Spiders and Hurricanes

ell,

you may remember that I promised “wildlife” with this week’s Friday Floral. I wasn’t able to pull it off, as my intended subjects were occupied elsewhere. I’m not referring to spiders—as the title above might lead you to wrongly guess—but to the bright yellow butterflies that work over every red blossom in sight around this time of year. They appear to be enamored currently with the cardinal vine climbing the fence by the garage. How about a dead leaf?

The spider lily, like the surprise lily featured back in August, is in the genus Lycoris, and emerges seemingly out of nowhere. Unlike the surprise lily, however, the spider lily produces foliage shortly after the blooms fade and die.

I’m not sure if I mentioned it, but the surprise lily produces its broad amaryllis-like foliage in the spring, which dies away by mid summer. The foliage of the spider lily is darker green, and much more narrow, resembling the foliage of liriope. You can see last year’s foliage in some of the pictures making a nice mulch at the base of the flower stalks.

The spider lily, Lycoris radiata is also known by the common name “hurricane lily,” as it arises out of nowhere just as hurricane season begins in earnest. Most of these photos were taken by my wife on Tuesday. She’s not keen on all the settings, but if you leave the camera on auto, she has a keen eye for composition and consistently captures more interesting shots than I. Enjoy, and don’t forget to click on the images to get a larger picture.

Have a wonderful weekend, and I’ll see you in church Sunday.