One of the things that make daylilies so great is that they come in all kinds of sizes, shapes and colors. And while the diversity of daylilies sometimes seems infinite, according to the American Hemerocallis Society, the "official" types of daylily flower forms are classified as: single, double, spider, unusual form, and polymerous flowers.
Of the daylily flower forms, spider daylilies really stand out. A 'spider' daylily is a daylily flower whose petals have a length to width ratio of at least 4 to 1. What that means, basically, is that they have very long, skinny petals ... oh, and spider daylily flowers are also usually quite large.
I really, really like spider daylilies and just realized that, as of today, I only have one type of registered spider daylily in my entire collection ("Spider Breeder").
How did that happen? I need more spider daylilies!
To me, spider daylilies seem even more interesting than many other kinds of daylilies ... they are usually quite a bit taller than other daylilies and other perennials (spider daylilies work really well in the back of the border!) and their flowers are unique. No doubt that spiders can add a lot of visual interest to flower beds.
'Spider Breeder' is a mid to late season bloomer that gets about 36 inches tall. It's scapes are very tall and it has blooms that are a deep lemon yellow and up to 10 inches across!
Now, I'll admit that, as spider daylilies go, 'Spider Breeder' isn't the most fascinating spider available (it's been around since 1978 and there has been a lot of breeding and diversification in spider daylilies since then!), but it's big, it's bright, and it's seems happy ... what's not to like?
I hope to add some more spider daylilies to my gardens in the coming years, but for now, here is 'Spider Breeder' blooming here today - my only spider daylily.
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