A fan is a daylily industry specific term which means a single daylily plant. It gets its name from the distinct fan shape it has when its foliage is trimmed in preparation for transplanting. Depending on the daylily variety a trimmed fan ranges in size. The first picture below shows two cleaned and trimmed mature fans of different sizes ready to be packaged and shipped.
A double fan is two individual daylily plants connected at the root base. When ordering a double fan, you may receive a true double fan, or two single (unconnected) fans. The picture below shows a cleaned up and trimmed double fan ready to be packaged for shipping.
As a daylily grows it will go from being a single fan to many interconnected fans. These interconnected fans are what’s called a clump. A clump may consist of as few as three fans or more than fifty fans. How quickly a single fan multiplies into a clump and how many fans make up the clump depend on the specific variety and how often the clump is split. The picture below shows a bare rooted and trimmed clump of Stella de Oro ready to be packaged for shipping.
We ship our daylilies bare root. This means that we clean the roots of all soil. We trim the foliage down. Once the fans or clumps are cleaned up and trimmed we wrap them in a damp piece of newspaper to keep them moist during shipping and slide the wrapped plant into a labeled plastic bag. The following picture shows a cultivar ready to be packaged and shipped.
Occasionally the flowers you ordered may not be available due to circumstances outside of our control, such as a field flooding or the plants are not ready to ship. On the older varieties we usually have a good match for the characteristics and colors and may substitute your daylily with another. On newer varieties or more expansive plants we will contact the customer to find a suitable replacement or refund that plant from the order.
Daylilies will perform very well in full sun to partial shade requiring at least 6 hours of sun a day in order to bloom. Planted in too much shade they will produce foliage but will not produce any blooms. If you are not seeing blooms make certain to notice how much sun they are getting to ensure they are getting at least 6 hours of sun a day.
Daylilies thrive in a variety of climates, covering USDA plant hardiness zones 1 through 11. When fall planting and in a climate where you receive frost or freeze mulching is recommended to help them winter over. A blanket of 2 to 3 inches of mulch will help protect your investment. We normally recommend planting in fall 6 weeks prior to any frost or freeze. If you live in the deep south the dormant varieties are NOT recommended as they need the climate change to go into dormancy and re-emerge the following spring. You should stay with either the Semi-Evergreen or Evergreen foliage habit varieties.
Daylilies can be planted in all seasons but winter. We recommend planting your daylilies 6 weeks before first frost. If you are in a climate where you receive frost or freeze and are planting in the fall it is highly recommended you give your plants a layer of mulch to help them survive over the winter.
When planting clumps or individual fans your planting spots should not be any closer together than 12″, as they need room to multiply and expand. The standard in the industry is to plant one clump or two plants per planting spot and that is why you will find they are sold in double fans or two plants. The closer together the planting spots are, the quicker you will have a full appearance. It normally will take a couple years for the planting spots to fill in and multiply into a nice clump. This also depends on the cultivar as some multiply into clumps much faster than others. You may plant as many individual plants as you would like in a single planting spot, depending on how quickly you would like to see the area fill in, spacing them out to give room for multiplication within the planting spot. In all cases, the planting hole should be slightly wider than the root base and deep enough to cover an inch above the white area just above the roots called the crown.
For the first couple of weeks after planting, water your daylilies every two to three days. Then water thoroughly once a week until they are well established, about six to eight weeks following planting. Once established, daylilies are drought tolerant. Even so, frequent watering will result in more abundant and beautiful blooms.
Daylilies should be divided every 3-5 years. Otherwise the clump will get too crowded and produce fewer flowers. If you find the clump is no longer producing plants in the center of the clump but are producing around the edges, this is a good indicator the clump needs dug up, split and replanted.
Just like with planting, daylilies can be transplanted in any season except winter. For best results transplant no later than six weeks before first frost.