“Flowers Changing Color”, a copyrighted post, was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana
There are a few plants that have flowers that have changed color as they have settled in my garden. Now, I am not talking about hydrangeas, but other flowers that are not known for changing color. One of the most striking is a gladiolus that started out yellow with a little orange tinge and is now orange with just a small yellow throat. (It was supposed to be an all yellow glad.) But, others have changed colors, too.
Today, my Catherine Woodbury started blooming. While it is a lovely flower, it is not the lavender-pink it is supposed to be. It is really more a pale, creamy yellow with pink undertones.
When this was first planted, the blooms were a very pale lavender-pink, but instead of getting darker, it seems to be getting paler. Strange. I guess it must have something to do with the soil.
This is not the first time this has happened. When I first planted some daylilies from my mother, they were a dark bronze color. In subsequent years, they have changed to a dark red. Maybe it has to do with fertilizing, the ph of our water, or ??? Anyway, I wish Catherine Woodbury would revert to the correct color.
Have any of you had the same experience with flowers changing colors as this one has done?
Always Growing 
garden mary said,
June 23, 2010 at 3:16 pm
It is strange how plants can be, isn’t it? I guess there are many factors that influence them. I have noticed how some flowers are a slightly different color depending on the exposure they are under.
Jan said,
June 23, 2010 at 6:52 pm
I, too, have noticed that a few flowers are slightly different colors depending on the amount of sun they receive. I still don’t know about Catherine Woodbury. Could it be that the photos I have seen of this flower is not accurate. I know some colors do not photograph true.
RobinL said,
June 23, 2010 at 7:24 pm
I purchased apricot impatiens and geraniums this spring, now they are both pink!
Jan said,
June 24, 2010 at 11:57 am
I wonder if it could be the heat that is affecting these flowers, Robin.
RobinL said,
June 25, 2010 at 8:29 pm
That’s just what I was thinking Jan.
Melody said,
June 25, 2010 at 2:36 pm
In looking up info on daylilies changing color, I have found references to the heat affecting red and purple flowers causing the colors to “melt”. http://badbuds.org/daylilyculture.html
http://www.herbs2000.com/flowers/dl_cultivation.htm
I also found this reference to tissue cultured plants and mutated scapes – Depending on where you bought them, they may have been tissue cultured (probably were). Sometimes a tissue cultured plant can put up a mutated scape that can bloom anything. I had an Ed Murray way way back that alternated putting up true scapes and then scapes that bloomed a red/yellow bicolor spider variant. EM is a black red. Tissue culture is a science lab method of turning one scape into 100 new tiny plants. Genetic mutations are common.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/daylily/msg0507571417342.html
Interesting info. Glad you posted about your changing flowers – I learned something new.
garden337 said,
June 27, 2010 at 11:26 am
My Catherine Woodbury is still pink and I hope it stays that way. Interesting that yours has changed color!!
Bren said,
June 27, 2010 at 12:12 pm
The same thing happen to me with my Artic White Daylily. The photo on the packages looks like your lily you have featured today ( which is LOVELY I must add!) but my bloom is like a pale orange.
Great to find your garden blog… wonderful shares!
Karen said,
June 28, 2010 at 8:44 am
I found your blog because I am having the same types of problems with my daylilies changing colour. I buy cream-coloured daylilies with lavender eyes, and after a year the cream turns apricot and the lavender turns raspberry. However, my Catherine Woodbury has stayed true to its original colour, which was always a light pink. I am wondering if it’s the same thing as hydrangeas, with the PH of the soil and the amount of aluminum?
Anyway, I am glad I found your blog. I’ve added it to my list of reads.
Jessica said,
July 28, 2011 at 7:23 pm
I have 2 daylilly plants that are about 20 feet apart. One was orange and the other yellow. For the past 2 years both are true to color until end of Spring when the yellow one turns orange. I thought it would be orange the following year but it first bloomed yellow then turned orange! Is the dominating gene orange? This doesn’t sound like it was from the pH of the soil?
Jan said,
July 29, 2011 at 8:19 am
I think since the yellow still starts out yellow and turns orange later that this is due to hotter temperatures. I did some research on the internet when my roses and camellias bloomed lighter colors in warmer weather and found that the chemicals that cause color can be affected by temperature. That is what I think is happening to your daylilies. I have had some of my daylilies bloom a paler color the last two years during which we have had warmer than normal springs. I am beginning to think that is what is happening to my hibiscus – one has to be getting more sun than the other. I think this is an interesting topic and am fascinated to find out how many other gardeners have noticed this.