A self-cleaning daylily was one of Darrell Apps' goals late in his hybridizing career. He was going for small flowered plants with lots of buds where the second day blooms were unobtrusive and by the third day will fall off the scapes by themselves. He claimed younger buyers did not want to spend a lot of maintenance time with plants and that this would be needed in the future.

I have about 650 daylilies, so there's no way I could possibly deadhead every day. I think part of the problem is we have too many daylilies. If we had only 30 maintaining them would not be such a gargantuan task. I'm downsizing little by little. I just gave away 25 plants and am happy to have reduced my workload a bit.

Debra

Before it got so hot, I rather enjoyed live heading in the evenings. As bloom picked up, it would take hours. I'm thinking right about an hour or so (which means less early and late in the season) might be right for me. I found taking the blooms off in the evenings (in the shade!) gave me another chance to enjoy them before I tossed them...and no messy goo. Plus, there's nothing like the beautiful picture you have in the morning with no spent blooms.

Now, it's hot even in the shade and I seldom make it out there to dead or live head. After I walk each of my dogs (early, to avoid the heat), the sun is usually already hitting my blooms making pictures very difficult. We took out a number of trees in the last few years and while the daylily plants love the sun, I think the blooms could do with more shade. And, certainly the gardener could!

This morning I spent about 30 minutes cleaning up old blooms just right in front and I was totally sweaty. That's no fun.

So, I hear you. I think Debra is exactly right. Each of us will need to find the correct balance for ourselves....and keep the joy in it. Some years ago, I heard Dan Trimmer speak to this very thing. We are not unique in going through this, lol.

But, as Dan recommended, find the size garden for you that keeps you happy. And, we all change as we go through life, so what may have excited you two years ago, may not now.

What you decide for you will be the right decision. :)

I have about 350 daylilies. Every year I have added to them. Even with 350, it takes about an hour and a half to live-head in the evening. Live-heading avoids the mush and everything is nice for pics the next morning. That said, I live-head early, through peak, and a bit after peak, then, it is deadheading where I photograph only.

I too am not increasing my bed sizes anymore which means some are leaving here. I'm doing the same thing with iris this year. I want to enjoy the garden. I will be parting with a lot more iris than daylilies, and I have daylilies to take the place of some that are leaving. If I don't love it, it is not going to be here.
kay

I certainly agree with all of you. The garden is supposed to be fun. I have already downsized the daylily gardens drastically --- I had a 'hybridizing field' that now gets mowed down regularly. I took all I wanted out of it and for awhile allowed people to come in and dig what they wanted.

That was a huge mistake because I ended up with a field full of holes that is just now starting to get level again. What is amazing to me is that this area has been mowed weekly for the last four summers and the daylilies keep coming up. At the time I decided it was time to mow, I removed all labels to make the task possible so I no longer know what anything is. (and I really don't care!)

I prefer to focus on the beautiful blooms that are open on any given day, and let them blot out yesterday's flowers.

I just got rid of Destined To See because of how yucky the spent blooms are. Couldn't stand it anymore.

I, too, ended up mowing a patch of daylilies because I couldn't keep up with the weeding and was tired of looking at the mess all summer. I had to remove the tags, too, but they're so darn resilient the daylilies are still there, just nicely mowed. I still have an idea what some of them are, but won't get around to moving them until I have a permanent spot or permanent home for them.

I've gone from around 900 to about 400 daylilies (not including the mowed ones), and that seems manageable for me. The issue here isn't deadheading, but weeding in the heat. But I can't picture ever not having daylilies, or not wanting to add a few each year.

I cannot imagine having to take care of 400 (or 900!) daylilies. Just the ones that I have, during peak bloom, get me all sweaty with the deadheading following upon the hybridizing. (While liveheading is a nice concept, and I sometimes even do some of that, the mosquito bites and days of miserable itching afterwards make it not worth it.) But that's just deadheading, and totally ignores the work of dead leafing and fertilizing... and let's not even talk about dividing.

I added up my list of cultivars the other day (most of them still in pots, or even buckets of water) and came to 204, not counting seedlings. That's too many to ever make it into the ground in my shade-and-deer-plagued garden, so I've been figuring out which ones will go. (I gave away four potted daylilies earlier this summer... go me.)

I agree that we all want to add "a few" each year... which is how I got into this mess of having more daylilies than I have sun for. (Space, I have... we have an acre... it's just that there is a lot of shade, and we aren't about to start taking out mature trees.)

I also agree that we should only have fabulous, beautiful daylilies (well, excepting for a few plants kept strictly for hybridizing traits). It's hard to keep only the relatively few beautiful ones, though. I guess I need to toughen up... that, or the next time I get into a really foul mood, go on a garden purge!

Polymerous, you made me laugh today (which is always nice)!

Yes, that's it...it's hard to add just a few (although this year I have less than 15 new-to-me-ones which may set a personal low record).

Despite being on the hook to severely reduce, I found myself today almost...almost...bidding on the LA and then almost...almost placing a small order after I saw a picture of a daylily on here that I remembered I had wanted for a few years (at the time, it was a bit harder to come by). Maybe that's part of why I stayed away for a while, lol. I have very little daylily willpower.

So far, I am staying strong. In fact, I am so motivated by this that I might just go out and start the removal process of a few that are done. Might. It is hot, after all. Lol.

Thanks for the smile!

I love all my daylilies. If any of you growers have any to spare, just send them to me. I will gladly pay the postage.
I only work one day a week, and with appointments, etc. sometimes my spent blooms mount up, but I enjoy getting out there in the morning with a bucket and deadheading.

I am 67 years old. I hope to do it a few more years. Sarah

I don't bother removing spent blooms unless Im taking pictures, then I have to be careful and take them off about half way down just in case I was making crosses of something..

Otherwise, unless someone is physically going to go into my garden, its just my family that sees the garden daily. I cant say it bothers me to leave them on most days.

I don't know where im at the moment, several hundred anyways.. I always take dayliies out, as Its just all my seedlings anyways, some get composted, some moved to family , friends or church. I don't bother keeping count.

Weeding has been my challenge this year and honestly , Im not very well upkept this year, its pretty weedy, but its either been raining or in the middle of the heat wave since my first big weed in june, usually hit it once a month, but 6 weeks of constant neglect has caught up.

Way to go Sarah, and I'm with you. If anyone wants to get rid of some evergreen cultivars, I'll gladly pay the postage.

I've got you beat by six years, Sarah, and I'm still going strong.

I don't often deadhead either but every once in a while I find the time. I actually enjoy it to other gardening chores! It really makes me appreciate the cultivars that deadhead easily. Some you can just snap off so fast but some you have to fight with to get that old bloom off. That drives me crazy.
It is an interesting thing to breed for and one that gardeners would really like I think.

This year I've live/deadhead a lot less but more due to the weather than anything else. Like others, I've decided to clean up before photos but now and again, I may miss a few. The garden is way to big to do it every evening now.

I had thought to do a clean up this evening but after a full day in the garden, I'm pooped. Great to be back outside again. Much cooler here now.

Julia