Rainbow Rhythm® Nosferatu Daylily

Shimmering dark purple, ruffled flowers with a chartreuse throat open on this daylily in July. Hemerocallis Rainbow Rhythm® 'Nosferatu' grows 26 inches tall in bloom and 18 to 24 inches wide in full sun to part sun, hardy from Zone 3 through Zone 9, and settles in over its first summer.

The 6-inch flowers are fragrant. It won the American Hemerocallis Society's Award of Merit in 2000, and it is a semi-evergreen tetraploid named, like 'Bela Lugosi', for a screen vampire.

Daylilies come from eastern Asia. Each flower lasts a single day, but the buds open in sequence along branched stems, so one plant stays in color for weeks. Thick, fleshy roots store water, which carries established plants through dry spells and lean soil. Bloom is heaviest in full sun; with four to six hours of sun they still flower, with fewer buds. Tetraploid varieties carry twice the chromosomes of diploids, which shows in heavier petals and sturdier stems. Dormant varieties die back to the ground in winter, while semi-evergreen and evergreen ones keep some foliage where winters are mild. Deer and rabbits eat the buds and young leaves.

Works mid-border against silver, chartreuse, or gold foliage, which keeps the dark flowers from disappearing.