While ‘Ruby Spider’ continues to be MY favorite daylily, it doesn’t surprise me that ‘Primal Scream’ was the top vote-getter in the American Hemerocallis Society’s 2010 Popularity Poll. This flashy, unusual-form beauty was awarded the Stout Silver Medal in 2003 and continues to be one of the most beloved daylilies.
‘Primal Scream’ commands attention in the garden. The fiery, tangerine-orange flowers sit atop 34-inch scapes, and the petals and sepals are twisty and pinched.
I purchased my plant via mail order about 5 years ago. It got off to a very slow start and I got a bit impatient with it, but ‘Primal Scream’ is now well-established in my garden and blooms for 3 weeks each summer.
‘Primal Scream’ probably wouldn’t make my top ten list. I’m much more fond of one of its parent cultivars, ‘Mauna Loa’ (pictured below). ‘Mauna Loa’ is an “oldie but a goody”, registered in 1976. The plant grows only 22 inches tall and churns out 5-inch amber-orange flowers for almost 2 months each summer.
‘Mauna Loa’ blooms its head off no matter where I plant it. I can even coax it to perform well in partial shade. I usually give away daylilies I divide, but I always have trouble parting with ‘Mauna Loa’. I have quite a few of them scattered throughout the yard.
If you want the tall supermodel that turns everyone’s head but is only in town for a few weeks, plant ‘Primal Scream.” If you’d rather have a reliable and adaptable beauty that sticks around for the summer, girl-next-door ‘Mauna Loa’ is probably your pick.