Tiger

When I was a youngster growing up in Georgia we knew these flowers as Tiger lilies. I remember walking down gravel roads filling a basket full of these beautiful blossoms to take home for dinner. Mom would dip them in batter and fry them up like tempura.

I’ve yet to find this tradition in any other part of the USA, so I reckon it’s a southern thing … kinda like pouring peanuts in your coke.

This is actually a Day Lily, or Hemerocallis fulva, so named because the blossoms supposedly only last a day. However they last a whole lot longer on the back country roads of Georgia.

Flowers appear in groups on a leafless stalk that is 30 to 90 cm high. They are comprised of 3 sepals, 3 wavy edged petals, 6 stamens and an orange and yellow style. 30 to 90 cm long leaves rise up like swords from the base and are narrow and channeled and just a little bit prickly. The Day lily can be found May through July in meadows and along the roadsides throughout the USA.

Taken along Stonebank Rd in Clarkesville, GA USA
Olympus E-3, Sigma 105 mm f/2.8 macro, f/11, 1/25 sec, ISO 100. Backlit with warm Georgia sunshine.