Problematic daylilies

[Briarheart]

It wasn't my brilliant idea to plant these things... they were already here when we moved in... I do not want them, I don't like them, I don't think they smell very good, and they're quite poisonous to animals.

I tried to dig them up in the Fall, and now come spring they're starting to sprout again. So I got out the shovel and tried to do a very thorough job of digging them up this time. They were barely even beginning sprout, yet holy smokes did these things ever have MASSIVE roots!

I went through the soil with my heavy duty shovel and tried to dig up every root and tuber I could find. I'm wondering if it's safe to plant anything else in that spot, because I worry that if I try to plant anything there, the daylilies will start popping up AGAIN and strangle it. I wanted to put catnip there, and even though catnip is also a very tough plant with big roots, I have the feeling it would lose in a battle against these things.

[imafan26]

Too bad, I like day lilies. Some of the flowers are edible. They are crisp like lettuce and a little sweet. You just can't eat too many since it is also a diuretic. A yellow day lily is not only used for food but as medicine by the Chinese. I don't know if every day lily is edible, I only know that two of them are.

https://www.ediblecommunities.com/santab ... aylily.htm
https://www.eattheweeds.com/daylily-just ... -around-2/

[Briarheart]

I do not know the exact variety, but I do not believe the varieties typically grown around here are edible.

[imafan26]

Usually Hemerocallis fulva, the orange day lily is the most commone edible one.

[rainbowgardener]

I like daylilies and I don't think they are such monsters. If you got rid of all the roots you could, go ahead and plant what you want. A few daylilies may try to come back, but they will be easy to pull.