Remember the poem about a lady who will wear purple when she gets older? The poem goes on to say that she will do all the things she wanted to do when she was younger, but didn't have the courage to do at the time. Purple is one color that is so strong that you either like it or not.
Last year, I, who have always gravitated toward pink and peach colored daylilies, fell in love with the color purple. Now, I don't know if it is the fact that I turn 59 this year or if I am just drawn to this color. I had to have a magnificent deep purple buddeia, too.
What makes up the color purple. Well, if you remember our discussion on the elusive blue daylily, you recall the Anthocyanidin pigments are the intensely colored water-soluble pigments of flowers that are in the aqueous vacuoles of the flower's plant cells. I squeezed an expired purple daylily flower and my hands were stained purple. (Hmm, I wonder if you could do water colors with old flowers.) This come from the anthocyanidin pigment of delphinidin. How do I know this? Some guys in a lab actually used a spectroscopic and chromatographic study of daylilies. I am taking their word for this.
Anyway, the first "purple" daylily that I bought was PRAIRIE BLUE EYES from Oakes. This daylily was supposed to be a step toward a blue daylily. It is still a rather unique plant. I like the way the Oakes site is arranged. You can click on the color or type of the daylily that you want. And you can also click on a NEXT or PREV button to view the flowers of the type you picked. I have MOUNTAIN VIOLET, LITTLE GRAPETTE, and SWIRLING WATER. I want LADY EVA. I just have to find a place to put her! These pictures are from the Oakes Web site. STRUTTER'S BALL, SILOAM PLUM TREE, and ALWAYS AFTERNOON are from the Paradise Garden Web site. Please see the Pine Branch Daylily Garden for more of the CASTLE line of daylilies.
ALWAYS AFTERNOON |
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