Color Choices in the Database

Dave, in following poppysue's example, I was adding some information for some of the daylilies in the database, and I have a couple of suggestions regarding the colors...

A box to click for
Lavender (there is a box for Lavender/Violet, but to me, they are two very different colors.
Peach (same thing, there is an Coral/Apricot, but peach is a lighter color to my thinking)
Cranberry Cranberry is different than Maroon (I think)


And I'm sure someone else might have some other ones I'm missing. Can you tell what colors I like best? LOL

Melissa

Salmon? LOL

Well, here's my two cents' worth (and that's about what it's worth!)

If the Am. Hem. Society has a standard list of colors for daylilies, I'll be glad to create a series of checkboxes for them. It will mean a tremendous amount of work to edit the existing entries, but it can and should be done.

However, if there isn't a standardized list, I'm very reluctant to make changes to the "main" checklist. We have so many entries already created that rely on it, and to start going back and editing them for subtle color changes is a lot of work.

To give you a snippet of the history of this issue, the goal behind the standardized list of colors was/is to let someone choose plants that fall within a certain range of the color spectrum. At the time we developed it (~2 years ago), no one at DG knew of a standardized list of colors (the RHS' highly-specific and expensive color chart notwithstanding.) Since then, I've caught inklings of other, more general color charts, but have yet to actually view any such chart with my own eyes. Just for giggles and grins, here's the history of how-we-came-to-be-here: http://davesgarden.com/t/207782/color+chart

Sooooo, that means that salmon, peach and apricot are - for better or worse - lumped together, with the idea being that if you were looking for a peach (or salmon or apricot) colored flower, you would like to see what other gardeners might consider peach/salmon/apricot.

For what it's worth, I've found color is highly subjective: when I go through some of the societies checklists of flowers, I find that some I would characterize as lavender (based on several images) are noted as medium blue - and vice-versa. Same holds true for other colors.

IMHO, cranberry could be closer to maroon or scarlet, depending on the plant :)

Thanks for the explanatin Terry. and you're right, what I would call "Peach" you might say, "Melissa you're color blind, that is Apricot" and I could see how a problem could develop.

Thanks for clarifying for me, that helps... some of them have no color listed at all, and I wondered if that was because they were maybe a light "peach/pink" and someone didn't want to check "Apricot" and pink?

I learn something new every day!

I'm reluctant to check off colors ... it's such a subjective thing. I do wish the AHS had an official color chart or something. Lots of times I read a description and then go look at a pic and can't believe it's the same daylily!

Also, apparently some daylilies produce different shades in different climates. Go figure.

Cheri'

Cheri', I understand and appreciate the hesitation, but please PLEASE take the plunge. We need conscientious users to help fill in this info. (You might make some mistakes, but I have confidence they wouldn't be slapdash mistakes.) Without the details checked off, the advanced search will never be useful to its fullest extent.

For older (pre-1998) hems, there is an online database here: http://nick.assumption.edu/Daylilies/database/hemdata.html

Warning - the list is old, clunky, and all you can do is read it (no sorting features.) It's not really a database, even though it's called that - it's more like a really big spreadsheet online. You have to interpret the codes for height, bloom form, etc., but if you're familiar with hems, you'll recognize them (and there's a key on the front if you need prompting.)

For purposes of this discussion, the best feature of this site is the inclusion of colors for each daylily listed - they might be wrong, but at least somebody pulled them together :)

eek. No more daylily database? *pout*

Cheri'

Ummm, Dave's doing some work...you'll be able to browse by cultivar again soon.

In the meantime, you can search by name. (And the advanced search now works better than ever, if you haven't tried it out :)

lol! just when I get the nerve to add a few cultivars ... LOL!

I've been building a database of sorts on my HD for my own use for quite some time. I like to look at things from a useful (to me, at the time) perspective. Like, if I need a Late bloomer for the back of the bed, I don't want to get sidetracked looking at gorgeous Early bloomers and shorties. (I'm easily distracted - undiagnosed ADD, no doubt ....;-) This way I can filter it down to only show me what I want to see. Then I go find out if I can obtain the ones I like (and get sidetracked then ...)

So, I've collected a lot of information, (not nescesarily in line with the PDB) and I could key in some of it. It would be nice if all that info was on line, in a searchable, sortable fashion. Is there any way to get an alpha list of the daylilies in the PDB, now that the daylily database is gone? I don't want to make a mess of it.

Cheri'

Cheri', the alphabetical browse will be back, per Dave. But in the meantime, you can choose any Hem entry, click on the blue hyperlink genus name, and it'll bring them all up. Choose to sort by cultivar, and voila! The list is alphabetized - the named cultivars start on the second page.

cool!
Why didn't I think of that? LOL

Cheri'