Daylily (day lily) care

Light

Most houseplants will scorch where daylily thrives. Give it the windowsill you'd otherwise leave empty because everything else burned there. Full sun for best flowering; tolerates light afternoon shade. A plant moved abruptly from low light to direct sun bleaches in 48 hours — always acclimatise over a week.

Watering

Aim for weekly; keep moist in the first season for daylily, but treat that as a starting point rather than a rule. A south-facing summer windowsill will dry the pot twice as fast as a north-facing winter room. Lift the pot; if it feels noticeably lighter than it did wet, water it. Drought-tolerant once established, but blooms best with steady moisture.

Soil and pot

Daylily grows best in any fertile, well-drained soil. Very adaptable; enrich poor soil with compost. A pot with a working drainage hole is non-negotiable for this species — even free-draining mix will turn soggy in a closed planter. If you love the look of a decorative pot without a hole, use it as a cachepot around an inner nursery pot you can lift out to water.

Humidity and temperature

Daylily sits happiest at around 40-60% humidity and 15-27°C (59-80°F). Outdoor perennial; not humidity-fussy. If you keep the room above 15 year-round and avoid placing the plant near a cold draught, a hot radiator, or an air-conditioning vent, you have already handled the two biggest indoor stressors.

Fertilising

Feed daylily sparingly. Balanced feed in spring; a second light feed after the first flush. Skip fertiliser entirely on a stressed, recently-repotted, or actively wilting plant — fertiliser salts make damage worse, not better. Wait for a round of healthy new growth before resuming a feeding rhythm.

Common problems

Below are the issues we see most often on daylily in the Growli community. Each is annotated with the most common cause so you know where to start.

• Few or no blooms — Too much shade or overcrowding; move to full sun and divide clumps.
• Yellow or browning leaves — Normal at season end, or a sign of overcrowding — divide every few years.
• Daylily rust (orange spots) — Remove affected foliage and improve airflow.
• Crown rot — Soggy soil; improve drainage and replant high.

Propagation

Lift and divide established clumps in spring or after flowering. Propagation is the cheapest, most satisfying way to expand a collection — and it doubles as insurance against losing a mature plant to an accident. Take a backup cutting once the parent is established and healthy.

Toxicity to pets

Daylily is toxic to pets. The ASPCA lists Hemerocallis spp. (daylilies) as toxic, and like true lilies they cause acute kidney failure in cats from even a small ingestion of any part, including pollen — often fatal if not treated within about 18 hours. Daylilies are not botanically lilies, but the risk to cats is the same. Dogs typically get milder stomach upset. Any feline exposure is an emergency: call your vet or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center on (888) 426-4435 right away. If you keep cats, dogs, or curious children in the house, weigh placement carefully — a high shelf or a hanging planter is enough for casual safety. For severe ingestion incidents, call your local vet and the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (in the US, 888-426-4435).

Pet-safety status is sourced from the ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic Plant List, which catalogues the most-asked-about plants for cats, dogs, and horses.

Daylily deep-dive guides

Every aspect of daylily care, each with its own calibrated guide:

• Daylily watering schedule
• Daylily light requirements
• Best soil mix for daylily
• Daylily fertilizing guide
• When to repot daylily
• How to propagate daylily
• Daylily growth rate & size
• Daylily cold hardiness
• Daylily temperature & humidity
• Is daylily toxic to cats & dogs?
• Is daylily toxic to cats?
• Is daylily toxic to dogs?
• Getting daylily to bloom

Featured in these plant shortlists

Daylily qualifies for 5 curated Growli shortlists — each one filtered objectively from our structured plant-care library, so the selection is consistent and checkable:

• Best drought-tolerant houseplants — Houseplants that prefer to dry out — forgiving of forgotten watering and ideal for travel or busy weeks.
• Best flowering houseplants — Indoor plants grown for their blooms — selected from the flowering species in Growli’s plant-care library.
• Houseplants toxic to cats & dogs — The common houseplants the ASPCA lists as toxic to cats and dogs — the ones to keep out of reach, each with its symptoms and a safe alternative.
• Best houseplants for full sun — Houseplants that want direct sun — the species for a hot south or west-facing windowsill where shade-lovers scorch.
• Best fast-growing houseplants — Houseplants documented as fast or vigorous growers — quick to fill a pot, cover a pole or trail down a shelf.
• Browse all 29 plant shortlists — pet-safe, low-light, drought-tolerant and more

Related guides

Daylily is also known as day lily, orange daylily, ditch lily, and tawny daylily.

• Peace lily care — light, water and common problems
• Bird of paradise care — light, water and common problems
• Hoya care — light, water and common problems
• All 611 plant care guides in the Growli library