firestorm

first blossom caught me by surprise, I was not expecting such a dramatic flower

the colors and the shape won me over instantly

close up of the odd petals in the second blossom

the second firestorm had an extra pair of distorted petals, more red throughout

third and last firestorm at the edge of day light and shadow

firestorm in the sun

firestorm in the shade

This is the last of about 3 or 4 blossoms on one of the new daylily I bought in the spring at the National Arboretum's annual plant sale. Named "Firestorm" it is a dramatic shape and the colors are exciting. Not orange but in some ways the precursor with yellow and orange-red mixing on the petals. I particularly like the way the two types of petals have distinctive shapes and color to distinguish them. The narrow yellow recurved petals form long S-curves contrasting the twisting wide petals which have a center yellow rib surrounded by the red glow and yellow edges at the outer half of the curling petals. The stamen and anther are golden ending in reddish tips. All in all, a handsome daylily but sadly the last blossom on my new plant this year. The good news is that in the pot there are two clusters of leaves meaning next year this daylily might have two stems of buds that open twice as many flowers in July.