Getting it to bloom

Why won't my Daylily 'Prairie Blue Eyes' bloom? (and how to make it flower)

Also called Prairie Blue Eyes daylily (Hemerocallis 'Prairie Blue Eyes').

More about daylily 'prairie blue eyes'

About Daylily 'Prairie Blue Eyes'

Hemerocallis 'Prairie Blue Eyes' · also called Prairie Blue Eyes daylily · flowering

Hemerocallis 'Prairie Blue Eyes' is a mid-season daylily with lavender-purple flowers featuring a distinctive blue-violet eye zone — one of the more convincingly blue-toned daylilies available. It is vigorous and reliably perennial in sunny borders. Toxic to cats: all plant parts can cause fatal kidney failure. Not safe for gardens with cats.

Plant type: flowering

Watch for — Bud drop: Buds can drop in extreme heat or after root disturbance; water consistently and avoid disturbing established clumps during the bloom period.

The reasons daylily 'prairie blue eyes' isn't blooming

Almost every non-blooming daylily 'prairie blue eyes' 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 'prairie blue eyes' 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 'prairie blue eyes' to flower

Maximise sun. Give daylily 'prairie blue eyes' 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 'prairie blue eyes' and get the feeding right with the daylily 'prairie blue eyes' 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 'Prairie Blue Eyes' 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 'prairie blue eyes' care brief and its watering schedule — a stressed, badly watered plant rarely has the energy to flower at all.

Daylily 'Prairie Blue Eyes' blooming — frequently asked questions

Why won't my daylily 'prairie blue eyes' flower?

Daylily 'Prairie Blue Eyes' 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 'prairie blue eyes' bloom?

Give daylily 'prairie blue eyes' 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 'prairie blue eyes' normally bloom?