• Daylilies are beautiful and inventive hybridslily image by maureen dainty from Fotolia.com
  
  Every year the American Hemerocallis Society, the leading authority on the cultivation of daylilies, conducts a poll to determine the most popular examples of the blooms. It's not surprising that the winners are recipients of the society's annual prizes, both past and present. Daylily cultivators in every growing zone are constantly innovating, creating new hybrids that combine unique traits with fabulous colors and strong plants. Their top picks would stand out in any garden.
  
  

Primal Scream

• Primal Scream is a vivid tangerine-orange daylily with a green throat. Its blooms are seven and a half inches across and the plant reaches a height of nearly three feet. Primal Scream is considered an Unusual Form daylily because its petals are Crispate-Cascade. That means the petals both pour outward and curve slightly like a cascading waterfall (Cascade) and are pinched-in toward the outside ends (Crispate). It blooms mid- to late-season and has won an Honorable Mention in 1997, an Award of Merit in 2000, the Lambert/Webster Award for Best Unusual Form Cultivar in 2001 and the Stout Silver Medal, the highest award of the American Hemerocallis Society (AHS), in 2003. Primal Scream was introduced (registered with the AHS) as a new hybrid in 1994.
  
  

Ruby Spider

• Ruby Spider has giant blooms that are nine inches across and grows to a height of nearly three feet. It is a striking ruby-red color with a yellow throat and its tepals (the petals and sepals that form the bloom) are Spatulate---meaning they scoop wider at the ends than nearer to the throat of the flower. As spiders have long, skinny petals and sepals, a Spatulate shape qualifies Ruby Spider as an Unusual Form daylily. The plant blooms early in the season. It was introduced in 1991 and has won an Honorable Mention in 1999, an Award of Merit in 2002 and the Lambert/Webster award for best unusual form in 2002.
  
  

Red Volunteer

• Red Volunteer is a rich candle red with a golden yellow throat and puts out lots of flowers. The bloom is seven inches across and very substantial---its color is not marred by insects and the flower is a sturdy one. Red Volunteer was introduced in 1984 and has continued as a favorite, winning an Honorable Mention in 1987, an Award of Merit in 1994 and the Lenington All American Award in 2004 for best performer over a wide geographic area.
  
  

Moon Masquerade

• Moonlit Masquerade is a pale cream-colored daylily with a green throat shading into a dark purple eyezone. The eyezone is a darker-colored area found just above the throat of the bloom, on the petals and sepals. Moonlit Masquerade's petals are recurved, meaning that they round towards the base of the bloom, making the flower look like a ball instead of star-like or spiky. The recurved bloom is about five and a half inches across. The plant flowers repeatedly during the early to mid-season growing period. This daylily was introduced in 1992 and has won an Honorable Mention in 1999, an Award of Merit in 2002, and the Stout Silver Medal in 2004.