Mountain Daylily Seeds

currently unavailable The Edible Daylily 

This is a species of daylily found in the high mountain meadows of Japan and Siberia. The orange flowers have a fruity fragrance and are cooked as a vegetable or added fresh to salad called nikko–kisuge. To a point all daylilies have edible flowers. The difference with this selection is that it is easily digestible and has a mild flavor with not an over abundance of it's floral bouquet. Ours is a seed source originally collected wild in Japan called esculenta. Flowers in late June on 2–3 foot stems. Earliest of all flowering daylilies. Collect the buds in color but before opening or the day of opening in the morning. Each stem produces 4-18 buds. As the plant grows in age, each plant will produce multiple stems. It is a lovely edible plant and can be propagated from seed or cuttings. Completely resistant to deer browse. 

From seed: The seeds usually sprout immediately and need to be planted right away. If dried they will perish. The seeds will sprout a little top in the fall and then die to the grown in the winter. And then resprout again in the spring. Some seeds will remain more dormant in the fall and not sprout. This is normal with this species. You can also line these out in a normal field situation and mulch lightly to protect from disturbance.  Plant 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep. Seeds will produce roots first and then a top. 

The plant itself is shade tolerant and will produce good yields in light shade. There is some variation in yields and it could be possible to selection heavier yielding flowering plants meant for edible consumption. We have one selection not named yet that fits into this category and is very high yielding compared to the others. It also may not be totally needed as if put into production you would just increase the number of plants per area to keep the yields high enough to harvest and reproduce the plant as well.