Background history:

'Amethyst Tears' is a dormant diploid introduced in 2010 by Reed.

This plant can be found in our Plant Database at:
Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Amethyst Tears') .

Please join in, if you own this plant! We would love to know more! I award an acorn for performance information posted to this thread.



Also, please consider adding a Plant Performance Report to the database! Thank you!

Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Amethyst Tears')

I like the nice tall scapes that don't flop and the blooms droop as "amethyst tears" more as the day progresses. I believe my picture above was taken at 6:30 am and by evening the bloom is more relaxed. The blooms look kind of funky by the end of the day giving a unique appearance. This one is going to stick around in my garden

AMETHYST TEARS is a great plant!! So much so that several garden visitors commented on the plant habits and wanted a piece while visiting this summer. I have a great story on this one.

The first time I saw this plant was while judging the NCDC ( National Capital Daylily Society) show some years ago - maybe 2010 or 11, I was on a panel with Kevin Walek and Don Herr. Kevin had the reputation of being really tough when judging seedlings and Don was a hybridizer, so boy was I intimidated when our panel was assigned to judge, of all things, SEEDLINGS. Kevin's reputation was such that he was known for almost never giving a higher ribbon that white or yellow for seedlings. ( for judges, his issue was distinction, he would not give it a high score unless it showed great distinction.)

We went down the row ( there were a lot of seedlings) and seedling after seedling we couldn't get higher than a red riboon. So there was this tall purple bloom with amazing budding and branching near the end of the row, and the color was truly unique, it was this unusual amethyst color. Color was different from any purple I'd seen, even in the light of that room. ( judging color in a room where there is not a huge amount of natural light can be difficult.) Don and I were sold, I remember Don's comment about the branching and budding being so high for a seedling that was distinctive, even if the color and bloom hadn't been so good. Don and I were ready to give it a Blue-Purple ( highest) for distinction and our jaws dropped when Kevin agreed with us on the distinction!!
So the seedling later registered as Amethyst Tears got to the head table that day as "Best Seedling." It didn't win Best In Show that day, but I was sufficiently impressed to order it directly from Margo later that day and got it when she introduced it.

I've grown it ever since and it remains a favorite! The plant habits as well as the blooms make this a truly outstanding garden plant.
This wasn't the entire clump, but you get the idea: The second picture captures on my montior the unique color.

Love the extra info the story provides, it somehow make the plant more likeable. Really nice clump shot too!