I don't have a lot of red daylilies in my garden that perform well. So I honestly can't pick five that are my favorites. But these are the ones I think are the prettiest and do well for me.

Glowing Inferno (relatively new so we'll see how well it performs)


Little Red Warbler (picky about its position but when happy performs well)


Ruby Claret (like velvet but can not take a good picture and I've been trying for years)


Seedling (first seedling I ever decided to keep)

I have new reds on the way- they might replace some of my current five faves : )

FireBlast


Heavenly Velociraptor

(from stilldew)

Holly Dancer

Tons of flowers last year, gorgeous in its clump.

Redheaded Hussy

Bought for my 86 y.o. red headed and devoutly Christian G'ma- who laughed hysterically when I told her I bought RHH for her)

Reminds Me of Fireworks

Also from stilldew- this one was poly after poly last year.

Super excited for this years blooms as Fire Pegasus, Buddy's Shaun and others get to blooming.

Lots of pretty here and I do Love a red Daylily!

This is a new one blooming its head off this year for me,
'Spacecoast Francis Busby'


This one bloomed itself silly last year,
'Apache Beacon'


This is another that will reach out from across the lawn and scream at you,
'Prairie Wildfire'


This one hasn't bloomed for me yet that has been worthy of posting anyway. Arlene, I borrowed your picture.
'Shakespeare's Red'


And then it brings me to this one.
A seedling that I registered and named after my Mother-n-Law that passed away a couple years ago. She was full of sass and would not hesitate to tell you like it was, unfiltered! God I miss her. If she hadn't loved this daylily so much I probably wouldn't have registered it. The scape is short like she was and the bud count is low. This is the FFE that opened back in 2016, I have however, shared numerous pictures of her in the past. So without further delay I present,

'Sassy Kay Johnson'


There're so many other reds I love so much, but keeping it to the five.

Love that first one Stan. I have Shakespeare's Red and love it

Okay, I was going to list my favorites, Stan, but it turns out
that I choose all of them. Gorgeous reds.

My favorite reds are oldies...

1967

1981

1984

1991

1995


And...just cuz I love this pic...August Flame again.


Edit: I forgot to say that all of these reds, really, are R.E.D. red. Ruby Spider is far redder than the pic I chose...I just used it because it looks all Crispate vs Spatulate. I'd say August Flame does tend toward the orange end of the red spectrum...but it's still DEFINITELY red. 😉

Ken, your photo of August Flame actually looks like a flame.
Love reds, and these are excellent examples.

mistyfog said:Ken, your photo of August Flame actually looks like a flame.
Love reds, and these are excellent examples.

Thank you so much! I do love that pic. August Flame is pretty tall, plus my clump is in a big 24" high pot. I love catching it with either the rising sun behind it or the setting sun on its face.

You're very welcome. You outdid yourself with that flame photo.
I love that photo too.

Red is my favorite color, and I have a lot of gorgeous red daylilies, some of which have already been mentioned here. My top five are all great performers with excellent rust resistance and fabulous red color.

1. Spacecoast Little Red Ninja

This plant is a monster: tall, sturdy scapes; huge, brilliant red ruffly blooms; fast increaser; highly rust-resistant; very long bloom period

2. Insider Trading

This was #1 until edged out by Spacecoast Little Red Ninja. Tall, fast increaser, gorgeous blooms, never a speck of rust, lots of proliferations

3. Caught Red Handed

This one is a top performer here. Beautiful color, lots of proliferations, well-branched, long bloom period

4. Chicago Apache

This is an older cultivar but is a winner in every respect.

5. Desert Flame

I love this plant, but it does fade a bit in the hot afternoon sun.

I started out by going through my list and including every plant that was rust-resistant and had good red color. I ended up with eight. With regret I cut Passion for Red, Bill Fall, and Whooperee because they were not as good bloomers as the others.

I have other reds I like, too, but they are more rust-prone.

I have some new ones I expect to complete for the top spots next summer: Bukharaa Spice, Kaskel Super Red, War Horse, Mount Doom. We will see! I have a lot to look forward to.

Those are some very special reds, Nan! And I certainly enjoyed seeing the pictures of them that you posted this summer. Especially Insider Trading.

You have some very nice reds Nan. Spacecoast Little Red Ninja sounds like it has a great plant under those pretty blooms too. I grew Desert Flame years ago until a friend picked it as a favorite while walking through the garden. I sent him home with it. Red daylilies, as a color, are not my favorites. That said the garden would be rather blah without them catching your eye from a distance and then admiring close up...

Arrogant Bastard, wonderful saturated color on a great plant.

Cowboys and Dreamers, pretty pleated red on a tall plant.

Crimson Enigma, a red cristate diploid.

Higher Fire, although it's parent Matchless Fire seems to get all the attention for being photogenic, I like Higher Fire better for the hot red color and height. It's taller than Matchless Fire.

Mercury Lounge, gorgeous pleated red. A little on the shorter side so perfect in front of taller daylilies.

Mystic Pizza, Love this one although I wish it were taller, extra large blooms are just above the foliage, spectacular in a clump!


Rattle Your Bones, red pleated and cristate diploid, grandkid of Crimson Enigma.

Wispy Rays, I think anyone who has grown this one loves it. An evergreen that grows good here in zone 4 without any extra attention.

Ok, 5, huh? So hard

All American Chief, huge, beautiful blooms



Eye of the Beerholder, fantastic late red that just keeps making flowers



Springfield Clan, big beautiful, super flowers



Ruby Throat, so very red and spectacular, a very strong plant, good increaser



War Horse, super late and a Bud builder, great strong plant with good branching



I have so many great reds but these are the ones that spring to mind when I think top five

Top five I gave up trying to figure out which one I liked better than the other and just posted them.

I like your War Horse Zoia. Budbuilders are such a good addition to the garden.

I love your Cowboys and Dreamers, it's a great plant here. But I wouldn't classify it as a red, more of a dark pink







Arrogant Bastard has been a disappointment so far. Hasn't gotten swinging and seems unhappy.




Insider Trading is a nice plant, Nan but has not gone crazy like yours. I'm hoping it just needs time to settle in.

Wow, I looked back and discovered I had actually started this thread back in 2011, and now I don't even have any of the five beauties I started with then -- how times (and I) have changed...

So now it's my TEN favorite reds:

REALITY STONE


RED RAGEOUS


RED MATTER


FLAMING SHOWMAN


DR. ROBERT BURKHART


SENSATIONAL HEART


LARRY BRUCE


UNBOUND


SPACECOAST FIRE DRAGON


ERUPTING RED



And I think I'll throw in one extra for good measure:
BURST OF FREEDOM

Love those Betty! Red Ragious, Larry Bruce and Dr Robert Burkhart in particular.

Betty, those are gorgeous. Erupting Red and Unbound in particular made my heart go pitter-pat.

Zoia, love that picture of Ruby Throat. Char, Mercury Lounge is gorgeous.

Love those reds!

Vickie, thanks. Insider Trading indeed has gone crazy here, as Zoia said. It was in my very first order from Brian Reeder. It seems as though it jumped out of the box and into the ground in order to start growing as quickly as possible. It's one of those plants that just loves my garden.

I did divide it this year to share some with another forum member, so we will see how quickly it recovers.

So many pretty reds.

A thread 12 years old still going strong! It is easy to see why favorites would change in that length of time.