I'm a couple of zones cooler than you, & I plant anything all through September, & some perennials into October. I would think you would be fine. I am receiving some daylilies in trade next week. Since they will be bareroot, I am debating on potting them up & putting them in the ground, pot & all, close to my house, mulching them for the winter. Then I can just pull the pots up in the spring & plant them permanently where I want them. But, as I said, these are bareroot, & I am zone 6.

I've lived near Augusta for the last 5 years, but before that I was in middle Georgia for several years - - but not growing daylilies then. The weather is very similar in the two places. You're right, there has been little consistency lately in what our winters are like, but my experience is the same as you say - - a cold spell in late
November or early December, the the rest of the cold weather in late January and February. It is not that unusual to get everything budding up in March and then get a late frost that messes it all up!

Nevertheless, I think that you would be safe putting your plants directly in the ground since they are already established. Last year, I specifically asked sellers on the LA to wait and ship to me at the end of September, and all but one plant made it through the winter. You don't want to delay too long in getting them in the ground, however, as it takes 4-6 weeks for the plants to develop the kind of root system they need to make it through the winter. I lost some foliage, but no plants to last year's very cold (for us) snaps that got down to the mid-teens, and this included many seedlings that were less that a full year old.

If you want to take the safe road, plant them pot and all. Then, if you get the greenhouse ready and we have an ice storm (the last one I remember was in February of 1996 in Macon and there was frozen rain on the ground for three days) or something like that, you can yank them out of the ground and put them into the greenhouse. Where I am now, I have no greenhouse and no place to put one, so I'm kind of stuck with whatever the weather might be outside.

Good luck and let us know what happens,
Larry

I'm curious about the suggestion of planting pot and all? I have heard this before, but what is the advantage? is it that the root system being underground, albeit in a pot is just better insulated? (makes sense) but they will not grow any differently than in a pot "outside" right?

Does the folliage typically stay around all year? they are so nice and green and full and healthy (no flowers) that I'd hate to mess them up....

thanks for the responses!!!

I would plant them in the ground now.

Just my opinion, but I would not plant them in the ground in pots. They will root through the holes in the bottom of the pots. The amount of foliage depends on those roots. If you dig them up, you have to sacrifice those roots and the plant will go into decline until the root/foliage balance is restored. No better than digging up the root ball and dumping into a plastic bag. If the roots fill the holes in the bottom of the pot, then you have a plant in a container that will fill with water. The plant will rot or freeze and die. Too much chance for bad things to happen.

Ed

I'm in zone 8 in AL, and would expect our winters to be similar. I plant dl's bare root right through October, and haven't lost any to winter weather as yet. Been growing dl's for years. The only dl's I've ever lost are a few planted during the hot humid summer, to crown rot.
I had several flats of seedlings that made it though the winter last year in the flats out in the open with no problem. I'd definitely plant them in the ground if I were you. Just dig a hole large enough to accomodate the soil and all and pop them out of their pots and right into the ground. They'll never know they've been transplanted since the roots won't be disturbed.
Jan

I agree with Ed - - into the ground in the next week or two would be my first choice. The suggestion about "pot and all" was if you are pretty sure your greenhouse will be completed and your plan would be to put them all in it. That would save you digging them again and repotting them. With the major heat gone for the year, that is what I am working on right now - - digging some up and potting them for our club auction in a couple weeks and getting the ones I have in pots that I bought during the summer out of the pots and into the ground.

As for your question regarding the foliage, what happens will depend on the cultivars themselves. All will lose some leaves and will not look as pretty as they do now. In our climate, most of the evergreen varieties will keep some leaves through the winter and will try to send up new ones whenever there are a few nice days; many of the semi-evergrees will also keep some leaves, but may or may not work at growing new ones depending on the overall weather conditions; but the dormants will typically die back to the ground. If you know the names of the various plants, you can look them up on Tinker's Database to see which foliage type they are. If you don't know the names, then you will just have to watch and see what they do. If it is important enough to you, you can prepare a map of where they are planted and note which ones keep leaves and which do not.

Larry

Here is a link that might be useful: Tinker's Daylily Database

thanks for all the tips...I think I will just go ahead and plant them seems like that will be easier than anything else.

I know who gave them to me, but I dont really think they are any special variety or anything...she just had a bunch that she thinned out...and they were not marked. but it's ok with me...It's like a pleasant surprise when they come up....ie: see attached photos..these were just big ole dead looking bulbs that I got, I had no idea even what they really were, I put them into the ground...sure didn't even know if they would grow or not, I was told they were tiger lillies (which they are not)...and they surprisingly were all the same color and a complemented all my other flowers perfectly!!!!

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these DL will be the same...and it seems that all that I planted are all growing and looking great...interestingly enough...I think the ones in the pots (that really were just plunked down in, covered over wiht run of the mill potting soil (and I think actually some re-claimed potting soil from some other containers), watered in, then left alone...are greener and bigger than those in the ground...

Which might just be another thread....but if anyone wants to chime in on that I'd love to know why that might be...

In your pictures, I see a mixture of glads and crinum! Maybe that's why the difference in foliage color. Don't see any daylilies!
Ed

In this particular bed, I had planted day lillies a little later than these and they had not come up yet at least when this photo was taken....the glads went in in May (they were all pink and just gorgeus next to these other blooms)...and can I assume that you are naming the ones I photographed crinum? I had no idea what they were, I thought they looked like amarylis?

Yes rj,
The plants flowering in your photos are crinum.
Ed