Rainbow Rhythm® Blood Sweat and Tears Daylily

Raspberry-red petals with a wide rosy pink eye, a yellow throat, and a thin white edge open on this daylily in July. Hemerocallis Rainbow Rhythm® 'Blood Sweat and Tears' grows 28 inches tall in bloom and 18 to 24 inches wide in full sun to part sun, hardy from Zone 3 through Zone 9, and fills out by its second summer.

The 6-inch flowers are fragrant, and the plant reblooms after its midseason flush. Karol Emmerich bred it, and it is a semi-evergreen tetraploid.

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, where pink or burgundy plants nearby pick up the eye.