Bela Lugosi is widely considered one of the best purple daylilies, with 6-inch flowers in a saturated, true purple around a lime green throat. For such a dark color it holds up remarkably well in full sun.
The plant is vigorous, well branched and heavily budded, blooming in midsummer on scapes almost three feet tall. Like most daylilies it copes with tough sites, including slopes, poor dry soil and spots near salted pavement.
What it looks like
Large flowers about 6 inches across with broad, slightly ruffled tepals in deep, saturated royal purple with a velvety sheen, narrowing to a bright lime green throat. Each bloom lasts a day, but many buds open in turn on branched scapes rising to about 33 inches above a fountain of long, arching, strap-shaped medium green leaves. The foliage clump is about 20 inches tall and 18 to 24 inches wide. At peak bloom multiple dark purple flowers are open at once above the leaves.
Growing it with lavender
Its deep purple flowers echo lavender's color on a bolder scale and grow happily behind lavender in full sun and well-drained soil.
Care
Grow in full sun to light part shade (at least six hours of sun for the best bloom) in average, well-drained soil; once established it handles heat, clay and dry spells. Hardy in zones 3 to 9. Snap off faded flowers for a tidy look, cut bare scapes to the base after bloom and divide crowded clumps every few years.
At a glance
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Botanical name: Hemerocallis
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Flower color: Deep true purple with a lime green throat
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Foliage: Medium green
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Growth habit: Arching, fountain-like clump
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Mature size: 33 in tall × 18–24 in wide
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USDA hardiness zones: 3–9
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Light: full sun, part sun to part shade
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Bloom start: Early-July
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Peak bloom: Mid-July
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Bloom pattern: Single Flush
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Deer resistance: Susceptible
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Pollinator value: Good
Sizes and shipping
Dormant bare-root plant, sold in boxes of 25 per variety (order in multiples of 25). Bare-root plants ship or are picked up March 1–May 31 only. They are soil-free, so they may ship to every state in that window. Dormant plants often show little or no top growth on arrival; plant or heel them in promptly.
Lavender companion · grow guide
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