Nice ones, Debra! I love Men in Black.

Cosmic Sensation always does well for us.

Guns of Navarrone gave us some beautiful velvety large flowers this year.

Snidely Whiplash continues to thrill us. We are so glad we got to try it. It's a Canadian bred one that we bought at the Cam-Am a couple of years ago.

Here are my runners up.

Bite Me was planted last year and this was its first year to bloom. It has large flowers on tall scapes. Looks like a keeper to me.

Pastor Z is also showing promise.

That's all for me.

Nancy

My favs so far, Regale Finale and guns of Navarone. Here are my favorite purples in no specific order. Upgrade was added as single fan in spring 2017, spring of 2018 I had four fans and two scapes and was close to stats.

Let's see . I don't want to duplicate, so

Black Falcon Ritual This one was superb this year

Runner ups:

Stealth Bomber

I think the purple color class has the most gorgeous flowers. Everyone of the above is a testament to this. Black Panther, Creature of the Night, Black Falcon Ritual, Laura Harwood, and Indian Giver have done very well for me too.

Violets Become You

Grape Umbrella

Chasing Your Dreams (in the forefront)

Favorite purple seedling from Oklahoma
Sand Burr x White Tooth

Black Falcon Ritual, Nosferatu, Indian Giver--all good here too. If only Snidely Whiplash were more widely available. I am eager to hear about the performance of Chasing Your Dreams--size, saturation of color, anything relevant.

Although relatively new (and therefore not fully tested), I couldn't help being impressed by Faith That Moves Mountains.

Best purple clump: Mary's Baby

Here were my best purples in my Zone 5 garden:

JERRY HYATT is always fantastic:

29 FLAGS OVER CONWAY: Very nice purple dip that increases well.

COLOR ME THERE: Did really well this year.

Runners up to follow.

David

Here are the runners up:

STARGATE PORTAL: Beautiful and consistent bloom. I wish it had more buds. I may have to move it.

IMPERIAL DECREE: Typical Benz intro: Stout thick scapes with many buds and makes huge fans.

LADIES NIGHT OUT: Relatively new.

TIME TO FLY: It is registered as a burgundy wine - so I think it is close to purple. I love the appliquéd throat.

Others have already been mentioned and are outstanding: INDIAN GIVER, LAURA HARWOOD and CREATURE OF THE NIGHT. SOLI DEO GLORIA is on my radar to get at some point in time.

David

I also love Indian Giver, which, even having been planted only this spring, put on a great show and set pods for me, as well as lending it's pollen in a generous way.

Was enamored with Ron Valente, which bloomed for the first time this summer, but in no mean way - it had several scapes. Hadn't noticed in photos seen before that it has freckles!:

Ashwood Still Night bloomed and bloomed, and every bloom was gorgeous:

Here's another shot of Ashwood Still Night, which also shows that "freckling" effect around the edges. I hope to pass that effect on to other seedlings with ASN and Ron Valente crosses. Interestingly, they would not cross with each other.

Mantis - there is a lavender category, so I look forward to seeing more of yours and others purples and lavenders - a favorite color of mine, also!

Alex

I eliminated the lavender I posted here. Gimmee, Gimmee, Gimmee is sort of purple/lavender. Yes, in a year in which many did not do well, Indian Giver looked very good. I also concur in Ashwood Still Night. Very nice this year.

Ah, shoot, Mantis - this would have given us a chance to see even more purple pics when you posted others to the Lavender thread - hee hee! I love looking at everyone's photos.

I am overwhelmed. I love purples [& lavenders] and have more of them than any others. This thread is one I will come back to over and over! Some of my favorites from above are Indian Giver, Guns of Navarrone, Laura Harwood [can't wait for my first one to bloom next summer], Olly, Claudine's Charm, & Liberty Banner [on my wish list], Ollie is cute too!

Here's mine:

Purple Riot. It gave a wonderful show, was darker than normal, always well budded.

Indian Giver, good as always.

Kirsten's Corsage. It has done well since I moved it a couple of years ago and it also likes the pine needle mulch. The colors were exceptionally good this year.

Runners up:

Vintage Wine. Always reliable & this year was no exception..

Wilson Spider, great show as usual.

For the first time, Belle Isle Sentry didn't make it. It was split last year and did very good instead of excellent. Several others didn't make it that often do for the same reason.

Hey gang, there is a lavender category coming. I love all these purples. But the ones that stand out to me the most are Snidely Whiplash, Bite Me, Ancient of Days, Chasing Your Dreams, Mary's Baby, Ron Valente with those lighter edges, and Purple Riot.

It's interesting to note how many of you have high praises for Jerry Hyatt and Indian Giver. Both died when I tried them here, and I never gave them a second chance.

Celeste - Both of the Ollies are cute!

Debra

In addition to the purples I previously posted, there are a couple of brand-new purples that should be shown as runner-ups. Brand new in 2018 and already impressing me are:

TUPAC AMARU

Gorgeous ones, Celeste!

Debra

These are beautifu!! I am out of town and unable to access my photos so am loving looking at these. Karen, Violets Become You and your seedling are so pretty! Possession of Obsession is a stunning color. Sherry’s Indian Giver clump is always pretty. Debra, Men in Black is a winner! And so many others! Celeste, I bought Casco Bay Delight after seeing yours last year-knowing it would not be that luscious purple but I love the form. Love these!!!

Kate

I'm like Brad in that I really enjoy coming back again to look at the purples. This time, I thought I'd try to decide which ones I liked best.

Debra - Integrated Logistics, hands down. The watermark is wonderful.

hoosier Nancy - Guns of Navarrone (and Bite Me for the UF-ness of it)

Sherry - Upgrade - wow!

Kay - would have chosen Possession of Obsession, which I've admired before when you've posted it - but Black Falcon Ritual is absolutely stunning, and I choose it for my favorite.

Karen, PA - Violets Become You, though I recently received a seed cross which has Chasing Your Dreams as pollen parent - looking forward to seeing the seedlings! Also, who's seedling is Sand Burr x White Tooth? Like that one.

Mantis - Gimme Gimme - whatever category you want to put it in! :) Though the shape of Dark Bat is outstanding.

Celeste - as usual your purples are colors that are hard to beat, and it makes choosing difficult. But that said - Liberty Banner - oh, yeah. And Ollie for it's shape and size - having your grandson hold the flower really puts it into perspective how big it is.

David - Jerry Hyatt - always like this one! (And Time to Fly for the form.)

Brad - Kirsten's Corsage - love it!!!

Can we do this again? :)

Alex

this is my favorite color for daylilies, especially if they have a watermark. I am not going to try to pick a favorite, because I like every single one. I have quite a few purple, going to be hard to keep it down to just a few. But some of my pictures are not as good as they should be.

Bengali was actually a deep dark color of purple, but my camera shows more pink than it really is. Must be the light it is in, because I have some that show more their true color

Born to Reign has been one of my favorites for several years. It got crown rot this summer, I think I have lost all of it. I will replace that one as soon as I can

Hint of Blue is an oldie, simple, but usually produces so many blooms

Navajo Pony

I'm sorry, I had to add Vanishing Mist. This is so hard, but I have others I loved too, like Claudine's Charm, Black Falcon Ritual, T Bone Walker. But they have been shown already so it was a little easier. Anyway, Vanishing Mist

Celeste, your purples always blow me away with their deep saturated real purple color that occurs regularly in your zone but so rare in my climate. All of them are beautiful but your Ollie is the cutest!

David, really love the colors on your Stargate Portal. It glows!

Soli Deo Gloris is a consistent beauty! I love mine too!

Brad, your clumps are amazing! What a sight that must be to see Indian Giver with that many blooms at once!

Nancy, love your Vanishing Mist! That is a Karol Emmerich intro, right?

Alex and Kate, thank you for liking my seedling, Sand Burr x White Tooth. I guess I should wait to post it in Toothy category but I like its wine red purple color more than the teeth so I decide to post it here.

Alex, I look forward to see your seedlings from Violets Become You! I may have some blooming next year! It is a very easy pod setter for me.

Karen - had to re-read what I wrote, and I can see how it misled you. What I meant was that I chose Violets Become You for my favorite of those you posted. But it's Chasing Your Dreams that I have a cross of with an unnamed seedling from Peter Donato, a hybridizer from PA. His seedling was a yellow UF with an amazing intensely green throat. Nice to know about VBY being an easy pod setter, for future reference!

Alex

Nancy - Hint of Blue may be an oldie, but it's very pretty! So sorry to see you lost Born to Reign. It's such a pretty one, but looks more red than purple here.

Karen - Your seedling out of Oklahoma Sand Burr is outstanding!

Debra

Yes, I know I am late yet again but with good reason!! I was out of town and no access to my photo album. I will only post a couple since no one may be looking at more purples!!!

And now, off the beaten path, one that is not a favorite but could be if it would perform!! Every year, I threaten to push it out of the garden when I see the first blooms. Always ratty-always splotchy-always low in the foliage. And then, the last scapes will go up and the blooms look like this and I yield and let it stay. Private Reserve.

Other stars were Laura Harwood, Cameroon Night, Stargate Portal, and an old noid that always out performs most of the others.

Kate

Kate - au contraire, mon amie! I never get tired of looking at purples!

Kate - I'm glad to see you finally got some good blooms on Private Reserve. The early blooms are always splotchy here, and the later ones perfect. That clump of Labyrinth is amazing, and Bela Lugosi is a stellar purple.

Debra

Best purples taken at another garden:

Alone Again

Kate, I'm still looking at purple-over and over! I'm looking forward to seeing Labyrinth next year!

Mantis - Whose garden has these gorgeous purples? I notice they're all Hansons, andI like all of them, most especially Ideological World View.

Debra

As you may remember, I took a trip to Crintonic. Labyrinth looks as though it might be a sleeper. Don't know why it is not well distributed. Of course, some Morsses do not do well up here.

Mantis - wow! That first one especially caught me.

Mantis,

I really like the first 2 you posted! Great purple color, nice form and design.'

Brad

I'm curious which purple daylily is the most "blue" for you. I find a lot of purples seem only burgandy or wine to me (especially viewed from a distance) because they don't have the brightness/blueness or a true purple. They become gifts or compost at my house for the last 25 years. Of course photography seems to have a nasty time with purples /lavenders, etc anyway and the same daylily can look so different garden to garden or year to year in the same garden. Jerry Hyatt in the above photos for example looks very different in the two gardens above. Do you consider burgandy and wine as "purple" personally or do some of these photos not show the true color? My "bluest" are eye eye of "Destined to see" "Hint of Blue" and "Prairie blue eyes".

Mary,

I find most purples are not very purple but are actually violet-red [according to the color charts] since there is no blue found in the daylily make-up. Some of the lavenders have a touch of blue like Prairie Blue Eyes, Flutterbye, and part of the eye of Priscilla's Rainbow. A few other lavenders vary and sometimes have a hint of blue. Actually most of the lavenders are actually lilac since it has a bit more red in it.

We can't undo named daylilies and it is hard to change. However, if I ever name a seedling and label its color, it will be according to the color charts not convention.

Mary - In my experience, none of the daylily purples are the blue purple of pansies of crayons. They all have some red in them. It doesn't help that modern digital cameras tend to blue everything up. However, that said, my purples do look more "blue" in the shade and with cool night temps. There are daylilies out there now that do have blue eyes. Blue Over You and Blue Jay Tapestry, for example.

Debra

Kate, your Private Reserve is gorgeous! When purples bloom right, they are so gorgeous that you can forgive all the other times that they fail to meet expectation. Like your Private REserve, a purple that I really like is Briar Patch but it often gives me imperfect blooms. But when it hits its stride, it can be glorious.

Wow, your clump shots of purples at another garden are just spectacular, Mantis. Can I ask what time of day did you take these pics? Were they taken at the same time?

The bluest that I have ever seen on a daylily is the eye from Elfin Blues.

Karen, so glad to see you posting again-I have missed your photos and your comments!! You are right about forgiveness on some!! Unfortunately, as Debra said, we have such heavy dew early in the season that it really impacts blooms, especially if they begin to open the night before. Another one that I probably really will get rid of next year is Magician's Magic, another Maryott that rarely throws a decent bloom. Let me know if you want it!!!! I will try to post the "best" blooms it put out this year.

Kate

And for Mary. This is a photo I took of spent blooms this year on Prairie Blue Eyes. I thought it was interesting for the “blue” pigments.

Kate

Kate - that does show blue, doesn't it? If it can do that as it's dying, could it be bred to show that blue in a fresh bloom? That would be something!

Alex

I have some Hint of blue that I crossed with Prairie blue eyes. Perhaps I should recross the babies with Prairie blue eyes.

THanks Kate! Thank you for offering me Magician's Magic. When I bought daylilies from Marriott's final sale before he closed his daylily business, he also gave me Magician's Magic as a bonus. Like yours, mine struggled to put out a nice bloom for the last 3 years. I think I have gotten only one or two times in the last 3 years that bloomed nicely. The rest of the times, they were either splotchy or not opened well. I had since moved it to the edge of my garden where I don't often frequent. I think it is still alive but if it passes on, I won't miss it. Here's what mine looked like this year.

Ah you folks are terrible ! What enablers LOL ! Here are 3 of my purples that I love .

Diabolique . one of my favourite John Lambert daylilies

Smokescream . This one bloomed and bloomed and bloomed and this was it's first real season here . It got added in late summer 2017

Have had this one a long time . Starman's Quest .

Though I really love the patterns on Smoke Scream and Starman's Quest, I'd choose Diabolique for the form. And on the subject of form, I think I'll have to go see if I can find Amethyst Tears on the DL Auction next spring. Fell deeply in love last night on FB. :)

Alex

Signet - I love all three of those. Starman's Quest is always great here, but not as good a performer now that it gets too much shade.

Debra

I too love all your purples, Signet. Again your and Celeste's climate and soil bring out such bright and intense purple color that is a rare sight in my garden. So beautiful! I also grow Smoke Scream and love it for its bloom power and purple color but I don't normally get them in the colors above.

Signet, Starman's Quest looks quite interesting with that dark band.

Brad and signet, here's what Starman's Quest looks like in my garden.

Debra

Debra - that looks exactly like what I've got that Chad Bush thought was Morpho's Dance, but wasn't really sure! Here's my photo right after I got it home:

I never did feel like he had it right, since it didn't look much like the photos I saw later of M'sD. What do you think?

Alex

Alex - It does look more like Starman's Quest than Morpho's Dance to me. But Starman's Quest has a lot kids that look similar.

Debra

Debra - well, here's the thing. If it's Starman's Quest, or one of it's kids, or even Morpho Butterfly - which did occur to me since there's something of a resemblance in appearance as well as name - then it's a dip instead of a tet! This would be totally cool, as I am going to have a number of very special diploid seedlings next year and the year after that I would very much like to cross with it!

Alex