non-blooming daylilies

by stacey
(colorado)

My daylilies grow great leaves but never seem to flower. I read that adding extra phosphorous would help. Is that true?

Doug says "nope". If your daylilies aren't blooming (strange but true) then my first guess is that they're either really new plantings from really small divisions or that they're being grown in a really shady area. Or you're feeding the heck out of them with nitrogen (like a lot of MiracleGrow or lawn fertilizer or some other such unnecessary plant food).

If the former - relax. They'll grow up into big blooming plants.

If the latter, move them to the sunlight where they belong.

Feed? A shovel of compost per year per plant is pretty much all this plant needs.

I think that pretty much covers why daylilies don't bloom.