I, too, appreciate that everyone has different tastes when it comes to daylilies and I am usually quick to pick up on sarcasm, however, I missed it this time .... Although I grow a good number of UF's, I just can't seem to get all excited about them. I do however, respect that others like them and do NOT post my dislike of them every time the topic or an image of a UF is shown.
As Juli said, you really need to see this variation of Sculpted form to appreciate the 3-dimensional effect. Images are flat and no matter what angle is taken they do not show these blooms to their best or give an understanding of the form. They are not flat-faced mugshotable ( not sure that's a word...) blooms. I believe the image many have in their mind is of a normal, flat-faced Single form where the edges stick/tangle or the blooms never open flat due to cold or other weather related problems, yes, these are both incorrect and are faults. What is seen in some of the extreme pleated Sculpted forms, which raises the petals into an upright postion, is due to characteristics of the Form, Sculpted. Just as a cascade in UF's can softly hang downward or hang at an extreme angle creating a tangled mess of petals and sepals (sorry, maybe not the best way to say this). Some of us like symmetrical flowers with a balanced look of all segments doing the same thing. An unsymmetrical bloom can look like a trainwreck to those of us who like symmetrical blooms, me included. Below are images I took this morning showing several blooms of a Single form "stuck" at the top by the overdone incorrect ruffled edge, an EDGE fault - this is NOT a trait of Sculpted forms, unless one puts the overly incorrect sticking ruffled edge of these Single forms onto a Sculpted form.
Now in comparison here are a few Sculpted forms showing the open flower with the upright petals and the unique folding behind the petal..
I hope this clears some of the possible misunderstanding of this Sculpted subform and that anyone who wants to see one of these fascinating Sculpted blooms in person gets an opportunity to do so.
