Daylily · Queens, New York, United States
When to sow daylilies in Queens
Main outdoor window
2 Dec - 15 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
29 March
In Queens, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Jun - 31 Aug
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Queens
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Plant the crowns
2 Dec - 15 Mar
Any time the plant is dormant and the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged: after leaf fall in autumn, or at the end of winter before growth restarts.
In flower
1 Jun - 31 Aug
Daylilies through the year
Against the frost risk in Queens
Why these dates
Plant any time the ground is workable and not frozen, from autumn through spring, with the crown just at soil level. One of the very few perennials that transplants happily in full growth, so a clump can be moved in summer if it is in the wrong place.
Hardy to -35C and grows across a wider climate range than almost any other perennial - the evergreen cultivars suit zone 9 and 10, the dormant ones the far north. Late frost on emerged foliage causes cosmetic damage only.
Daylilies are planted once and then left in place, so there is no sowing offset to resolve. What matters in Queens is the shape of the year: this crop is dormant through the winter and is planted while it sleeps, any time between leaf fall in autumn and the restart of growth in spring, so long as the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged. That is why the window below spans the cold months rather than sitting in the middle of the growing season.
Hardiness is not the obstacle here. Queens is zone 8a, comfortably inside the range this crop is rated for, so an established plant should come through an average winter without protection.
Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 1, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.
Also in Queens
Other flowers to time
Growing daylilies in Queens
When should I plant daylilies in Queens?
Aim for 2 Dec - 15 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 20 Nov - 25 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will daylilies be ready to harvest in Queens?
Expect to start picking around 1 Jun - 31 Aug, based on 140 to 180 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will daylilies tolerate?
Hardy to -35C and grows across a wider climate range than almost any other perennial - the evergreen cultivars suit zone 9 and 10, the dormant ones the far north. Late frost on emerged foliage causes cosmetic damage only.