I'm attaching a photo of a daylily purchased this season on LA that recently started blooming. I know that there are tremendous variations among the blooms of a given variety, but I'm not seeing JH in these blooms; seems closer to Bella Lugosi.
Thanks for your help!

I have seen many blooms of Jerry and of Bela, in my own garden and at Curt's. I grow two clumps of Jerry, and a big clump of Bela, both came from Curt.

Your photo doesn't really look like either to me.

The slightly darker eye in your photo doesn't fit my memory, as I think of it as having a more magenta color in the eye area, although I would not really call it an eye or an watermark, it's just part of the strange pattern that the flower can have most days. But I can't recall ever seeing a darker eye on it.

Jerry Hyatt shows many faces, though, and changes through the day. Have you seen it early in the morning? The leopard spots show up most often then. With hot days like we are having, and that I hear you are having in New England, it may not show the spots or smokey pattern if not seen early in the day.

The other thing that makes me think it may not be Jerry is that it never stuck me as a flower with round ruffled petals. I think of it as more triangular and tailored.

I would say no to Bela, because it has always been a " true " self... No eye, no midrib ...just smooth rich dark purple, with a satin sheen. At least in the morning you should be able to see it...almost like light diamond dusting. I will link one of my photos from the database below that shows the sheen.

Have you looked at the photos in the ATP database? I think there are quite a few, and quite varied photos of Jerry Hyatt.

It's so hot here, I have my main computer shut down (where my images are) and I am using an iPad. Otherwise, I would take a look at my images of both of them. I may go look them up in the database myself, just curious now!

I will take a better look at both tomorrow morning for you. They are both at peak bloom here. I think the slightly darker eye on the flower in your photo are going to help a lot in telling if you have Bela.

This is what I would think of as Jerry's "plain" face. See how the magenta shows ... Not a darker eye area?

And, notice the petal shape? No real ruffles, more triangular, less round.

Click to enlarge.... The sheen shows up better then.

Some of the database photos really don't look like Bela to me either. I wonder if some of them are the wrong plants or if they are from the tissue culture plants that started showing up in garden centers with the name Bela Lugosi (As far as I have ever understood, Curt had nothing to do with the tissue culturing)

I agree it definitely doesn't look like JH.

The person you got it from is pretty reputable person (even though his feedback is low) so if it's the wrong plant it was most likely an honest mistake. Have you sent him an email with photo to see if he knows what it may be?

tink3472 said:I agree it definitely doesn't look like JH.

The person you got it from is pretty reputable person (even though his feedback is low) so if it's the wrong plant it was most likely an honest mistake. Have you sent him an email with photo to see if he knows what it may be?

Yes, no response so far...but also no response (or feedback) from prior e-mail asking him to leave me feedback on the transactions.

The first season I had Jerry Hyatt, it didn't show the "cheetah spots" that it now shows regularly in the AM. I felt fairly sure that it was the right plant ( as it had come from Curt) but it took a couple of years to establish.
Here are first season blooms VS now.
I can't even believe they are the same cultivar but they are!
FIrst year:

NOW:

( Ugh: for some reason, pictures were not downloading correctly today. Will try to post some recent images of this later!) Will say that the bloom form of the image you posted DOES look more like Bela Lugosi, IMHO. The shape isn't right for Jerry Hyatt.

floota said:The first season I had Jerry Hyatt, it didn't show the "cheetah spots" that it now shows regularly in the AM. I felt fairly sure that it was the right plant ( as it had come from Curt) but it took a couple of years to establish.
Here are first season blooms VS now.
I can't even believe they are the same cultivar but they are!
FIrst year:

NOW:

( Ugh: for some reason, pictures were not downloading correctly today. Will try to post some recent images of this later!) Will say that the bloom form of the image you posted DOES look more like Bela Lugosi, IMHO. The shape isn't right for Jerry Hyatt.

Bela Lugosi, in my garden never gets to the incredible near-black of the photo by Daylily (I wish it did!), but presents as a deeply saturated dark red with yellow throat. I wasn't certain if the darker marks on my photo above was just a trick of the light on certain angles, or really a permanent feature- I see them morning and late afternoon. Someone recently posted about the enormous number of registered daylilies, so the chances are very good I'll never really know what it is...but I think I know what it isn't

julrich said:
Bela Lugosi, in my garden never gets to the incredible near-black of the photo by Daylily (I wish it did!), but presents as a deeply saturated dark red with yellow throat.

Mine is planted where it gets shade till noon, and that does help with photos.

Curt is known for purples, and Bela still is one of the nicest, in my opinion. I also like his Sleepy Hollow. I grow Rice's Theodore Kline, which is a favorite in the purple color range, but I still judge them all by Bela. This morning, I looked **really** hard and might have sen the faintest darker area next to the throat. An hour later, it was all one color.

I have grown a tissue culture one from Lowes for 2-3 years just to see what it was like. Who knows if those mass produced things are even related to the "real" plant, or do they just take any old daylily and put the catchy Bela Lugosi name on it? Anyway, the one I grew had poor plant habit, was burgundy/brown and not quite the right shape.

Any chance yours was from tissue culture? Even if it came from a club or a grower, it could have been TC before they got it.

Ok, now, Jerry.... I just looked at it in full sun, 96 degrees, almost 2 p.m. The magenta area is still lighter than the base petal color, even though it is slicked from the sun. It will look much better this evening. Hot afternoons are the worst time to look at daylilies, that is for sure.

When you do get the real Jerry.... It hates to be moved and divided. You will see the branching and prettiest flowers after you let it clump up.

It is a great plant to breed with if you like unusual patterns, spots, smokey greyed lavender purples. Taking it to Joan Derifield has produced some amazing and very interesting things for Curt and for other people I know. Check out Paradise Bar and Grill. It is one that photos just do not capture.