Hi everyone!
I just found out that a new fan of one of my DLs is purple... at the base, and a thin line on the borders. I can't take a good photo because it's a big clump. Is it a sort of deficiency? I know that Phosphorus deficiency causes purple leaves but in the article older leaves and tips are mentioned.

Sounds like anthocyanin pigment. It's common in a lot of plants. In irises its called 'PBF' which is an acronym for 'purple based foliage'. It's not a bad thing, just a characteristic of some plants.

Thank you! It's Nairobi Dawn and the flowers are purple, is it related?

cybersix said:Thank you! It's Nairobi Dawn and the flowers are purple, is it related?

I think the trait is independent from the color of the bloom, but there may be cases where it's not. I acquired 'Biloxi Memories' last fall and it is exhibiting the trait pretty strongly at the base of the foliage, but the bloom is yellow. In irises, the anthocyanin in the foliage often fades or disappears when the weather is hot. Sometimes it's only noticeable on new growth in cool weather.

I also have a couple of daylilies with that trait with no ill effects.

Sabrina, I went out and took a photo of 'Biloxi Memories'. Sometimes words are better in conjunction with a photo .

Nice looking plant!

I've seen this before, way back when, on some plants. My memory banks are telling me that the purple based foliage in daylilies is related to certain species, and that (? maybe ? ) this might be more common with some of the spidery daylilies.

...

OK, I just went surfing on the web looking for an answer for this, and to check my memory. What I found was that the "pink socks" (supposedly what it is called in daylilies?) derives from H. citrina. 'Kindly Light' supposedly is one plant that has it.



And Larry, 'Kindly Light' (a diploid) supposedly has a 1.3 rust resistance, per the ATP database. Just in case you're interested...

I have heard it referred to red sox as well and I think my Magic of Oz has the colored base.

I have Kindly Light and it does have the color at the base.

Polymerous,
Yes I was interested to know that about the "Pink Socks" on Kindly Light. I just planted it this week!

Larry, You'll really like the way it lights up the garden when in bloom. It blends great with other colors. Here are a couple pictures from last year.



I need take a picture of the foliage.

taylordaylily said:I have Kindly Light and it does have the color at the base.

The parentage of 'Biloxi Memories' is given as ((Lacy Marionette x Banana Pepper Spider) x ((Almost Paradise x De Colores) x De Colores)) and of those four, all but 'De Colores' are direct descendants of 'Kindly Light'. I guess it's not much of surprise, then, that 'Biloxi Memories' has purple based foliage. I wonder if the resistance to rust attributed to 'Kindly Light' was also transmitted to 'Biloxi Memories'? A rust rating is not listed in the database, but if that's a heritable trait, then 'Biloxi Memories' would seem to be a good bet to grow in areas where rust thrives. It may be just too hot and dry normally for rust to establish and thrive in my location, though I'm certainly warm enough. I'm suspecting that I'll see it at some point. Last year with all the rain would have been prime, though, and I don't think I had any.

Sorry, Sabrina, we're getting away from your question here /

Sorry for delay, and many thanks to everyone! I have this DL since 2014 and never saw that purple effect. It's on a new fan, the older fans are green only! How do you know if a DL has "pink socks"? It's not a trait in the ATP database.

Is the article you mention the one that was posted in another link, from the AHS Daylily Journal? If so, notice that the author said he was not able to induce phosphorous deficiency in daylilies so has described symptoms that occur in other plants. Not all plants necessarily react in exactly the same way to a nutrient issue although often one can generalize.

In an earlier study by scientists at the University of Chicago (written up in the 2002 AHS Daylily Handbook), phosphorous deficiency induced in daylilies produced a large number of dark green leaves but there was no mention of purpling.

With the "pink socks" that occur naturally in certain daylily cultivars, the only way to know if it's typical in a particular cultivar would be to ask, I guess. It's not something that is usually included in the descriptions. There are certain daylilies that are well known to have "pink socks", such as Hemerocallis citrina as has already been mentioned.

cybersix said:Sorry for delay, and many thanks to everyone! I have this DL since 2014 and never saw that purple effect. It's on a new fan, the older fans are green only! How do you know if a DL has "pink socks"? It's not a trait in the ATP database.

I don't understand why it would be showing on only one fan and not the others. What I've shown is a plant characteristic and would be present the same in all fans. So perhaps the purple you are seeing on your plant is not the same.

What Donald said. Sabrina is there any way you could try and post a picture, even if it's not perfect?

Sue and Donald, here are some pictures.
I can see the same color is on older fans but less compared to new fans. It's one thing I never noticed the past year, maybe this pink sockings effect is one thing that can appear with time?
Leaves have a really subtle purple border. I really hope I'm not the first one able to cause a phosphorus deficiency in daylilies!

Sabrina, That is how the pink socking on Kindly Light looks in my garden. The color fades a little on older fans.

That looks normal Sabrina. The anthocyanin has probably just faded some on the older fans, which is what it does. So your just seeing a stronger expression of the pigment showing on a new fan. It will fade too, in time, as it ages.