Daylilies – Planting Sprouts

Q: I gathered hundreds of seeds from my daylilies and put them in an envelope to save. I planted a handful in a shallow container and a few weeks later I had a bunch of tiny sprouts coming up! What should I do with them when it starts getting cold?

A: Best would be to plant them three inches apart in a sunny bed now, fertilize lightly, and let them grow until frost. In May, after the leaves emerge, pluck out the weakest fifty percent of the plants and transplant the rest to a sunny bed. Fertilize regularly in summer. They will bloom two years from now and you can decide which ones are worth keeping. Daylily hobbyists may keep only one out of a thousand seeded plants like yours.