The building I live in has daylilies and peonies planted. Both are almost past blooming. On some of them, where the blossoms have fallen away, small knobs are growing on the daylilies, and little clusters of tiny knots on the peonies.
I thought that these flowers were increased by dividing the bulbs and replanting them. But someone else in the building says that these knobs produce seeds. Can anyone tell me more about this?
And yes, I do know what Google is and will also look there. But Dopers can be the best to turn to for practical questions like this.
The daylily knobs should be seed pods. Once they brown and start to split open, seeds can be harvested. They’ll need to be planted in moist soil and most varieties require stratification, meaning 6-8 weeks of cold treatment in the fridge or outdoors in the winter before they’ll sprout. They’ll take a few years to reach blooming size and may look much different from their parents.
Never tried growing peonies from seed but it should involve much the same process.
Specialized plant societies often have good info on propagation on their websites.
Thank you for this info. I think I will try doing what you said, keeping an eye on the pods. And until you mentioned plant societies I’d forgotten there is a daylily club in town. I can contact them too. I love daylilies, and one thing I miss since I moved was the flowers I had to leave behind. I hope the new property owner takes care of them. I had one called Notify ground crew that had an ordinary looking yellow flower but on a stalk almost six feet tall.