skip to main content

Potager Gardens

do you eat your daylilies?

17 years ago

Howdy,

So happy to have found you. I am just starting out with my potager and with gardening, period.

I read in Ken Druse's "The Natural Garden" that all daylilies are edible. In their homeland of Asia they eat the flower buds and they supposedly taste like asparagus (yum). He can never bring himself to kill the flower, so he just picks the blossoms at night as whole garnishes for soup, etc. or chopped into salad. He says they taste like sweet lettuce.

This just seems too good to be true. Have any of you eaten your daylilies and lived to tell about it? :)

-Amy

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (9)

fireflyintexas
17 years ago
Oh yes, I do! And your friend is right, daylilies taste so good...like the sweetest lettuce. I find I'm thinking about eating the first blossom when it appears (a ritual now...after having a full bed of daylilies for the past several years.) There are recipes on the internet that has you gather daylily blooms or full buds and stuff them with a nice cream cheese/cream/green onion/herbs mixture and stuffing them gently, then chilling and serving. Yummy-sounding. I would remove the pistil and stamens in the flower before eating, but it's only because I don't want to eat the pollen....although that, to some people, is good for you.
They are beautiful and tasty!
Pass the daylilies....I've eaten all the colors I have in my garden and they are all good. I think the lighter colored ones have a more delicate taste....just me.
Enjoy!
fireflyintexas
decolady01
17 years ago
Oh yes! We have been eating daylilies for years. Pick the buds and quickly sautÃ© them. Similar to asparagus, but better. I've never tried the cream cheese stuffing of the flowers, but that sounds delicious. It's now on my list to try this year!

Becky
Related Discussions
Do you collect your own daylily seeds?
Q
Comments (4)
sorry this is so late... jetred... I'm from The Pas... and have successfully set pods and harvested seeds from newly aquired daylilies this last summer... most of those were spidery daylilies... BUT... I thought, I have all those Stella's over there... what if I crossed them with all of these great spiders?... Stella is so indestructable... you can't really kill her unless you really try...I have 34 sucessfull crosses of Stella D'oro with great spidery plants... I'm looking for another indestructible daylily for the North... with great looks of course... I can't possibly plant all of these seeds.. would you like to try some of them out? I could give you a mixture of them if you think you have some room... sorry to say.. I didn't have any tags to mark what was what.. so they're only pod parent Stella D'oro X Unknown...although I could send you a list of possible 'Daddies'... :-) I'm just looking for some Prairie hardy daylilies here... Anyone who wants to try some, let me know.. Rob
...See More
How do YOU start your Daylily seeds?
Q
Comments (8)
I would be happy to explain the "chopstick thing". I had been complaining about losing plants due to over/underwatering, and I'd bought a "water meter" which is a device with a metal stick that you put in the pot and it's supposed to tell you how moist the soil is at the moment. I'd made mention of it on another forum, and another Garden Web member told me it was useless (and it is-total waste of money) and to go out and buy some cheap, bamboo chopsticks at Walmart (or wherever). I think I got about 25 or 30 chopsticks for about $5, and of course you can keep re-using them. Then what you do is stick a chopstick into the dirt in the pot and leave it there for about 5 minutes. When you pull it out, test it for dampness. I just wipe the dirt off and hold it up against my facial cheek. If the chopstick is dry, the plant needs to be watered. If it comes out wet -- and sometimes it will surprise you at how wet it feels -- do not water. I think it works so well because the bamboo is so porous. Anyway, it really is a clever way to tell you how much water is in the soil near the bottom of the pot. I wish I'd known about it when I was over-wintering those daylilies! LOL! And yes, Marbree, the plant that lived is doing remarkably well. No scapes yet, but lots of healthy foliage, and a second fan coming up. I feel confident I'll have scapes by next season! MacThayer
...See More
What do you eat on your salad when you eat one?
Q
Comments (21)
Iceberg or romaine lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, peas, broccoli, carrots, beans, sometimes turkey or chicken, and ocassionally cheese or walnuts are some of the things I add. Top it off with low-fat or no-fat dressing. Had a big salad with dinner tonight with lots of the above stuff in it and low-fat Sweet and Sour Poppyseed dressing. Yum....
...See More
Eat-in kitchen: do you eat at an island? Do you like it?
Q
Comments (41)
Before we remodel we struggled w/ this issue. In the end we made a bigger investment so that we could eat at a table & have an island. I am very glad we did. I almost always choose to have our family dinner at the table-- it seems so much more civilized and relaxed and an improtant time for our family of four to be/dine together -- which is only 3-4 times a week. When we sit at the table there have been so many improtant discussions that take place. They are critcal teaching moments for our teenage children. Also I am a stickler for table manners & it is hard to do that the island. Lunch & Breakfast happens at the island. FYI- We increased the kitchen floor plan byremoving diningroom wall & absorbing that space into our kichen plan. The dining room furniture then moved to share space with our oversized living room. Two years later- I am sooo happy we did this.
...See More
linda_schreiber
17 years ago
We have a plethora of daylilies, the early Fulvas. I have never been brave enough to try this. How mature do the 'buds' need to be when they are at their peak? Do you want them close to opening? Or when still very tight and young? The recipes I've seen over the years are rarely written by gardeners . What do really good buds look like when they are ready for harvest?
amy_d-r
Original Author
17 years ago
Yay! I'm so excited about experimenting this summer. I would've never thought to stuff them--that would be such an impressive and tasty treat.
burntplants
17 years ago
They are yummy...but I just can't bear to pick them out of my own garden!
(I know...they wouldn't last that long anyways--but still!!)

Not as good IMHO as squash blossoms, but still yummy.
One of my friend's mother always cooked them up.

Vicky's blog!
megajas
17 years ago
I've always eatten the fancy daylilies, but I was wondering, since we have so many of them, can you also eat the wild orange daylilies that you see all over the roadsides?
girlgroupgirl
17 years ago
Lily flower soup is a kind of famous soup made with the JUST unopened buds of the daylily. They are often dried and then reconstituted for this soup. When we are in Virigina we go to our fave place, the Sunflower Cafe and drink in delicious aroma of their lily flower soup.

GGG
myoneandonly
17 years ago
The deer eat my daylilies before I can get to them. They've eaten them to the ground this year. I just sprayed what was left of them with liquid deer fence. I hope they stay away. I read that back in the Netherlands during the time of tulipomania, when people were paying fortunes for one tulip, that a bulb worth thousands of dollars was left on the kitchen table, and the peasant who was supposed to pot it up, mistakenly ate it. I've tried lilie petals but honestly didn't get that much out of it. I haven't tried tulip flowers or bulbs.
greenwitch
16 years ago
Just pull off a petal and chew on it - you'll find it's delicious.

Related Stories

PETS Good Dog! Cute Pooches at Home

The dogs of Houzz take you on a tour of their homes and show you where they lounge, eat, play, bathe and nap

GARDENING GUIDES Mix or Mass Daisies for Two Great Garden Looks

The classic daisy looks equally beautiful massed in borders or mixed throughout a naturalistic planting. Which look suits your style?

GARDENING GUIDES New Ways to Think About All That Mulch in the Garden

By Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens

Before you go making a mountain out of a mulch hill, learn the facts about what your plants and soil really want

LANDSCAPE DESIGN How to Create a Beautiful Shade Garden

By Falon Mihalic

Turn the cool, shady spot in your garden into your own quiet oasis

FLOWERS Great Design Plant: Lilies

By J. Peterson Garden Design

Try these delightfully exotic stunners for paintbox colors, deep fragrance and intricately detailed petals

GARDENING GUIDES Top 12 Summer-Blooming Perennials for Deer-Resistant Drama

Can you have garden color, fragrance and exciting foliage with hungry deer afoot? These beauties say yes

CONTAINER GARDENS 7 Deer-Resistant Flowers for Your Summer Containers

Grow these as protection for edibles or just for their colorful beauty — deer might not like them, but everyone else will

EARTH DAY 12 Entertaining ‘Bee-haviors’ of Native Bees

By Debbie Ballentine

The parade of pollinator antics is another reason to create a garden that nurtures native bees

EDIBLE GARDENS Summer Crops: How to Grow Pumpkins

By Marianne Lipanovich

Start in spring to grow your own fall decorations and have plenty left for pies

GARDENING GUIDES Great Lakes Gardener: What to Do In July

By Barbara Pintozzi

Gather juicy berries and breathe in the lovely scent of lilies, but don't forget to stay on top of watering needs and shake off the beetles

Sponsored

Shylee Grossman Interiors

Industry Leading Interior Designers & Decorators in Franklin County