Daylily ‘Wayside King Royale’ is a pretty purple daylily that deserves more respect. Even I don’t think much about it until it begins blooming in early July. The plants are very robust with strong stalks and scores of blossoms.
I have several plants massed together in the back of one of my flowerbeds. This daylily blooms for about 4 weeks (respectable but not amazing), but what really makes it special is the number of flowers it churns out during that time.
‘Wayside King Royale’ grows 36 inches tall with 6-inch blooms. The purple flowers with a green throat contrast nicely with yellow flowers like yarrows, rudbeckias, zinnias, or even yellow daylilies.
On a daylily tour last summer, I spotted what I thought was ‘Wayside King Royale’ in a yard with over 500 daylily cultivars. There was no plant tag so I asked the homeowner what it was. He seemed almost embarrassed to admit he was growing ‘Wayside King Royale’ and yet there it was blooming like crazy among all the other newer and fancier cultivars. That’s saying something.