Daylilies are having a good year. This variety is one of columnist Tom Atwell’s favorites. Don’t ask the name, though. He’s lost the label and isn’t sure. Photo by Tom Atwell

Daylilies are having a wonderful year in our garden – and maybe everyone else’s, too. They are a terrific carefree plant with a season that extends from May to well into August.

This year, the mild spring meant they bloomed early, but I am not sure as I write this if blossoms will end sooner than usual, too. I saw my first one in our garden this year, a pedestrian Stella d’Oro yellow reblooming variety, on May 10, and they are plentiful right now with new buds still appearing as August draws close.

Daylilies, which have the botanical name Hemerocallis, get their common name because each blossom lasts just a single day. Each plant produces many blossoms over a period of several weeks, though, so it’s no big deal that individual blossoms are short-lived.

Daylilies are not related to true lilies, which have the botanical name Lilium. True lilies have similarly shaped blossoms that last longer, and they can be damaged by the lily-leaf beetle, which does not attack daylilies.

A row of daylilies grows by the patio of the Atwell home. Photo by Tom Atwell

Daylilies were among the first plants we brought to our home almost a half a century ago, digging and dividing some from the home of my wife Nancy’s grandmother. Nancy’s sister, who was then living in Augusta, learned about Dr. Joe Barth’s daylilies in Alna and brought us some of those as well. That line is now sold at O’Donal’s nursery in Gorham, which has 85 varieties of them.

Other popular varieties are in the Stella d’Oro family, which are prized because they are rebloomers, extending the season. Many of these have “Returns” as part of their name.

We buy many daylilies from Fedco, going by the description even if we haven’t seen them, because Maine growers supply many of them. You may want to look at the plants blooming in local nurseries before you make a decision about which to plant in your own garden.

Daylilies come from Asia. Though not a native, they are not considered invasive in Maine. However, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service have declared the most common orange daylily, sometimes called the ditch lily, invasive in the mid-Atlantic states. It gets the name because it can be seen growing often in the soggy areas next to roads. Ditch lilies grow on our property, but they have never spread far. The plants seldom spread by seed, instead expanding by spreading their roots.

The first Stella d’Oro daylilies blossomed on May 10 in Atwell’s garden this year, unusually early. Photo by Tom Atwell

Readers may be wondering why I am writing about daylilies now, when their season is almost over. Here’s why:  The best time to dig up and divide daylilies is shortly after they’ve finished blooming. You can divide them in the spring, but the shock early in the season will set them back, and you won’t enjoy as many blossoms that year. Divided now, and the plants will settle in over the winter and be ready to provide plentiful flowers next summer.

Tina White, who operates an official Display Garden and Historic Garden in Jefferson that is certified by the American Daylily Society, suggests dividing the plants every three to five years. When the root system gets larger, the blossoms get smaller, and we certainly don’t want that. She also deadheads her daylilies – removing spent blossoms – because seeds that fall to the ground and sprout will not be the same as the parent.

Daylilies are among the easiest plants to divide. Dig up an entire plant and shake or wash off the soil. If you are removing it from your own property, wash the roots especially well to make sure no invasive pests, such as jumping worms or winter moth, are carried off with the plant.

Usually, you can use your fingers to separate the roots, but a knife can be helpful on large, dense root systems. Sometimes I use a pruning saw I have with a broken tip – it’s got a nice handle and a seven-inch blade with serrated teeth. Whatever works for you. Transplant the clumps into soil at the same depth the original plant was growing. And cut the leaves back to about 5 inches tall, so the energy will go into the roots.

I have been talking about the beauty of daylilies, but the blossoms are also edible: stir-fry the buds or put the petals in a salad. I’ve eaten some raw in the garden as experiment, but we haven’t cooked with them.

Daylilies are fairly easy to hybridize, I’ve been told. But that is another thing I have no desire to try this late in my career.

Tom Atwell is a freelance writer gardening in Cape Elizabeth. He can be contacted at: tomatwell@me.com