Ed - I love reds! Unfortunately, the thrips attack them here in my garden beds. I wonder if that might be why reds aren't so popular? I also heard dark purple colored daylilies are also prone to that pest problem. I am an organic gardener because I host butterflies and hummingbirds in my yard. So any daylilies that seem to be less prone to pests or diseases is a good daylily in my book regardless of color of bloom! (I get rust here in Florida, too, along with aphids. We get it ALL in Florida unfortunately ....ugh!)
This is what two of my red blooming NOID blooms looked like with the thrip attack. I had one purple that did the same thing (no photo). I will say that Roses in the Snow and Mamas Cherry Pie had no thrip issues this past year or any year since I have been growing them. They are both hybrids with an unknown pollen parent. So maybe it isn't really a "red" bloom issue, but something else attracting the pests to red and dark purple blooming daylilies?
Red blooming NOID daylilies infected with thrips:
Mamas Cherry Pie NOID was untouched by thrips:
And so was Roses in the Snow NOID:
Single bloom of Roses in the Snow NOID hybrid:
And I did have some other red blooming NOIDs that did NOT get thrips as well:
This is an unknown hybrid:
