careful not to break off the developing buds. it is easy to do.

Mrs. Galihad,

Thanks for the information you shared. I am going to try growing them from seed this year for sure. I only have orange ones, which I like to match with fuschia Martha Washington Geraniums and purple sages :)

It will be nice to see pictures of your daylilies.

Almendra

Thanks everyone. I think I will nip them off since it's early for these guys (in their first season) and I don't want them to work too hard.

Much appreciated!

R

Almendra, I have many varieties of daylilies growing in my gardens and I am trying to get a few seed pods off of all of them this year. I will send seeds to the cottage garden exchange, or if you just want to get on my member page and email me I could send you some if I get plenty. I started over 200 in my master bathroom under lights last winter (overkill, I know, but once I started I couldn't stop myself!!) from seeds I won on e-bay. Some of them i gave away, some I didn't plant soon enough and the heat got them, but I have at least 100 of them in the gardens in designated areas right now, and I can't wait to see what I get!!!

While mine is not a particularly 'neat' garden. I do try to snap all the 'soggy socks' off my daylilies the next day after bloom because they're unattractive.

You might take a look at the Daylily Forum for particulars on daylilies from seed. Some of mine took as many as three years to bloom; then it takes another year or two to see if they're 'dogs' or not. It's a fun thing.

Nell

Here is a link that might be useful: Seedling Daylily in my Garden

Holly,

Wow, you must be in daylily heaven !!!

A quick question: today I checked on the spent daylily flowers and they had fallen off by themselves, that means that they will not seed, right? Or will they? I am confused.....

Almendra

That really depends. Here is a picture to show you how to tell. There are three stems where the flowers were not successfully pollinated and you see flat spots where they used to be. In the upper right there is a brand new baby seedpod. It's a little blurry but you can see the difference between pod and no pod. Sometimes the pod will be no good and fall off later but usually they will develop and give you seeds.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:688754}}

Oh, wow!

I am going to become my daylilies shadow... I have to see this!

Most of the stems are flat in mine though :(

Thanks for sharing the picture,
Almendra