Getting it to bloom

Why won't my Daylily 'Nile Crane' bloom? (and how to make it flower)

Also called Nile Crane daylily (Hemerocallis 'Nile Crane').

More about daylily 'nile crane'

About Daylily 'Nile Crane'

Hemerocallis 'Nile Crane' · also called Nile Crane daylily · flowering

Hemerocallis 'Nile Crane' is a mid-season daylily cultivar known for its distinctive, spidery blooms in shades of cream and buff with contrasting veining. It performs best in full sun with fertile, well-drained soil. All daylilies are toxic to cats — ingestion can cause acute, life-threatening kidney failure. Not suitable for gardens with cats.

Plant type: flowering

Watch for — Aphids: Cluster on emerging scapes and buds; treat early with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil before populations become large.

The reasons daylily 'nile crane' isn't blooming

Almost every non-blooming daylily 'nile crane' traces back to one of these, roughly in order of how common they are:

Too little sun — most of these need full sun (or very bright light) to flower well; shade gives leaves, not blooms.
Too much nitrogen feed, driving lush foliage at the expense of flowers (very common with general or lawn feeds).
The plant has not been deadheaded, so it stops flowering once it sets seed.
Irregular watering — drought or waterlogging at the budding stage makes buds abort.
It is still too young or was checked by a transplant and is rebuilding before flowering.

Feeding daylily 'nile crane' a high-nitrogen general feed and growing it in too little sun — you get a big leafy plant and almost no flowers.

The fix — how to get daylily 'nile crane' to flower

Maximise sun. Give daylily 'nile crane' the sunniest spot you have — for most bedding and fruiting plants, more direct light directly means more flowers.
Switch the feed. Move off high-nitrogen feeds and use a higher-potassium "bloom" or tomato-type feed as it comes into flower.
Deadhead regularly. Remove spent flowers often to keep it producing more rather than stopping to set seed.
Water consistently. Keep moisture even through budding and flowering — drought-then-flood swings make buds drop.

Light and feeding do most of the heavy lifting here. Dial in the spot with the light guide for daylily 'nile crane' and get the feeding right with the daylily 'nile crane' fertilising schedule — the wrong feed (too much nitrogen) is one of the most common silent reasons a healthy plant makes leaves instead of flowers.

Bloom season and what to expect

Daylily 'Nile Crane' flowers across its growing season (mostly summer) and, kept fed and deadheaded, can bloom for many weeks or right up to frost.

Post-bloom care so it flowers again

Deadhead, keep feeding lightly, and many will rebloom; collect seed from the best plants at the end of the season if you want to grow them again.

For everything else this plant needs day to day, see the full daylily 'nile crane' care brief and its watering schedule — a stressed, badly watered plant rarely has the energy to flower at all.

Daylily 'Nile Crane' blooming — frequently asked questions

Why won't my daylily 'nile crane' flower?

Daylily 'Nile Crane' blooms on the season's growth given enough sun, warmth and the right feed — there is no cold or photoperiod trick, just good growing conditions and a bloom-leaning feed. The most common reason it is not happening: Too little sun — most of these need full sun (or very bright light) to flower well; shade gives leaves, not blooms.

How do I make daylily 'nile crane' bloom?

Give daylily 'nile crane' the sunniest spot you have — for most bedding and fruiting plants, more direct light directly means more flowers. Move off high-nitrogen feeds and use a higher-potassium "bloom" or tomato-type feed as it comes into flower.

When does daylily 'nile crane' normally bloom?