The color purple is a combination of the primary color blue and the primary color red. Since there was no true blue species daylily to hybridize from, there can be no true "purple" hybrids. However in some climates and soils people claim that a daylily might look more purple then in others. And also it can be a matter of how different people view the color purple. Personally I've never seen a daylily in my area (or a rose for that matter) that is what I think of as purple. They almost always have a degree of maroon to them, just as you have also observed..........Maryl

Thank you, Maryl for the explanation. I wasn't sure if daylilies are like hydrangeas that change color in different ph soil. I have seen some really nice purple daylilies pictures and wonder how they are able to grow such a nice purple shade.

I think that growing conditions -- cooler vs. warmer, acidity of the soil, etc. -- can in fact affect color. My WEBSTER'S PINK WONDER is not especially pink, and NEON FLAMINGO needs rather a lot more wattage to be considered neon. I've seen STRAWBERRY CANDY in area gardens with distinct orangey undertones.

So it's possible that something is affecting the true purpleness of your purples.

It's also quite possible that your "purples" are in fact dark maroon or black red. I have many "purples" like that. Perhaps purple is in the eye of the beholder, but I do wonder what the hybridizers who introduce maroon daylilies as purple are seeing.

The purpliest daylilies I have are: PASTOR Z (Polston 2011) very purple except for its very last rebloom blooms, when it was getting cool during the day as well as at night; BELA LUGOSI (Hanson 95), sometimes, and with those very rare occasions when it bloomed a true grape purple; LYDIA'S REGAL ROBE (Waldrop 2008), a rich purple.

Try adding some Epsom's Salts to your fertilizing program. . You must dissolve the crystals in a little hot water,and let cool before watering it in.

its not possible.. because..the pic you saw.. was photo edited to fool you.. into buying it ...

it used to be EXTREMELY common in the old printed catalogs ...

like the blue rose ...

the purple rose ...

etc .. ad nauseum .....

your only option .. is to buy.. every single one that claims to be purple.. and find one.. that to your eye ... is as close as possible ... thats how we all became collectors... lol ...

the first explanation of why it is not possible... makes the suggestion of changing pH ... questionable.. but what the heck.. its cheap .. try salting your plants.. see what happens ... be careful.. they did that in carthage .... [i dont see any soil test.. that indicates what your pH is.. so the suggestion to change it.. is ... well .. speculation]

you said pix dont match... then its the pix ... not the plant.. nor the soil ....

ken

its not possible.. because..the pic you saw.. was photo edited to fool you.. into buying it ...

it used to be EXTREMELY common in the old printed catalogs ...

like the blue rose ...

the purple rose ...

etc .. ad nauseum .....

your only option .. is to buy.. every single one that claims to be purple.. and find one.. that to your eye ... is as close as possible ... thats how we all became collectors... lol ...

the first explanation of why it is not possible... makes the suggestion of changing pH ... questionable.. but what the heck.. its cheap .. try salting your plants.. see what happens ... be careful.. they did that in carthage .... [i dont see any soil test.. that indicates what your pH is.. so the suggestion to change it.. is ... well .. speculation]

you said pix dont match... then its the pix ... not the plant.. nor the soil ....

ken

"you said pix dont match... then its the pix ... not the plant.. nor the soil ...."

No, Ken, sometimes it is the soil.

I will definitely give the epsom salts a try. But I am afraid that Maryl is right. There will never be a true purple in a daylily as I have seen the purple shade in iris or clematis for examples. I guess what I expect as purple is probably not the same purple shade as what some hybridizers describe as purple. Neither of the following is true purple but have been described as purple.

Here is Spacecoast Surprise Purple:
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Here is Bela Lugosi:
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Here is Carl's Folly which is supposed to be a dark purple. I may have to try to catch this daylily early in the morning to see if I can see its purple shade next summer.

That's pretty close to, if not dead on, the color I see on Bela Lugosi. To my eye, in person and in your picture it's a deep velvety maroon, not purple. As you said, pick a purple Iris and put it next to Bela and you will see the difference....Since I can't see in person what someone in a different area calls their purple daylily (or rose) I can't dispute that their special climate and soil hasn't produced that color. Just I've never seen it around here. I know some of the west coast people claim to see real purple on some of their roses, but again, in my area the same rose has not appeared purple to me. Maybe sort of if I squint and do a lot of wishful thinking, but not really. But there again, our weather is so different from coastal people that how can I say they are wrong?.......Maryl

Personally,I would like to have a good talkin' to, to some of the people who decide what color a plant is. Not just daylilies either. When I expect red, I might allow a variation of true red, but I want red. Like phlox, there is a shade of purple they call red, one they call blue, I call them both purple. True, one leans on the red side of purple, & one the blue side, but still.And some plants they call red, I'm sorry, but they are fuschia. Why don't they say so? If we didn't have a name for the color, I could understand it better. Now, how did I get off on a rant on this rainy Christmas Eve morning?
Merry Christmas everyone!

Sorry, I also meant to say, some years some of my daylilies have better color than other years. This year, I didn't have as much rebloom, or as good bud count, but the color on several was so much better. The blue eyed ones looked quite blue, one or 2 that are supposed to be purple looked much darker & almost purple. I've heard temperature can affect color too, although I don't think that accounted for the difference here.

I have been growing and collecting daylilies for about 20 years and I love "purple" daylilies. I am trying to recall the best looking purple daylily that I grow. Now that I think about it, I would have to say COURT MAGICIAN is probably my favorite purple daylily. It is an old Munson that I still grow. I remember when I purchased it from a great lady who had thousands of daylilies growing. I visited her garden one morning and in the morning shade, COURT MAGICIAN was spectacular. It looked like the picture in the Munson book. I had to have it. So I got it home and planted it and it has never looked like I saw it the morning of the purchase. It has travelled with me to NY and I have observed it, along with numerous other purple daylilies and in my estimation, lighting and heat play a significant role in how we perceive color. In the cool mornings, some of the purples actually appear brown, but as the day wears on and the temps increase, they become purple. On hot days, the purples look more closely to maroon/dark red. On overcast days, the purples look more purple.

As far as ph goes, when I lived in Maryland in clay soil, the pinks were more melon (Fairy Tale Pink should have been called FT Melon). In New York, it is pink. I noticed this trait happening more in diploids than tetraploids.

Color perception is certainly multifaceted and the expression in the flower has so many influences.

By the way, I throw epsome's salt in the garden every spring at the recommendation of veteran gardener. If anything, I think it puts a dent in the slug population and adds trace elements to the garden.

Have a great holiday season.

David

Thank you everyone for responding. Ken, I think that you are right. Some pics might have been "edited" to look more purplish. However, I think the pics posted by GW members look to be the real/true colors. I have to look into Court Magician and Pastor Z. Their pics are gorgeous.

Wow, Polston's Red Star of Krypton is amazing! Thank you Lynxe for introducing me to Polston's daylilies.

Have a wonderful Holiday Seasons, everyone!

"I've heard temperature can affect color too, although I don't think that accounted for the difference here."

Good point. Maybe it's the temperature, not the soil. PASTOR Z was purple (to my eyes) until the weather got cooler. Whether it was cool days, cool nights, or both I don't know, but blooms opened after that period were quite reddish-maroon.

Cool weather (probably cool nights) pretty regularly has turned "blue" eyes here to eyes that are blue(r). Rarely (too rarely!), I've seen true-blue eyes -- or close enough to blue that it was good enough to me. On one very cool summer morning, I had a daylily with an eye the pure color of a pale blue sky, without even a smidge of purple to it. Never to be seen again, not even close.

Same with MERLIN'S MOTH, a "very dark red blend." After cool nights and cool mornings, mine has been darkest, blackest daylily I've ever seen. Warming temperature as the day goes on or warm weather brings back the red undertones, and ditto with COPPER CHAMELEON, which has looked reddish, brownish, or blackish depending on I don't know what -- temperature, probably.

STARRY EYED PIRANHA has background color of "burgundy red." Yup, correct -- except for a few times this summer when it was a rich, almost pure chocolate brown.

My BELA LUGOSI usually looks like kousa's. There have been a few times when its flowers look like Welch's grape jelly. How I'd like to package and sell those weather-and-whatever conditions!

Ditto on the sole time that my BROWN WITCH bloomed a rich, chocolate brown with a near-royal purple eye outlined, if my recollection is accurate, in a brilliant red. Now what was THAT all about??? What do I need to do to see THAT again?

I do believe that exogenous factors (soil acidity, temperature, etc.) can affect flower color. Like I said, around here STRAWBERRY CANDY can be orange-ish, rather than a "strawberry pink blend." My WEBSTER'S PINK WONDER is not like the database image. But I bought it from someone about 20 miles from me, and his was indeed like the DB image. In a garden maybe 10 miles from me, it's also like the DB image. One of my favorites here is BEYOND THE SKY, which is often a pale, pearly pink. Just look at the database image and think about that! My RUBY LIPSTICK has a creamy base color with quite a bit of yellow to it rather than the registered ivory. (Think tapioca pudding.:) )My DISCARDED BEAUTY's base background color is much, much lighter than the one in the database.

Oranges, reds, and yellows are usually very good here. Also most whites. Also browns, most of the time. TEDDY BEARS PICNIC is registered as having a background color of "light chocolate," but the database's is most definitely mauve-y to me. This summer, mine was mostly mauve-y but in a good way (a rich, interesting color with brown understones that did not read muddy to me, and this is from someone who does not care for mauve), but it had some days looking like a real-life milk chocolate bar.

Most of my purples are reddish going to maroon (but I think most purple daylilies are on the red-purple side of the spectrum, am I right?), and lavenders are often quite pale. Many pinks have orange undertones, so I see them either with that under-color or as mauve.

I think there are a lot of catalog photos that are, let's say, quite "colorful." ;) But also, growing conditions do affect color, and hybridizers register their plants as they see them in their gardens....a reason, perhaps, to buy locally, at least sometimes, and especially if you're hoping to add a certain color to your garden?

"Wow, Polston's Red Star of Krypton is amazing! Thank you Lynxe for introducing me to Polston's daylilies."

I missed that before, sorry!

kousa, you're very welcome.

Speaking of colors changing, somewhere before I mentioned his DAY OF MAGIC. I was underwhelmed with that one for two (three?) years because it was so mauve for me. This summer was its first as a real pink that was just so pretty.

I guess this is why i like looking at everyone flowers no matter where they are growing. I think its fun to see the differences in the same cultivar. Its like everyone has their own little gem and i get to see them all!

Sherry

This post was edited by sherrygirl on Wed, Dec 24, 14 at 23:58

I think tempature might play a part of what color you get, too.I have a rose EBB TIDE, that is a beautifuol dark purple color in the early spring while its still very cool, but, after the temp warms up into the 80's and on up, its very Red.and I know of several other roses that's listed as purple that is very purple early in the spring, and turns red later on when it gets warmer outside.Daylilies might be the same way.

jean

The most Purple one I have is usually Indian Giver...but I figure with the heat and my soil, the maroons will be with me in purple daylilies. I see a few forum posters who seem to have purple, but they are usually northern gardeners.

kay

I believe that you are right, Kay. It seems to be the consensus based on the above posts. Hopefully, there will be some cool days next year that the purple shade of these daylilies can appear in some of my purple daylilies.

I agree with the temps & fertilizer theories, but genetics plays it part. Here's a Ruffled Blue Haze kid that I think is purple. Others that look purple to me are African Grape & Miles Davis.

Hostarina, I would love to see that color in my garden, but it isn't going to happen. Exsquisitely Subversive is about as purple as I get

{{gwi:2125545}}

kay

Take some paint chips out with you when you are checking color. Make sure it is a brand that is widespread. Then just let the person know which paint chip matches the color. If they have the same brand, the chip will match the color without worry about monitors, cameras, etc futzing up the color.

Take some paint chips out with you when you are checking color. Make sure it is a brand that is widespread. Then just let the person know which paint chip matches the color. If they have the same brand, the chip will match the color without worry about monitors, cameras, etc futzing up the color.

Exquisitely Subversive is more of a red purple in my garden. The hotter is is, the more red my purples are. Daylily purple is likely always going to have red tones. Some of the lavenders are more blue purple here.

Debra

Palace Garden Beauty blooms a medium light pinkish purple with a slightly darker and bluer purple eye in my garden. The color is definitely purple.

Those are incredible shades of purples, Celeste. Thank you for sharing. Once in a very long while in the early morning, I may catch this intense shade of purple on a purple daylily. But by late morning, they all turn into maroon. I particularly love Stargate Portal, Indian Giver, and Ring the Bells of Heaven.

Celeste, those are great purples. I have noticed that your purples have looked more true purple than other posters, but I thought maybe it was the camera. Glad to see it is true!

I have a couple that are more purple than others [Isode and Indian giver generally] but often that hint of red hue is still there].

I've been pondering this issue and seedlings, which I've just started doing [I've been collecting for 50+ years and just starting!]. My question is this: how is there green in daylilies since it takes blue and yellow to make green? Since there are true green throats, and some of them extend very high up in the flower, why can't it be mixed somehow with a purple or lavender flower to get to blue? And how would this be done?

Isolde

My Thieving Magpie isn't as dark but it is a scrumptious purple. I wish my pictures could do it justice.