I like daylilies but am not infatuated with them. I am looking to add a red-purplish one to my July garden and am feeling totally intimidated trying to weed through all the cultivars. Any suggestions for a plain-jane inexpensive spot of purple to add to my border? I don't really care about all the frilly edges and such - I'm content with Stella as my gold color (have her in several spots). Thanks.

Deb, which pantone number looks closest to the red-purplish shade you want?

http://pantonecolors.org/

IMO, every garden should have Bela Lugosi. It's an affordable bloom machine on sturdy scapes. I wouldn't call it red-purplish (in my soil) but it's very reliable.

Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Bela Lugosi')

Do you want light or dark? Do you care if it has a watermark? One that looks different depending on the time of day? These example photos are all from plants I have or have had in my yard. See what you think of them.

Bela Lugosi


Black Briar Bay


Cape Cod


Darker Shade


Mary's Baby


Mindanao Deep

Not sure what your favorite shade of red-purple might be, but I can second "Darker Shade" as a nice purple. And, there are lots of border-size cultivars to choose from, depending on how small you want to go:

Thank you all for your quick responses and photos - that was most helpful. ATP currently has over 77,000 daylilies in our database and I simply couldn't slog through them all - especially not being familiar with whatever ploidies are, what the different bloom seasons are, etc. which made a more focused search problematic for me. Lovesmyhouse has generously offered me one of her beauties which will work quite well. (Thank you, thank you)

I agree that if you're only to grow one purple, it should be Bela Lugosi.

I will keep my eye out for that one at my local nurseries, love the name. I'm not limiting myself to just one purple, I have several Stellas scattered around my yard and it was becoming a bit heavy on the gold side (not in a bad way, just needs some offsetting).

If you like them small then you might like Little Grapette (Williamson, 1970)
height 12in (30cm), bloom 2in (5.1cm), season E, Semi-Evergreen, Diploid, Grape self. (Lavender Doll × sdlg)

Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Little Grapette')

Here it is framed by my hand to give scale.

Ah, lovemyhouse, at it again with her generosity I think she is creating a legacy that will be growing all around the country very soon. I'm so glad you posted, and have found those friendly daylilies to join Stella in your yard!

shive1 said:I agree that if you're only to grow one purple, it should be Bela Lugosi.

[quote="dormantsrule"]Deb, which pantone number looks closest to the red-purplish shade you want?

http://pantonecolors.org/

That is a very handy reference! I have often wished that daylily colors were called by their place on the colorwheel rather than crimson, scarlet, rose, mauve, and some of the more fanciful names.

Paying it forward, Tina.

lovemyhouse said:Paying it forward, Tina.

Debra....You are a treasure. Good karma follows you everywhere.

And corrupting the rest of us into doing the same (we hope)!

Nordic Night is a favorite of mine. I plan to offer it for sale in the classifieds this fall.

Use this photograph to advertise it, Susan.

So many beauties!

There is a Purple Stella too in the same size as Stella D'oro though it is more of a bluish purple and another in the same size range though it can be hard to find is Pawn of Prophesy. I don't see Purple Stella in the data base though.
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Pawn of Prophecy')