Daylilies are tough as nails. I have several growing in large, square plastic containers that stay outside right through the winter. They don't grow from bulbs but rather have roots similar to most other perennials. Their normal bloom time is June-July-August although there are specific early blooming cultivars that might flower in May. My best guess is they'd be ready for sale in May but not necessarily blooming.

You might email Diane Linsley of Diane's Flower Seeds regarding how early some daylilies bloom. She specializes in daylilies and would, I assume, know a great deal more about their habits. I've always found her to be quick to answer email questions.

Thank you very much for your response. I'll send Diane Linsley an email. I'd really like to try something that has a chance to be starting to bloom in May - hopefully she'll have some recommendations. Thanks again - I appreciate it.

May when? We have daylilies in bloom for our Memorial Day sale. Those are the extra-early, first daylilies of the season. To be earlier than that, probably involves a greenhouse and expensive heat.

You could try posting over on the Daylily forum - they seem to know everything about Daylilies over there.

The earliest bloomer I see around here is Stella d'oro, but I think that's some time in June. My earliest are in early July.

Hemerocallis flava, the Lemon Daylily, is an oldie that blooms very early (for a daylily); I think late May or early June.

Claire

Thanks for the suggestions! The plant sale runs every weekend throughout the month of May. I sent Diane an email with a little history and wrote instead of "thank you for any information", I wrote, "thank you for any help"...Hope she doesn't think I'm asking for a donation! I'm also going to submit a post on the Daylily forum. Thanks again.

Does it have to be daylilies? Maybe you could choose plants that normally bloom in May so you could pot them, put them in your garage for winter and then move them outside in spring so they can grow and bloom normally.

Trying to force daylilies would involve providing heat to get them started early, but you also need to provide sufficient light, and may even have to augment with extra lighting since they generally require a long photoperiod to initiate blooming. Just a suggestion.

Thank you all for your suggestions. After hearing back from Diane, and the input from all of you, daylilies are not going to work. If anyone has other ideas for plants (like Bill outlined to plant in the garage), please let me know. I was looking for easy to grow perennials that would be in bloom in May. Thanks again.

. You are so cute and helpful! IDK ANY perenials we can grow from seed AND have blooms from the 1st year ..hence the perputal stae of disaray of my yard..I am forever planting transplanting,cuttting SOMETHING..THe 2012 sale perennials you all ready met in my yard...now if you want to winter sow for 2013 I surely won;t stop ya... WE can have a small version of the potting party in Aug/Sept... IF someone else knows ANY plants we can grow in an un heated unlighted garage that will bloom in May I'd love to know.

OK - I've heard from the experts (the members of the NE GardenWeb forum), Diane, my Boss (Michelle) and the Daylily forum and have officially given up on daylilies. I'll will post a new "question impossible" if anyone knows of any perennials that can be grown over winter in NE and bloom in May. I'll try the WS forum too. As usual, you all came through with great ideas! Thank you.

The Boss...NO way.. you are my saninty saver!

The What Is Blooming in Your Garden thread for May will give you some ideas of what is blooming in May

Here is a link that might be useful: May 2011 What is Blooming in Your Garden