Could be the soil, could be the climate, could be just the fact that it's really hard to photograph daylily colors accurately, and could be just the time of day they were photographed.

I personally find it very difficult to photograph purple. My camera is a few years old and wasn't a high end one to begin with, so maybe that is the problem. My purple seedlings always come out looking reddish.

Having a fairly new digital camera has shown me how cameras differ. My old camera wasn't digital and blue flowers looked more purple. Now my new camera, it is just the opposite, purple flowers look more blue. I try to fix this if I can with the program that came with the digital camera. And some flowers are just down right hard to capture the real color. The human eye can see millions of colors, or it seems so. A camera cannot.
Now the problem can be as said above, soil, temperatures, time of day picture is taken, lighting (cloudy day or sunny), fertilizers used and then there is the problem that new plants aren't established yet. They look better when they have been there longer.
This is all clear as mud, right?

Laura,

If it's any consolation you are not alone. In my experiece daylilies are never as purple or lilac as the photo shows in my own garden. To be honest, I sometimes wonder how they can get away with using a description other than burgandy or pink to describe some "purples" or "lavenders". I've thrown out many a "purple" finding them deep red. Likewise many "pinks" really look peach in my garden. If you search the word "purple" or even "pink" in this forum you will probably find more opinions on this.

Join the club of those seeking real purple and lilac colored daylilies. My favourite close to purples are Prairie Blue Eyes, Destined to See, Hint of Blue, Siloam Tiny Tim, but you will find many other recommendations from others should you ask. I sometimes find others recommendations of "good purples" are still too red for my taste.

I do find a good rainfall increases the apparent "purple power" of my Prairie Blue Eyes. Love to hear if others have any tricks to increase the purple power.

Which daylily cultivars did you buy?

Mary

Mary -
I bought all miniatures: Raspberry Pixie, Addie Branch Smith, and May May. That last one has not put up any scapes yet, but I'm not worrying, because none of these were slated to bloom this early by the catalog, and it looks healthy. May May, of course, is supposed to be an ivory DL, so it shouldn't be affected by this "Red Shift". Anyway, thank you SO MUCH for your help - and thanks to all of you, gdionelli, carmen grower, and ladylovingdove - I feel a lot better. Not just more informed, but also like I have company in this dilemma!

I have never had a daylily turn out exactly like it's picture. Close sometimes, but never exact. Now I just hope for the best. May May is one of my old dependables, but it has never been ivory in my yard.

JoAnn

Here is a link that might be useful: May May

Hi Laura,

Getting "purple and pink" daylilies to look like their pictures is tough. I've heard so many people spend alot of time and money looking for true purple and pinks. One of my favorite purples is Indian Giver. While not a large flower, it is a true purple in my yard and remains my favorite flower. Blueberry Breakfast and Trahlyta are also purple that on the "blue" side. As to pinks, I've had problems getting pink daylilies to bloom truly pink. I've grown Strawberry Candy, Judith, and Chorus Line and all were a definite "peachy pink" or salmon pink. So far, my most pink daylily is Soft Summer Night.

JoAnn, thanks for posting info about May May and for sharing your experience with it. I bought it (finally) this year and can't wait until it blooms. I understood that it is supposed to be a pale yellow, that can look white from a distance. Is yours fragrant, as I have read that it is fragrant? I bought it because it is supposed to be a heavy bloomer.

Linda ~ Linlily

Different color, oh my, what fun. Several years ago, I had a digital camera. I also had VELVET SHADOWS blooming and none of my pictures were the "true" color. My daughter and
a daughter-in-law also had daylilies and digital cameras. They, too, couldn't match the flower, all three of us kept running out to our respective gardens trying different ideas to try and get the "right color".. No luck. We would email each picture to each other to compare. We spent nearly a whole morning doing this (DL people are crazy). We had very nice pictures but not quite right.

That week, I bought a new digital camera, the first thing I took a picture of Velvet Shadows and would you believe, the picture perfectly matched the flower. I was so happy. It wasn't long before they bought new cameras (not like mine) but they got the same results.

Kay

try what i did last year. i took one petal off some of my seedlings,put them on my scanner,then printed them out ,the results was outstanding as the color,was perfect ten take a picturer of the plant and compare the two. it is well worth it.

What you need to know about May May, is that she needs a couple of years to settle in. The first two years after I got her, almost nothing (and I nearly tossed her).

The 3rd and 4th years, over 100 scapes and 600 blossoms over the summer.

I divided and gave 1/2 the clump to a friend the 5th year, and again, almost nothing. The next year, back to wow on amount of scapes and bloom.

Old fashioned simple look, but puts Stella to shame for bloom. Just be patient and give her time.

Mary Rockland,

Have you tried using epsom salts on your daylilies?

I find that if I use it, I get a peach tone to the white daylilies, and better coloring on my pink daylilies.

Marbree

Here is a link that might be useful: Something Wonderful

Hi,

I also have May May. Bought her last year. Leaves very slim, but bloomed just fine first year, very soft pale yellow and no orange or peach cast. Addie Branch Smith and Raspberry Pixie I have no experience with. Perhaps others can comment.

It's also well documented on this site that the color of blooms can change slightly as a plant changes from immature to mature. Would be fun to learn exactly what aspects of the soil change the color.

Marbree that's interesting about epsom salts. Not sure if I gave that a go yet. I have heard it suggested before on this site, (perhaps I saw it in the winter) but never to get a more peach color. That's amazing. I can see that would be exciting if you like your daylilies on the peach side. Unfortunately, I prefer my whites to have a yellowish hue if there must be any color at all.

When you say "better coloring" on your pinks do you mean more red (darker) or brighter (more fluorescent) pink, or more purplish or how would you describe the change it makes? I'd love to hear if others have found epsom salts make changes, especially if take some of the red out of their purples. If it does that's amazing that it could add orange to some white daylilies and take red out of others.

Mary

I'm curious about what would define "better coloring" too.

I have a cool color scheme in a couple of my gardens beds- pinks/purples/blues- and I was disappointed when most of what I selected as pinks have bloomed with a decidedly peach/orange cast to them ( including janice brown, jolyene nicole, strawberry candy, persian market, chorus line, siloam double rose, etc...) I've learned to love them all, of course, but have had to move many to a more color-compatible location. :D. When I asked about this a couple of years ago, I was told that it was most likely my climate and conditions (soil type, sun, rainfall etc...).

I'm curious if there was some amendment I could make to help them bloom truer to the original color. Like adding lime/acidic fertilizer to change the color of hydrangeas, for example.

Hi, Laura here again - Not only do I now have a better understanding of the "Red Shift", thanks to all of you, but I'm also very glad to have the information about "May May". So far, still no scapes, but even if it doesn't happen at all this year, it sounds so definitely Worth It! I will give it every chance. Thanks, everyone.
Laura