Daylilies - Hemerocallis species and hybrids - are not bulbs. They are fleshy rooted perennials. And fleshy rooted perennials do not store well once out of the ground and the roots exposed to air. They will dry out and desiccate. I can't imagine daylily roots stored in a basement for the better part of 10 months would be the slightest bit viable.

Daylilies do not grow from bulbs. They grow from rhizomes. Perhaps you have some other kind of lily: asiatic, oriental or trumpet. If it's one of those you can give it a try, but I would think it's too late for them to bloom now. Where do you live?

Debra

Here is a link to images of lily bulbs ( scroll down page) https://garden.org/thread/view/4020/Species-Lily-Bulbs/?offset=20

Here is an image that shows daylily roots (again scroll down page)

https://garden.org/ideas/view/Char/1544/Dividing-Daylilies-Overcoming-the-Fear-of-Separation/

Now you can tell exactly what it is that you have .

Also curious as to why you would dig up lily bulbs (if that is what you have ) ......I have never heard of overwintering lily bulbs inside . Even in my climate, they get planted and stay planted unless I want to spread them around .

Can you post pictures to see what they look like?

I hate to tell you but true lily bulbs - Lilium species - are unlikely to be very viable either if stored out of the ground for 10 months. The bulbs never go fully dormant, unlike spring blooming bulbs, and they deteriorate rapidly if not planted, even under the best of storage conditions.

I'm not sure why daylilies would be dug and stored for winter either, if this is indeed what you have. Both daylilies and true lilies should be left in the ground, unless dug up to be divided or moved, and then they should be replanted ASAP.

Thanks everyone. What I dug up were definitely daylilies. i dug them up because they were overcrowded and most of them were not blooming because of it. Due to my back issues last fall, I didn't have the strength to dig up and replant all in one process. I had hoped to replant after my surgery, but life didn't cooperate. I found the information about digging them up and storing them on a website. So much for trusting that info.

From my own experience, daylilies are extremely hard to kill. I have dug them up and left them unattended, exposed on the dirt, thinking of getting rid of them; but then a year later I decide I want to plant them and they always recover and come back. And the only water they got while discarded was rain water. I wouldn't be surprised if yours came back to life. However, what concerns me about your daylilies is whether they have been hydrated enough in the basement to be viable. Did you water them at all during those 10 months in the basement? Either way, I would still plant some and wait a few weeks and see if they come up. If they are alive, then plant the rest (or plant the ones that look the least dry). Good luck with your daylilies, I hope most of them come back!