Betty: I saw a photo of Talladega that was taken at the Trimmers and it is pretty much the same color as yours. James Hall gave it to me so it will be interesting to see what color it is for me. I may have to redo my hybridizing area next season. I put my reds together, my purples together, and my pinks, and so on. I'll probably have to rearrange them to better suit the true colors.
:rofl:
I have read on other forums about the use of epsom salt to enhance colors. There are varying opinions on this. Some say that it makes pinks more vibrant and less peachy but others say it makes pinks more peachy. Some say it's the morning sun and not the salt. Someone had moved a non impressive peachy daylily to the back yard along the fence then the next season it bloomed the truest pink they've seen. Then they moved it to the front so they could see it better and it went back to being peachy (they say it's the morning sun).
Epsom salt (as well as sewage sludge--milorganite) is said to enhance the blue in daylilies, could be why some photos are more blue than they really are (other than the obvious photoshop ones). It is supposed to make the reds and purples more vibrant.
Some say it makes yellows and whites and pastels more vibrant, but again others say it makes whites peachy or dirty looking. Someone said that it can clear up muddy colors somewhat as well. I wish I had all the sites from my old computer I saved. There was one place that had photo differences of the same daylily with and without epsom salt. I can't find it now.
If you read on the various hybridizers blogs and such, a lot of them add epsom salt to their soil mixtures. Now, if they do foliar sprays also I do not know. So this could be a reason why their reds or purples are much deeper colors than in a normal garden. Also, some of the photos are taken in the greenhouse, this makes a difference in the look of a bloom. Sometimes the hybridizer will tell you in the description it was taken in the greenhouse.
I have some seedlings that are far from the color they were for the hybridizer. You wouldn't think they were the same daylily, but I know they are. Soil plays a big role into the colors as well. Sort of like the hydrangeas. You can by a gorgeous pink one, but if your soil isn't the correct ph it will just turn back blue or a blue will turn purple. The big hybridizers use the best of the best when it comes to soil, fertilizers, and such so of course they will have a lot better color, and growth, and bud count, and height, and............... you get the picture.
This is all just my humble opinion once again.
But like Rita said, the pictures are probably taken on the best day the flower has ever had. I know the hybridizer's want to show the very best photo they have sort of like all the magazines we read with the photos of all the gorgeous people. Well, all those people have been photoshopped as well. I saw a photo of one celebrity with no makeup or airbrushing (as I've heard it called) and sort of like that daylily, you wouldn't think it was the same person.
But when there is such a big difference in color from the bright red to whatever you want to call that purplish, lavenderish color it makes you wonder what they were thinking.
