I'm in zone 8 in Alabama, and I always try to do most of my dl transplanting from late Sept. through October. I even prefer to get my shipments in Oct. if possible. I seem to have better luck with my planting in the fall.
Maybe some of your fellow Texans can give you their opinions on this matter also.
Jan

I would wait till late October. I am in the center of FL and it has been brutal heat and I have lost many plants to the heat so wait until the weather cools off.

If the plants are now in full sun and you're just planting the potted plants and won't injure the root systems, then I don't think it would hurt to plant them now. I would try to do it in the cooler part of the day and don't over-water.

If you're dividing and lining out, I would wait until the temps drop into the 80's or be willing to suffer some losses.
Ed

I know how you feel. I'm feeling the same way. I did trandplant one daylily this week but lucky for me and the dayliliy it has cooled down. The high today is 81 degrees.
I don't think we're going to get any more 100 degree temps but then again this is Texas and we have strange weather.

I have to start cleaning up my flower beds now because I have a lot of daylilies to plant and cannot do it when it's needed at this time, just when I'm able to get around to it.

I sure hope that my gardens make it through my early clean up and transplanting but what do you do when your taking care of your aging father and only have a mintue here or there to do what needs to be done.

No, hiring someone to do it is not the same, I love getting my hands in the dirt and being surprised the next year with what I myself have done :)

Although in 4 years from now I may not be able to dig up the daylilies to thin out and beg local garden buddies to come get what they want for digging them up.

So I guess it's all in if your able to hold off just a little longer so they'll have a better chance to survive.

Although I have read many times these are tough plants but now I'm thinking they are talking about OLDER daylilies that have been around for a long time. Not new breeds.

Barb

Thanks everyone for the comments. I have the pots in morning sun and part afternoon shade. I just wish it would hurry up and get a little cooler!!! I will probably go ahead and wait until late October but that seems like a long time from now! LOL.. The one's that I bought this summer and planted in pots temporarily are Hurricane Swirls, Indian Giver, When My Sweetheart Returns, So Many Stars (Thanks Gary!), Essence of Royalty, Party Pinafore, Alley Cat Blues, Wizard's Wish, Duel Zone, Little Rainbow, Night Embers, Anne McWilliams, Ahoya and Yazoo Elsie Hintson. I am relatively new to collecting daylilies so next spring will not come soon enough!!!!

I am with you Barb,I love getting my hands in the dirt and working out in the yard. It's great stress relief after a long day. :)

Once the plants in pots have a good root system established they can go in the ground. When you slide the pot away from the root ball you should see lots of roots on the sides and in the bottom. You want to get the root ball in the ground before the roots fill the bottom of the pot and start to spiral around and around the bottom becoming root bound. In my experience this typically takes a minimum of 8 weeks to get established and about three months to start to get root bound. It will vary depending on climate, potting soil used, water and fertilizer but if they are in a pot and full of roots they can be in the ground and full of roots with no setback whatsoever.

In areas where the ground freezes hard the sooner you get them in the ground the better. In mild climates like mine where the ground never freezes they can be planted anytime but I've found it is still good to get the daylilies in the ground here by early October for best results.

The plants almost always do better in the ground than in pots. If the roots are not well established and you put them in the ground then give them a temporary shade barrier. We almost never get hot hot summers so summer dormancy and heat protection is not an issue for me but I am aware of how summers can cause heat stress, heat dormancy and rot in hot and humid areas such as Houston.