Sheese I just got Bela Lugosi this year, no blooms. I sure hope mine has better color. How long did you keep it? They say some daylilies can take up to 3 years to settle in.

I have had it for 3 yrs. and no bloom but I think it is because it is in the back of a bed and hard to get to so it gets totally ignored and the soil is rock hard right there. I am moving it next year and will see what it does. Otherwise it is out of here.

I have to agree if it disappoints it has to go!!!

Ironically, it did take 3 years to finally bloom. The clump kept getting bigger and bigger, but no blooms. I even let it stay for another year after the first bloom season but the 2nd year was just as bad, so out it went. Probably just our weather. I'd seen it in photos and it always looked good.
Sometimes you just get one that doesn't do well in your particular area...for some unknown reason.
Live and learn, I guess.

'Bela Lugosi' is one of my favorites when it comes to dark DL's.

'Mary's Baby' is another that steals my heart.

I have had Bela Lugosi since it came out. It is my gold standard to judge all the other purples to.

Any chance that the disapointing Bela's were from tissue culture?

I wonder if the disappointment you are seeing in it has to do with the number of tissue cultured Bela's on the market these days. I have grown several daylilies that were TC, alongside divisions I got from the hybridizer. The TCs were really disappointing. I remember how upset Curt was when he found out that Bela was being TCed. I won't buy any daylilies from "box" stores or nurseries now, knowing most have been TC'd.

Thats what I was thinking too Juli. I've only bought one DL from a big box store..'Wild Horse's" I bought it when it was in bloom so I could make sure it was the color it was supposed tio be. Surprisingly it has done very well here and doesn't have all the flaws most TC have.

I got mine when I was getting started and no idea where it came from now but over the internet or Ebay and that may very well be the problem with it.

How does one know if it's TC'd or not ? I never knew about any of this.

Celeste if my Belia Lugosi looks like yours I will be very happy. Mary's Baby is gorgeous!!

Calsurf73, most of the big stores (like Walmart, Lowes, Kmart) sell tc'd daylilies. They import them from the Netherlands. That's where most of them are tc'd. It's better to buy your daylilies from a reputable daylily garden business. Check the Lily Auction and you should get some fine plants.

Thank you, 'Bela' took awhile to get settled and I wondered if it got to much shade, but this year it did great.

Thanks, Cindy. You're right. The Bela Lugosi I had was from Kmart and came from one of those places in the Netherlands. At the same time I bought "Ribbon Candy" and it too was horrible. It ended up being Frans Hall which I already have. I didn't know that's how they grew them there. Thanks for that info. All my other daylilies did come from reliable growers and/or trades with people on here or on Daves and have all performed perfectly.

I'm attempting to find a contrasting dl to go with my Paper Butterfly. Anyone know of one with a reverse color pattern that grows the same height and blooms at the same time ? This is a hard one for me to "pair". (Sorry for the dark background in the picture, but it shows the consistency of it's color.)
This is in an area of the garden that's all colors like PB and a Burgundy Iceberg Rose, purple yarrow, penstemons, etc.

You are welcome. How about Stargate Portal??? It is 40" and blooms mid to late season although it is dormant and I am not sure how dormants do where you live.

How about PICTURE IN PICTURE?

Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Picture in Picture')



Or RASPBERRY FLAMBE?

Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Raspberry Flambe')

betty both of those are beautiful.