Beautiful Debra! I really like the color and form of all three.

Last year many of my normal top performing spiders didn't do as well due to thinning the fall before. However, I still have lots of goodies, some of which have been in other groupings.

Wind Frills Clump. Always does well.

Wilson Spider clump, also always does well.

Do the Twist, also does well and unique coloring

Runner's up next.

These next 4 did as well as the top 3

North Wind Dancer

Orchid Corsage

Hot Wheels

Karen's Curls

More to follow..

These are the next tier down, still did very well but not quite as well budded as above.

Kirsten's Corsage

Primal Scream

Lake Norman Spider

Spider Miracle

Carmen Renee didn't get the top due to thinning, but still quite respectable.

Wind Frills and Wilson Spider both appear to be fairly well budded. Blazing Saddles did not have its best year here, blooming in the tropical melt down. It is quite consistent here, with acceptable, but not good, bud count.

Still the One looked very good this year, in a year in which many did not fit that characterization. Years ago, Chris complained about the sturdiness of its scapes, but she was growing it in partial shade. No problems here yet. I believe that she gave me this one; she was very generous.

Well, Scandinavia should be included because it looked much better in the ground than it did in a pot. The light background is not a good photographic background.

Well, I will stick it in.

Orchid Octopus is a favorite here. It’s not grown in ideal conditions but did well last season. I’ve realized over the past month or so I didn’t do a very good job with photographs this past season : (

Sherry

I'm enjoying seeing all of these! Here are my runners up:

Lillian's Thin Ice

My Mama Thinks I'm a Star

A Little Fire, Scarecrow

Shadow Walker

Debra

I love this category although I used to hate it.

Neon Flamingo:

Rambunctious Rosie

Purple Turantula

Jan Sun

UF's and Spiders are fast becoming my favorite daylily form. I have started collecting a lot of them so it will be difficult to narrow down top 3.....especially since they are ALL favorites.

GETTING AIRBORNE

I love TALL daylilies and HUGE blooms. This one got huge in just it's first summer in the ground. Planted in late September of last year, it delivered multiple scapes and buds and towered over the other daylilies. Oh, and the color is magnificent.

Another one that is brand-new and planted late September of last year. It's already on my favorite list because it wasn't fazed by the drought, had great foliage, decent bud count and I love it's face.

(Btw, all my top 3 came from Laura (twixanddud) last fall.....she sends great plants!) If they're already in my top 3 one can assume they will be even better next season. This one just bloomed it's head off for what seemed like forever and the bees love it.

OLLY OLLY OXEN FREE

Good Lord, I love this daylily. I.....really, really love it. I want it planted on my grave.

You just knew it would be on my list.

It's weird to me that another yellow is in a top spot since I'm partial to purple. But one cannot deny the astounding performance of this daylily. It was also a first season plant.

I have a soft spot for this one, since my husband's name is Jim.

And it's a deep, dark purple.

What can I say.....I love my purples!

PANIC IN DETROIT

A big, tall drink of water that never disappoints

I could list many more and feel like I might hurt my green children's feelings by not including them.....lol

Celeste, so nice to see Getting Airborne is in your top three. I added it from Laura this fall, it’s got a good spot here. Laura also shared Yellow Monkey with me. Mine only had a few blooms because I damaged it, hoping for a good show next season, I loved what I saw here. I agree, Olly is great!

Sherry

I was reluctant to like the spider and UFO category when I got into daylilies, but I can't imagine not having them in my garden.

WEBSTER'S PINK WONDER: Fantastic plant

NINE INCH NAILS: Terrific performer. Scapes are ramrod stiff. I prefer the cascading form, but I really like how this one presents in the garden. The green throat appears to be appliqued when it first opens up.

NAVAJO PONY: I love this one, even though it is relatively new to the garden.

David Zone 5

Runner ups:

JELLYFISH JEALOUSY: Blooms forever. Scapes are tall. From a distance, the blooms look like they are floating. Once it gets established, it really performs.

YADA YADA TELLA: First year bloom and I love this big bloom./ It was 9.5 inches.

WHITE EYES PINK DRAGON: Fantastic plant.

RIVER WIND: I included it because it throws a relatively high percentage of poly blooms and they all look like this. It is just striking.

ISABELLE ROSE, STARMAN'S QUEST, PRIMAL SCREAM, RED SUSPENDERS and SPIDERMAN could have made the list. Ask me another day and this list would change.

David Zone 5

Wow!!!!!!!!!! So many beautiful flowers posted by everyone. If I named the ones I liked, way too many would be listed. Consider all you you complimented. I will name Liberty Banner since it is on my wish list.

Brad

I concur that Jellyfish Jealousy is appealing. Reminds Me of Fireworks took a picture with panache.

Free Wheelin was good, but not as good as the previous year.

I am enjoying these photos immensely. I don't have a big collection of UFs and Spiders so it is really wonderful to see all of your best here. Most of the ones I have (Primal Scream, Free Wheelin', Black Panther, Carmen Renee) are already posted above with much better blooms and pics.

An outstanding oldie that is not yet posted is my reliable Creature of the Night. It always gives me nice blooms every year.

Like Kay, this was never my favorite type of lily....until recently when I began adding more and more (probably due to you people on this forum!!) Ironically, I don't seem to have taken a lot of pics of them this year. So I will enjoy all these. Brad, your Carmen Renee always poses well for pictures-so pretty. All of these are striking-and Karen, your seedlings are as pretty as any of them! Celeste, Olly is always a stunner. And, since I am not posting, I officially give Celeste my slot to post favorites and runner ups because I know she has a garden full!!!

Kate

Purple Tarantula and A Little Fire, Scarecrow and North Wind Dancer are my favorites posted above.

I would had said that we don't have many ufs and spiders until I started looking through my pictures and found a lot.

Here are my top three.

Bite Me is new and is not at clump strength yet, but it did quite well.

Stabia is tall and dramatic.

Buddy's Wild and Wonderful was a blooming fool this year. I was afraid it would be tender, but it seems to be doing well. Look at the buds on it.

Here are my runners up.

It was the first year for Explosion in the Paint Factory to bloom and it did well.

Fire Bird Suite is a good performer. I love the flaming hot color.

Free Wheelin' is always a favorite even though it doesn't have that many buds.

I'll put the rest in the next comment.

Nancy

Gryphon Chelsea London is a Canadian bred daylily that has a variety of fulva in its immediate background (grandparent I believe). All of Gil Stelter's hybrids with the name Gryphon have fulva in the recent parentage.

This is a fabulous daylily in a clump. It is Heavenly Orange Blaze.

Heavenly Purple Twister was a gift plant from Jamie Gossard when we visited his garden at the Region 2 meeting a few years ago in Cincinnati.

Heavenly Red Soldier was another gift plant. Its color is a rich red.

Hold the Matches was Bob's choice. It is a very large flower on tall scapes.

Impressionist Sky is an early bloomer.

I'd better put the rest in the next comment.

Lavender Oasis is not one of my favorites. I am not really into lavender, but it is a great grower. The plant is huge with tall scapes and big flowers.

North Wind Dancer was ordinarily be in my top three, but we divided the two clumps we had and sold off a bunch of it, so not it is starting over. Based on our experience, I think it was worthy of the Stout Medal it won. It blooms late and it is so graceful.

I always enjoy seeing Off to See the Wizard. It is one of the few diploids of the ones I am posting.

I think So Many Stars is the perfect name for this daylily. It has been in a bad spot but has now been moved so we hope to see it perform well.

Viva Pinata has been a good performer. It blooms on the early side. I have tried to use it in hybridization but have never gotten it to set seed.

That's all for me. We bought several diploid ufs and spiders this year, so it will be interesting to see how they perform next year.

Nancy

Karen - Creature of the Night performed very well here last season. It's a good one! I like all of your spidery seedlings!

Celeste - Olly is a great one! Mine needs to be planted in a spot where it gets more sun.

David - How is your Jellyfish Jealousy so tall? It's registered at 24 inches, and that's what mine usually is.

Nancy - I love that clump of I See Stars!

Kay - White Eyes Pink Dragon is a great one, and I remember how well it rebloomed for you! Neon Flamingo is a gorgeous color, but so far it's had short scapes for me. Your Shelby is gorgeous. Mine didn't bloom last season. I guess it's in too much shade now.

Mantis - I agree that Carolina Cool Down belongs in the best category. Here's another one I should have put there.

Divas in Diamonds was my Best Reblooming UF

Debra

Karen, you did it again, such lovely seedlings!

Sherry

I was granted permission by lilykate to post some more photos.....she said I could take her 'spot' since she isn't posting any....and I felt badly that some of my green children were neglected. Thanks, Kate!:)

DESERT ICICLE

SPIRIT OF THE DOVE

Thank you! I used to be not a big fan of spiders and UFs but I am also changing my mind now. That's the reason I think that I don't have as many registered UFs as I do with edged and eyed daylilies. After looking through the pics on this category again, I find much to love! Wow, OLLY OLLY OXEN FREE is so gorgeous! I love that smoky purple color with the same smoky watermark. It is almost unreal! Navajo Pony, Diva in Diamonds and Getting Airborne are also gorgeous. That big green throat on Boy Crazy is just stunning! Lillian's Thin Ice, Isabelle Rose and Scandinavia are really lovely white UFs.

Mantis, I really love Marked by Lydia with the dark Japanese maple combo. What what a gorgeous backdrop the dark foliage contrasted with the bright yellow blooms!

Nancy, I really like Gryphon Chelsea London! I hope you don't mind me asking this question but what traits do the hybridizer wish to get from the Fulva daylily as a parent?

Love your Venus's FIre and Spirit of the Dove, Celeste! I think I have always admired your pics of Spirit of the Dove in previous years.

Debra,

I have to think that my prolonged periods of cold assist in its getting taller scapes. The clump that I have will have scapes blooming at various heights and I know that most hybridizers take the average height when they register a plant. I love it when they bloom at various heights.

David

I remember when I first saw spider daylilies, I too didn't like them. Then I started seeing the UFs and those I liked a lot, especially the form of ones like Carmen Renee. I was hooked on them plus I sill like very rounded forms.

Lots of more goodies posted. I gotta mention Spirit of the Dove as it is on my wish list, so beautiful.

I also love the color of Gryphon Chelsea London, Nancy.

Karen, your seedlings came out very well, and I especially like the first one.

Karen, some hybridizers are looking for increased vigor and hardiness from reintroducing fulva (or other species) varieties. There are several hybridizers working with the fertile varieties of fulva. Gil Stelter is working primarily with unusual forms, but my husband Bob is working with fancy bagel forms (with teeth or eyes and edges). He trying for the modern look with increased vigor. We have seen eyes and some edge in the F1 generation.

Here is one of the fanciest Bob has bred. This is fulva 'Yunnan' X Empire of Dawn and Dusk.

I always say that the difference between my approach to hybridizing and Bob's is that I am trying to improve the wheel, but Bob is trying to reinvent the wheel. He always tends to go with species and old varieties while I tend to work with the newest stuff. I think there is a place for both approaches.

Nancy

THank you for the response, Nancy. I definitely cannot argue with you about the Fulva specie's vigor and hardiness. I have read that it is very difficult to set seeds with the Fulva daylily. Congrats! Wow, your DH's seedling is beautiful! Wish you and your husband much success in your breeding goals. Do you notice seedlings with Fulva in the parentage bloom very early?

Nancy, beautiful color on Stabia. It looks almost velvety in that photo! And I knew you would use my "spot" wisely, Celeste! What a gorgeous clump of Orchid Corsage. Don't you love looking back at pictures this time of year? I look at some of my garden shots and think how lovely they were although at the time, I was probably thinking how quickly I could get this shot and get out of the heat!! I am committed to taking more broad garden shots next year for that very reason. I don't think I enjoy it quite as much when it is 100 degrees out there but those same photos don't register temperature in the winter!

Kate

Karen, you are right that fulva 'Europa' is very hard to set seeds on. Stout appparently made thousands of crosses to get just a few seeds. There are, however, other varieties of fulva that will set seeds with tets (and not just rarely, but quite often). We never get very many seeds in a pod and many seeds eventually go bad in storage, but we get a fair few. In fact, this year we have 308 seeds from fulva varieties to play with. The varieties that we use are fulva cypriana, 'Korean,' 'Hankow,' 'Switzerland,' and 'Yunnan'. These varieties of fulva do not bloom as early as 'Europa' so their offspring are more midseason bloomers. 'Hankow' blooms late for us.

Nancy

I much enjoyed seeing all these UFs and spiders - my favorite, I think, from the beginning of my fairly short introduction to daylilies. I've got a few things I could post, but for now I'll just enjoy these. Am dealing with the immanent death of a family member and so, will not participate much for now. But I'll be looking in now and again to see everyones' beauties.

Alex

Alex, my heart goes out to you during this distressing and difficult time. I'm so sorry.

Sorry to hear that Alex. I will pray.

Do we have to have names on our images . I have some spider /uf images that are wonderful but I dont have them tagged ( my bad) . Would anyone want to see them anyway?

I'd like to see them. I've got about 900 babies started upstairs - many, I hope, will be UFs.

Alex

Yes, pleas show them!

This was a seedling from my friend Marg. I love it , and feel very lucky that she shared this one with me ! It is a cross of Radiation Biohazard x Rose F Kennedy .

This is one of my seedlings a UF

Another UF that caught my eye this past season .The depth of color made it stand out when everything was so washed out due to drought

Love this one ....its a seedling .

Panic in Detroit ........love the color it is so vibrant !

another seedling

Marked by Lydia performed really well even with the drought

This one clump looked like a starburst for weeks

All lovely, Heather. The one that I assume is also a seedling but didn't have any designation, 4th one up from the bottom, is my favorite.

Alex

Beautiful Seedlings!