Daylily Genocide

This is the ubiquitous orange daylily:



Isn't it lovely? Two years ago when we bought our house, I was pleasantly surprised to find I had some growing alongside my garage. How pretty, I thought. The next year, to my annoyance, they had grown twice as large and were starting to intrude into the yard. Oh well, the weed whacker will get 'em. This year, as I cleaned out the flower beds, I found they were trying to take over my daisies and strangle a hosta. I could hear them whispering "Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated" to all the surrounding foliage.

Now I didn't hate them at the time, so I set out to merely thin them. I'll pull the stray ones out that are intruding into other parts of the flowerbed, no big deal. So I grabbed one of the smaller ones and tugged. Didn't move an iota. Pulled harder and the stalk came off, leaving the root. Hm, okay, I'll get the garden tools. I bent two of them. Getting irritated, I got my trusty weed puller, the faithful one that has helped me slaughter dandelions over the years. It handled some of the smaller ones, but couldn't budge the larger clusters. Fudge it. Get the spade. Hack, slash, clump, dig, haul. Now I know why they weren't moving -- these things have root systems as big as my head. And they grow along root routes -- they're ALL connected together. And underground are a zillion little bulbs all waiting to sprout into more weeds -- uh, I mean, pretty orange flowers to light up my garden. The previous owners had tried to contain them by placing large slabs of rock around them, but the daylilies just tunnelled their roots under the rocks and came up the other side. Under the rock, solid bulbs and roots. Seriously, I am no stranger to yard work, but I've never met a weed that was as difficult to get up as these damn things. But I got a bucket of twenty for some of the girls at work who want some for their gardens too (suckers!). I'll have to dig up some more and give them away too before they all wise up. I do want to keep a small patch of them, so if anyone has any ideas on how to keep the little buggers contained in one area, let me know.