From “Flower Forms” in The Illustrated Guide to Daylilies by Oliver Billingslea:
“Modern daylilies exhibit a wide array of forms. The circular flower form appears round. Segments generally overlap, giving a full appearance. In the triangular form, sepals typically recurve to make three flat sides while long petals extend into modified points. In the star form, petals and sepals tend to be long and pointed, separated by spaces. Segments radiate to six points. Many older daylilies, those produced before the era of wide petals, fall into this category. Some flowers may be referred to as being flat, that is, completely open and spread out except for the concave throat; others may be referred to as recurved, that is, having segments which flare, the ends of which are rolled or tucked under. The trumpet form has segments which rise from the throat in an upward pattern with little flare. These are sometimes referred to as representative of a chalice or cup form. Many of the species are trumpet forms….
“A fifth form is that of the spider, the petals of which have a length to width ratio of at least 4:1, as measured with segments fully extended.”
From The Learned Arts of Witches and Wizards by Anton Adams:
“It was not until the 1640s that the American colonies experienced any hysteria concerning witchcraft, possibly influenced by the English situation at the same time. The first witch was hanged in Connecticut in 1647 and there were scattered accounts of witches tried in other colonies. However, the most important witch trial was that of the Salem ‘witches’ in Massachusetts from 1692 to 1693. Unrest in Massachusetts after the loss of its colonial charter in 1684, compounded by a number of social problems and repressions, led to a society ripe for accusations of witchcraft.
“Over 200 people were arrested and accused of witchcraft. Nineteen were actually hanged, all on the testimony of a group of eight girls, ranging in age from 12 to 20, who claimed to see spectral emanations from those they accused of witchcraft. The girls, including Abigail Williams and Ann Putnam, were alleged to fall into frenzied convulsions if a ‘witch’ came anywhere near them….
“Their convulsions would stop upon the touch of the witch’s hand….”
Hello!
Around the middle of May, I went hunting at a local garden center for some new flowers for my garden, to replace a few potted annuals from the previous year with perennials. That garden center had quite a few daylily varieties, any of which would have been nice additions, and (as one does) I spent a lot of time trying to decide which kind to buy. I had no specific criteria in mind, so I defaulted to the method I use to buy wine (which I know little about): I pick out something with a cool name — in this case a Witch’s Hand Daylily, or, officially, Hemerocallis x ‘Witch’s Hand.’
Plants like daylilies that require a lot of sun sometimes don’t work well in my courtyard, because it’s surrounded by towering pines and there’s a large Japanese Maple that shades about a third of it. But I don’t mind experimenting a little, having found that many flowering plants will do just fine with scattered sunlight and spans of full sun a few times a day. Unsurprisingly, my Witch’s Hand didn’t do much for a couple of weeks, then (I swear this is true!) overnight one night it produced a series of stems (or scapes and bracts) with a few tiny flower buds along their lengths. Within a few days, those stems grew three feet, showing off shapely forms that were quite compelling on their own. Some examples are featured in the first nine photos below, followed by the first bloom that appeared (in the next three photos) at just about the same time a Stargazer Lily opened up in another large pot nearby.
The rest of the photos show off the Witch’s Hand in full bloom, as it produced at least two new flowers every day until late June. As described in the first quotation above, the flower is a daylily spider form (how appropriate!) — with colors exhibiting dark red and burgundy variations, often with threads of purple or blue through their centers or along each petal’s edge. The only thing that would make it better is if it bloomed on Halloween!
Thanks for reading and taking a look!
