Honestly, can we talk about flower tags?
I've had it up to ... you know ... with flower tags.
'Alaqua' is just a recent example. This is the tag, and therefore the flower I was expecting.
The scanner boosted the yellow and faded the purple a bit, but other than that it's a fair copy. Look at those lovely rounded petals, like little circles. That is the flower I wanted. Not this. Hmm.
A similar thing happened to me with 'Russian Rhapsody'. See this previous post on the subject, an excerpt of which I reproduce here:
Check out the difference between the published photo and the actual flower for a plant that I bought in May this year.
The daylily I thought I bought (Russian Rhapsody) is shown in the first picture. The one that actually bloomed is shown in the second. Still a pretty daylily, but not what I thought I was getting.
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But is this a tag problem, or a grower problem? ("Grower" meaning the large companies that grow plants for distribution to nurseries.) Why can't they produce plants whose flowers grow true to form and colour?
I was reading on a forum somewhere that it has to do with method of propagation. The large growers use tissue cultures to grow vast quantities of the same plant. The only problem is that that method is known to have problems producing plants that are "true" to the parent. (At least I think that is the gist of what people were saying on the forum.)
I guess I should just be happy with what I get and be done with it.
But really, these two daylilies in my front yard, planted less than two feet (60 cm) apart, are practically twins, even though they were supposed to be quite different, and they have different names and parentage. It's very strange. I will have to move one of them to another location in the garden. Arrgh!
Photo belongs to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without attribution.
Anyway, while we're on the subject of daylilies (surprise, surprise), here is a picture of my one new bloom today. (Which, by the way, seems to be a mini, a fact that was not mentioned at all on the tag.)
Elegant Candy
Photo belongs to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without attribution.
7 comments:
I like your pictures. I went to a daylily nursery yesterday where they had hundreds of different daylilies blooming, so you could see exactly what you would get if you bought one! That's they way to buy them... blooming. I agree, plant tags can be decieving and sometimes people pull them out of one pot and then stick them in another pot by accident! Ugh!
Thanks for letting me know about where to acquire some of your lilies. We have a few nice nurseries here and I have bought quite a few lilies from them. I want some a little bit more unusual like you have.
I too have gotten burnt by the tags. Is it the growers but plants that are too similar looking next to each other and don't know where one ends and the other begins? They probably hire unknowledgable people to tag things.
http://veychek.safeshopper.com/6/686.htm?842
I just ordered from the above company-they want to clear out their daylilies and are selling $100 worth for $39.90 (10 of them). I know they are at least $10-$12 each in these parts. Plus I ordered two butterfly bushes at $1.99 each. They are a PA company.
Hi Karen, I just found your blog today. Lovely pictures, and a great garden. I like to talk to a knowledgeable owner when I buy, as well as buying in bloom, if we happen to be in southern Ontario at the right time. I live in Northern Ontario and rarely buy here, since we no longer want to buy plants for the first time gardener.
Carol, that is the way to buy daylilies, I agree. But we don't have a big daylily farm nearby (we could drive two hours to get to one, though.)
BSTS, that would be nice for your daughter.
Dianne, sounds like you found some great bargains. Glad I could help you.
Cordel, I am addicted. I guess I am willing to put up with the "surprises" just so I can have the pleasure of buying new daylilies all summer long.
Karen, on that Russian Rhapsody tag, the leaves are not bright green but blueish-green. Do you think the photo may have been altered to push the flower closer to blue-violet?
Annie, I considered that, too. There is a cooler cast to that photo, but nowhere near enough to change my reddish pink (cerise?) flower into a violet flower.
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