Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Warrior Prince')
Hemerocallis 'Warrior Prince' Daylily offers showy, fragrant red blooms with gold-green throats; low maintenance perennial for zones 3-9.
Complete Plant Information
Overview
Hemerocallis ‘Warrior Prince’ is a standout cultivar among the vast family of Daylilies, valued by gardeners for its bold coloration and reliable performance. This specific hybrid cultivar delivers striking, 5-inch diameter bright-red flowers, accented beautifully by a shimmering gold-green throat. As a fibrous-rooted herbaceous perennial, Hemerocallis ‘Warrior Prince’ establishes quickly and provides consistent season-long interest with minimal fuss.
Part of the appeal of any Daylily, including ‘Warrior Prince’, lies in its superb adaptability; it thrives in everything from full sun to light afternoon shade. While the individual flower only lasts a single day, the plant produces flowers in such succession that the overall blooming period remains long, often with a welcome repeat bloom cycle for this specific cultivar. This makes the Daylily a cornerstone plant for reliable color in perennial borders.
Gardeners seeking low-input, high-impact color often turn to this genus. Hemerocallis ‘Warrior Prince’ exemplifies the horticultural success achieved through hybridizing, offering vibrant color reliably across USDA Zones 3 through 9. Its medium water needs and low maintenance requirements cement its status as an indispensable, easy-to-grow landscape perennial.
Fast Facts
- Plant Family: Asphodelaceae
- Plant Type: Herbaceous perennial
- Hardiness Zones: USDA Zones 3-9
- Size at Maturity:
- Height: 1.5-2 ft
- Spread: 1-1.5 ft
- Bloom Time: June to July
- Bloom Description: Red with gold-green throat
- Sun Exposure: Full sun to part shade
- Water Needs: Medium
- Maintenance Level: Low
How to Grow
Planting Hemerocallis ‘Warrior Prince’ is best achieved in the spring or fall, ensuring the fibrous roots have time to establish before extreme summer heat or deep winter freezes. These Daylilies perform best when situated in average, medium moisture, well-drained soils. While they tolerate a wide soil range, performance is maximized in deep, fertile loams. Ensure the crown, where the leaves emerge from the roots, is planted level with the soil surface; planting too deeply is a common cause of poor blooming.
Care for your Daylily throughout the season is straightforward. While they require medium moisture, critically, they appreciate deep watering during dry spells to keep foliage looking attractive, especially through summer heat and humidity. Deadhead spent flowers daily for neatness and remove the entire flower scape once blooming has finished for the aesthetic improvement. Hybrid daylilies like ‘Warrior Prince’ do not come true from seed, so division remains the only method of propagation.
For optimal performance, divide established clumps of Hemerocallis ‘Warrior Prince’ every three to four years, preferably in spring (especially in colder zones) or fall. Because this is a winter-dormant type, it requires that cold period for the best subsequent display, making it less ideal for the upper end of Zone 9. In colder climates, the foliage will die back, offering a clean appearance after the first hard frost.
Landscape Uses
Hemerocallis ‘Warrior Prince’ offers tremendous value as versatile, easy-to-grow herbaceous perennials perfect for defining borders and creating structure in the garden. The upright, arching foliage forms dense clumps that provide excellent texture even when not in bloom, making them great for stabilizing slopes or providing mass planting impact over large areas. Their height of 1.5 to 2 feet positions them perfectly in the mid-ground of mixed perennial borders.
Use this Daylily cultivar to line walkways or define the edges of beds, where their vibrant red blooms can create striking contrast against cooler blues, purples, or softer yellows from neighboring plants. For mass plantings, grouping three or five together will maximize the visual impact of the continuous flowering habit throughout June and July. Their robust nature also makes them surprisingly effective for tackling minor erosion along banks, thanks to their fibrous root systems.
Standout Features
Flower Qualities
- Showy
- Fragrant
Noteworthy Characteristics
Hemerocallis is a genus celebrated for its hybridizing success, evidenced by over 60,000 registered cultivars like ‘Warrior Prince’. These plants are characterized by funnel-shaped flowers, each typically lasting only one day, though this is masked by successive blooming over a long period. Hemerocallis ‘Warrior Prince’ specifically features 5-inch diameter bright-red flowers with gold-green throats, rising on scapes about 24 inches above their linear, grass-like foliage.
Tolerances
- Rabbit
- Erosion
- Air Pollution
Potential Problems
Daylilies are famous for being extremely adaptable and are generally considered low-maintenance regarding pests and diseases. The main issues encountered are usually minor, such as occasional outbreaks of mites, aphids, or thrips on the foliage or buds. In humid climates, Daylily rust can become a concern, requiring preventative fungicide application or choosing rust-resistant varieties if the issue persists. Note that rabbits typically tend to avoid consuming Daylily foliage.
Frequently Asked Questions
What hardiness zones is Daylily suitable for?
This Hemerocallis ‘Warrior Prince’ cultivar performs well across a wide spectrum, thriving in USDA Zones 3 through 9. Ensure adequate moisture if planting near the upper zone limit.
How large does Hemerocallis ‘Warrior Prince’ grow?
When mature, this Daylily typically reaches a height between 1.5 and 2 feet, with a spread of 1 to 1.5 feet, forming neat, manageable clumps.
When does Daylily bloom?
Hemerocallis ‘Warrior Prince’ produces its primary flush of blooms from June to July, featuring striking red flowers with a gold-green throat, and it often provides a repeat bloom later in the season.
What sun exposure does Daylily need?
This variety prefers full sun for the best flower production but will tolerate and grow well in areas receiving partial shade, provided it still receives several hours of direct light daily.
Conclusion
Hemerocallis ‘Warrior Prince’ remains an essential choice for gardeners needing vivid, low-maintenance color that performs reliably year after year. The combination of its showy red blooms, fragrance, and hardiness across most temperate zones makes this Daylily cultivar a garden superstar. Before planting, confirm your location falls within USDA Zones 3-9 and prepare a well-drained site in full sun to light shade for the best display come summer.
Companion Planting
Selecting good companions for Hemerocallis ‘Warrior Prince’ focuses on plants that maintain visual interest after the Daylily finishes its main show or plants that complement its upright habit. Consider planting drifts of Lavender (Lavandula) nearby; the cool purple tones accentuate the Daylily’s fiery red, and both plants thrive in well-drained soil and high light conditions. For summer texture, consider pairing ‘Warrior Prince’ with ornamental grasses like Blue Fescue, which offers a fine-textured contrast to the Daylily’s bold, blade-like leaves.
Low-growing plants, such as Creeping Phlox or Hostas (in shadier spots), work well as groundcovers beneath larger Daylily clumps to suppress weeds and hide the less attractive base of the stems post-bloom. Because Daylilies prefer medium water but require good drainage, avoid pairing them directly with thirsty bog plants to ensure cultural requirements remain compatible across the planting scheme.
Propagation Tips
The only method recommended for propagating Hemerocallis ‘Warrior Prince’ is through crown division. Since this is a hybrid cultivar, planting its seed will result in varied offspring that may not resemble the named parent. Division should occur either in early spring before new growth vigorously pushes up, or in late summer/early fall after the main bloom cycle concludes.
To divide, carefully dig up the entire clump using a sharp spade, ensuring you get a good portion of the root system attached to one or more fans (leaf clumps). Use a sharp knife or spade to cut the crown into sections, making sure each new piece has a healthy root system and at least three distinct leaf fans attached. Replant the divisions immediately firming the soil and watering well, ensuring the crown sits at soil level.
