What to Plant With Daylilies

Daylilies can be planted with a variety of other plants. They thrive in full sun or partial shade and need 1 inch of water per week. Companion plants must have the same requirements. Chinese trumpet lilies, daffodils, delphinium chinensis, pansies and tulips are just a few flowering plants that will grow nicely with daylilies.

Preparation

• Decide on the location for your daylily garden. Choose an area that gets at least six hours of full sun each day. Prepare the dirt in the fall after the first or second hard frost by tilling up the soil, raking it smooth, and removing any grass, weeds or plants that were growing there previously. Improve the soil. Daylilies are very tolerant of a variety of soil conditions but they, and the other plants, will benefit from some helpful modification to soils that are very sandy or predominantly clay. Add compost, peat moss or humus, or sand to clay soil to loosen it up for easier root growth and better distribution of water and nutrients. Mix in compost, humus or peat moss to sandy soil to allow better moisture retention.

Planning

• Plan the garden layout. Figure the spacing for the plants that will be in the garden. A variety of sizes, colors and shapes makes a garden more aesthetically pleasing. Use rocks or bricks placed where the plants will go to help visualize how the garden will look when planted and in full bloom. Daylilies come in different sizes and will need to be spaced accordingly. Small flower and miniature daylilies need to be spaced 16 to 24 inches apart and large flower daylilies should be spaced 18 to 30 inches apart. Give the garden some lily variety by adding chinese trumpet lilies. They grow to 4 to 6 feet tall and should be planted 12 inches apart. Add daffodils and tulips for spring flowers. They should be planted 6 inches apart. Plant delphinium chinensis (blue butterfly) for a bright splash of color that will complement the lilies. Delphinium plants grow to 12 inches high and 9 to 12 inches wide and should be planted 12 inches apart. Add pansies for a short ground cover flower. They grow to a height of 9 inches, should be planted 6 inches apart and can be interspersed throughout the garden and around the border. The delphinium, trumpet lilies and pansies will all bloom at about the same time giving a colorful show of flowers. Place the taller growing plants in the middle or back of the garden area and the shorter growing plants toward the outside or front.

Planting

• Plant Chinese trumpet lily, daffodil and tulip bulbs in the fall after the first or second hard frost. Put the bulbs into bulb cages before planting if burrowing rodents are prevalent in the area. Plant the daylilies, delphinium and pansies in the spring after danger of hard frost. Mulch to a depth of 2 to 3 inches to help control weed growth and retain moisture.