{"id":2166,"date":"2017-07-24T05:30:37","date_gmt":"2017-07-24T13:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=2166"},"modified":"2017-07-24T05:30:37","modified_gmt":"2017-07-24T13:30:37","slug":"spiders-everywhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/spiders-everywhere\/","title":{"rendered":"Spiders Everywhere"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not long ago I went to Grace Gardens, in Geneva, NY, a magical daylily garden and nursery.\u00a0 It was early July, just before peak daylily bloom, but thousands of blossoms were already open for business.\u00a0 The array of colors and forms was breathtaking.\u00a0 I found it impossible to leave without a handful of new daylily plants and the owners were generous enough to include a \u201csurprise\u201d plant in my package.\u00a0 The \u201csurprise\u201d was a yellow-peach, spider-form daylily.<\/p>\n

I have lots of daylilies, but this particular \u201cspider\u201d was the first in that form.\u00a0 It has turned out to be the best kind of surprise\u2014something that I wouldn\u2019t have chosen on my own, but now find irresistible.<\/p>\n

Most flowers labeled \u201cspider form\u201d feature relatively slender petals that flare out from the center like the legs of a common arachnid.\u00a0 The American Hemerocallis society, which regulates the daylily world, defines a spider-type daylily as \u201cA flower whose petal length is four times the petal’s width or more.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spider trait can be found in the species or wild forms of some plants, as with certain of the crinum lilies, beloved of American southerners. \u00a0Other times it appears as the result of selective breeding, turning up in cultivated varieties or hybrids.\u00a0 My new daylily is an example of one such variety.\u00a0 Occasionally flower parts other than petals give rise to the spider designation.\u00a0 Lycoris radiata or red spider lily, for example, is a member of the amaryllis family distinguished by long, arching red stamens that project outward from the center.<\/p>\n

I have noticed that the spider flower forms are especially popular with minimalists, contemporary-style garden designers, artists and those fascinated with the unusual.\u00a0 For people who are simply wild about a particular genus or species\u2014like the proprietors of Grace Gardens\u2014spider forms are simply essential components of a complete plant collection.<\/p>\n

My mother, who was rather artistic, but certainly no minimalist, had a fondness for spider chrysanthemums.\u00a0 While these particular \u201cspiders\u201d feature the requisite slender petals, they are completely different in style than the relatively simple spider daylilies.\u00a0 Many feature globular or dish-shaped heads packed tight with scores of thin petals.\u00a0 While you can buy spider-form garden mums, spiders seem to be most numerous in the cut flower trade.\u00a0 Like other mum types, they combine colorful petals and interesting form with long vase life.\u00a0 Many brides have invited these well-mannered spiders into their wedding bouquets.<\/p>\n

Now that dahlias are once again in fashion, many dahlia lovers have discovered or rediscovered spider-form dahlias.\u00a0 While not an official category of the American Dahlia Society, there are some \u201cspiders\u201d in the Cactus, Semi-Cactus, Novelty and Single categories.\u00a0 Most are closer in style to the spider mums than spider daylilies, with many-petaled flowerheads full of slender, recurved petals.\u00a0 Some have so many of those petals that they appear almost shaggy.\u00a0 \u2018Black Spider\u2019, which is actually dark red, is part of the bountifully endowed spider-form dahlia brigade.\u00a0 However, less common varieties, like \u2018Verrone\u2019s Sophie\u2019 boast a simpler array of eight thin petals.<\/p>\n

If you want something indisputably spidery, try spider flower or Cleome hassleriana.\u00a0 These reliable annuals grow between three and six feet tall, with stems topped by racemes or flowerheads of pink, purple or white flowers.\u00a0 The spidery feature is the array of protruding stamens that project aggressively outwards from the flowerheads.\u00a0 These give the blooms just the right exotic appearance and amply justify the plant\u2019s common name.\u00a0 The big, bold leaves are palmate and also conceal the spider\u2019s sting\u2014sharp thorns at the base of each leaf stalk.\u00a0 These may make humans wary, but they are not enough to deter the hummingbirds and butterflies that dine on the nectar offered by these spiders.\u00a0 Spider flowers are notorious self-seeders, but this means that you won\u2019t have to plant them again after the first year.<\/p>\n

I used to worship at the shrine of big, fat petals and fluffy, flouncy flowers.\u00a0 Now, with my new spider daylily firmly ensconced in the garden, I think I may indulge in some much needed variety and find it some similarly configured friends.<\/p>\n

\"Spider<\/a>
Spider daylilies add drama<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not long ago I went to Grace Gardens, in Geneva, NY, a magical daylily garden and nursery.\u00a0 It was early July, just before peak daylily bloom, but thousands of blossoms were already open for business.\u00a0 The array of colors and forms was breathtaking.\u00a0 I found it impossible to leave without a handful of new daylily … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3],"tags":[423,1676,1677,46,896,1679,1680,47,1678,1673,1674,1675,91],"class_list":["post-2166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","tag-chrysanthemums","tag-cleome","tag-crinum","tag-daylilies","tag-daylily","tag-flower-forms","tag-grace-gardens","tag-hemerocallis","tag-lycoris-radiata","tag-spider-daylilies","tag-spider-flower-form","tag-spider-lily","tag-summer-flowers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2166"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2168,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2166\/revisions\/2168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}