In the wild spider lily is usually found growing along creek and branch banks where it is flooded during the growing season, as well as the swampy bog and marsh areas. Usually they are in full sun. Native range is from Georgia, Alabama, on over and up to Indiana, Illinois. In spite of this range in nature hardiness is usually rated at USDA Zone 7 in literature. In my garden here in Southern Indiana they have been through -30 degrees on one occasion and -20 on more than one occasion. They will also take some shade and do quite well as mine are transplanted where they receive only late afternoon sun. They also do not demand a pond or stream edge to do well. I dug in lots of peat and leave mold, keeping my plants well mulched with chopped leaves, and they ride out our late summer droughts just fine.
This member of the amaryllis family has long strap-like leaves that form a fountain radiating up to then arch out and down. Individual leaves are about two and one-half inches wide by over two feet in length with a center rib forming a crease down the middle. Normally the foliage has mostly gone dormant by bloom time, but some years both foliage and blooms are present at the same time.
The ghostly blooms are at the top of a nude stalk that reaches thirty inches or more. Each bloom has its own display stand at the top of the stalk and there will usually be five to six blooms per stalk. The common name of spider lily comes from how the blooms are constructed. Each bloom has six long narrow white petals widely spaced and in a shallow cup outline. At the center of the petals is a cup formed from "webbing" that goes from stamen to stamen. There are six stamens about there inches long and the web comes up each one about two inches forming a rib for the web. The overall appearance is of delicate white lace doily waving in the wind.
Blooms come on at a time when gardens could use a bit of color. In my garden spider lily begins blooming in mid-August and last well into September. Some native companion plants that bloom at the same period could be cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), the great blue lobelia (L. siphilitica) and turtle head in pink (Chelone lyonii). You may also want to try some of the native asters. Non-native companion possibilities would be asters, especially some of the shorter named cultivars and hybrids. Monkshood (Aconitum) would be a favorite for the color blue and purple. There are numerous fall blooming Japanese anemone in white and pink, with whirls of petals in single or double arrangements.