Sunny Yellow Dwarf Daylily

Sunny Yellow Dwarf Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Stella Citron') is the workhorse of a low maintenance border. It forms a neat clump of arching strappy foliage about 40cm high and 40cm wide, and sends up clear lemon yellow trumpets in waves right through the warm season. Landscapers plant it by the hundred because it flowers for months and looks as good in March as in November.

Why you'll love it

• A long, repeat flowering season. Individual blooms last a day, but a steady succession of buds keeps the yellow coming for months rather than a fortnight.
• It stays the size you bought. Roughly 40cm each way, year after year, so a border planned around it does not need rethinking in three seasons.
• Tough in four directions. Frost hardy, drought tolerant, heat tolerant and salt tolerant, which is why it turns up in coastal car parks and cold country gardens alike.
• Fills in fast. Clumps bulk up quickly, and dividing them every few years gives you more plants at no cost.

Where it works best

Massed borders. Plant 40cm apart for a continuous massed border, about six plants per square metre. Once the clumps touch, the foliage forms an unbroken band that suppresses weeds.

Edging and groundcover. A single row at 40cm gives a clean soft edge to a path or driveway, and the same spacing across a bank works as flowering groundcover on slopes that are awkward to mow.

Rockeries and pots. The compact clump suits a rock pocket or a container 300mm or wider, where the yellow reads strongly against grey stone.

Growing Sunny Yellow Dwarf Daylily in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun for the heaviest flowering, part shade accepted with fewer blooms. It performs across subtropical, warm temperate, cool temperate and Mediterranean gardens, and in cold districts the leaves brown off over winter while the crown sits dormant, then reshoot in spring.

Soil. Undemanding, provided water moves through. Improve sand with compost and clay with compost and gypsum, and keep 50mm of mulch on the bed but clear of the crown, which rots if buried.

Water and feed. Deep soak twice a week for the first summer, after which it survives on rainfall in most temperate gardens. Regular water through the flowering months lifts the bud count, and a complete slow release fertiliser in early spring and midsummer does the rest.

Maintenance. Remove finished flower stems at the base to keep the clump neat. Lift and divide every three to four years in late winter or autumn, replanting the vigorous outer fans.

What to expect when it arrives

It is grown in 140mm pots and sold in packs of ten, the practical unit for massed planting. Each plant arrives as an established fan of foliage, typically 20cm to 30cm tall, ready for a prepared bed. One pack covers about 1.6 square metres, or four metres as a single edging row.

Leaves are sometimes trimmed for transit and a few outer blades may yellow in the box, which does not affect the plant. Delivered Australia wide, delivery from $29.95. Expect new growth in three to four weeks, and every plant carries our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Plant it with Red Daylily for a two tone run
• See the wider flowering plant range
• Choosing the right edging plants
• Browse rockery plants for free draining spots

Common questions

Is it safe to plant where cats roam?

No. Daylilies are seriously toxic to cats, and ingesting any part of the plant can cause acute kidney failure. Choose something else if cats use the garden. Dogs are much less sensitive.

How far apart should I plant them?

Forty centimetres apart, which gives six plants per square metre for a massed bed. Wider spacing leaves gaps that take an extra season to close.

Will it flower in part shade?

It will flower, but noticeably less. Four hours of direct sun is about the minimum for a display worth having, and in hot inland gardens afternoon shade is an advantage.