Not ‘Rozavel’

Two years ago I made an impulse purchase on a daylily called ‘Rozavel.’ Of the hundreds of daylilies I grow, it’s one of my favorites. It shows off huge, 7-inch reddish-purple blooms with a striking yellow throat. The problem is, I’m pretty sure it’s not ‘Rozavel.’ The official description of the cultivar is “raspberry red self with an apricot throat.” I’ve found some online photos of ‘Rozavel’ and it looks nothing like my beauty. Since there are over 60,000 registered daylily cultivars, it would be nearly impossible to figure out which plant I have. It was easier to just change my garden tag to read “Not ‘Rozavel’.”

This summer I went back to the garden center where I purchased Not ‘Rozavel.’ They were still selling them so I bought another one because I wanted to see if I would see different blooms from a second plant. In July, the first bud opened and sure enough, it was another Not ‘Rozavel.’ So not only do I still have no clue what plant I have (well, now what TWO plants I have), but the place I bought them from is selling them under the wrong name.

They’ve done that to me a few times now, but in this case it was a pleasant surprise. Sometime I’ll tell you about my favorite Astilbe purchased from the same place. Curiously, the plant tag in my garden reads “Not ‘Ellie’.”