Hi Judy,
Welcome to the forum! Does the 5 after your name mean you're in zone 5? If not, where do you live? I'm on the line between zones 4 and 5, and unless I've just put a daylily in the ground, I don't do anything special. (I do have shredded wood mulch, rather thick, as my usual mulch.) For 'newbies', I'll cover them loosely part way up with some straw after the first solid freeze. I figure that's a good time because I don't want to wait until snow cover prevents me from putting down extra mulch! I don't know what other people do, but that's my 'routine'. In the spring, I wait until I'm sure we're past the last frost before I remove dead foliage. That's because I don't want to uncover fresh new growth, then have water get in there, and then have a hard freeze. I've frozen the tips of new growth that way. So about the time I'm putting in my tomatoes, I clear out my daylily beds. Again, I don't know what other people do, but this works for me. MacThayer

Judy:
I live in upstate NY zone 5 and I put mulch as soon as I plant or within a few days of planting. I've used different mulches but right now using cedar mulch. The mulch helps maintain soil moisture and temperature during the year. We've just had a period of no rain and temps went into the 90's. Rain came and today, our temps are back in the 60's. I've seen gardens where they only used mulched leaves and their gardens are thriving and others say they use no mulch at all.

Julia

When the leaves drop I pick them up with our garden tractor which has a large grass catcher they are chopped up and ready to put on my garden. I put on as many as I can collect around the neighborhood at least six inches deep on the entire garden. Over the summer the weather and worms decompose them right in the garden enriching the soil. We don't have reliable snow cover over winter and this method prevents the plants from heaving out of the soil, this is easiest method for me a senior citizen and my garden. This past spring my sister was sick and I didn't get time to pull the leaves back from the crown of the plants it made no difference they were all just fine and it kept the weeds under even better control with no soil exposed.

Hi Judy, I end up buying a lot of those fancy southern beauties every year. I have lost a couple, but the majority have got through just fine with what I do to protect them in the late fall/early winter. I use triple shredded bark mulch around my DL's to a depth of 4 to 5 inches. I wait until the temps drop into the mid 30's for several days, and then apply the mulch right up to the crown. In the spring when the temperatures begin to moderate, I'll pull the mulch back from the crowns by a few inches (leaving just an inch or so remaining against the crown. We have a lot of freeze thaw cycles during our winters, and this method has worked out best for me.

Linda

Thanks so much for the advice. I'm so looking forward to seeing them bloom and would hate to have them die. I've learned a lot from reading your posts and I'm sure to learn a lot more. I've been into hosta the last couple of years and I think I'm becoming addicted to daylilies now. I'll probably be around awhile and hopefully next year I'll be able to post some pictures of my daylilies.

Thanks, Judy

Judy your need to protect southern genetics from cold depends on several factors. Each one has varying degrees of ability to withstand cold.. obvious to say.. but applied it does vary.
If the plants are growing well and one gets a real harsh cold event earlier in the fall.. say a rare tank down to 17F or some unreal number that can and does happen here... some tender daylilies can DIE from these events. Should these come around.. do cover well for that event.

Most all southern daylilies will cold acclimate to some extent as fall temps gradually get colder. Once the ground starts to freeze.. the main idea is getting the ground well frozen sans killing the plant. Then avoiding sunlight and warm days from thawing the crown soil area and restarting growth in the vigorous Ev types. Cover that plant with a 15 gallon garbage sack full of leaves.. use a white color.. this reflects more sunight and doesn't heat as much as darker colors. Do try to use DRY leaves.. wet ones heat on those sunny days. As fall into winter progresses.. before real cold air comes staying under 20-25F.. do cover those tenders with said bags in a block fashion... a good 3x3' area and more around that crown. Best to have them all in a group.. bagging the whole area.

One can use an indoor/outdoor thermometer.. placing the outdoor probe near the crown level of the plant you figure is the most tender. I don't like to see temps under 17-20F... mine usually hover around 20F on the southside of the house for the coldest. Daytime temps are higher. Once everything is froze in well... pile all the snow you can on that area.

The most tender plants also can be parked in the beer fridge.. pot'm and set them up at 35-40F. Make sure they don't go dry.. but this is the safest way to protect your more whimpy plants.