I love selfs. With all the huge edges of different colors these days, I am afraid the solid color self may be a thing of the past.

Bela Lugosi remains one of my very favorite selfs.

Dark is beautiful. I have Bela Lugosi, Killer and Tupac Amaru
Killer is my favorite, Bela the least favorite. Have all 3 together and they do bloom at the same time, I like Bela's color but the other 2 out perform it as far as blooms go.

This is our own LILLIAN KATHLEEN its a comlpete self with only one color.

This is LILLIAN'S THIN ICE

Please humor this novice. Does self mean that it's all one color?

Yes. The throat may be green, or yellow green, but the petals would be all the same color.

Here is another example....
'Ascension by Fire' (Hanson-C., 2001

Some daylilies have "eyes" - darker areas near the throat, some have "watermarks" which are lighter areas... sometimes the front three petals are a different color than the back three -- which are bicolors and bitones.

Thank you, Jules.

Stormy,
The daylily in my avatar "Jerry Hyatt" has an eye.... to give you an example of something that is not a self.

OOPS - I posted the wrong pic of 'Ascension by Fire'

The photo was taken with my Canon and it throws all the color to the yellow/orange range.

Here is the right one, after balancing the color. 'Ascension by Fire' is glowing rose-magenta, not a bright red like the first image looks.

Thanks, Jules. I really do understand now. I had often seen the term, but wasn't sure what it meant. I do know about eyes, and watermarks, but am not sure what the difference between bitones and bicolors is.

I don't have many photos of bitones or bicolors to post for you - it's not something I looked for in the daylilies I have grown.

A Bicolor might have the front petals red, the back petals yellow.

A Bitone would have the front petals and back petals different shades of the same color... the front petals might be dark pink, and the back petals light pink.

Here is one I can think of... Dottie Warrell's "Douglas Debate"
I **think** this would be a bitone, because the back petals are similar in color to the front petals... just lighter. It is kind of on the border of biTONE and biCOLOR.

Ok, I thought of another that is a definite biTONE... the back petals are a lighter shade of the front petals.
Curt's "Roaring Fork"

Thank you, Jules. That is one lovely Daylily. I do understand the difference now.

Yes, That is a very good example.

I don't think I have ever grown a bicolor. They are not very common.

You can also have reverse bitones (and bicolors) where the front petals are lighter than the back petals.

I am worried that the Self won't be around in a few years. Almost all the breeders are going for daylilies with big edges, which most often contrast with the petal color. I love selfs, am not fond of edges... so I have not bought many new intros in the last few years.

Most of my daylilies are older introductions, so I have a number of selfs, which I like. This is Double Trouble.

I love the selfs as well as the flashier edges and eyes.

Here is an oldie but goodie

Pearl Harbor

Winter Treasure is also nice.