So why did I do this? What prompted me to undertake such a time consuming project. What was the payback? Here are my reasons:

When I watered my daylilies, I noticed that water would run down to the lower places in the bed resulting in uneven distribution. The ring around the plant now prevents the water from leaving the area where the daylily roots are concentrated.

In the spring, I like to give my lilies a boost by applying a tea made from fish emulsion and other organic nutrients. This liquid is applied to the roots of each clump individually and if applied too fast, would drain away from the plant before it could sink into the soil. When I had only a small number of lilies, I could handle the slow application, but as my collection grew, I had to find a quicker method. The ring was the answer as I can just dump in the required amount quickly and go on to the next plant. The ring keeps the formula from draining away and it sinks right down to the roots.

When a daylily becomes infected by crown rot, completely soaking the roots with subdue is necessary to save the plant (see my crown rot page). Just as with the hooker formula above, the ring allows me to quickly make sure the roots get completely drenched.

The final benefit is to keep the mulch from getting too close to the plant. While it does not hurt to have mulch right up to the stem of the plant, when it decomposed, it adds a layer of soil which, with repeated applications over time, will change the depth at which the daylily is planted (see my why did my daylilies stop blooming page).