With my first perennial garden in the early eighties, I had one frosty peach Day Lily called Theresa Hall which is still with me. I keep it mostly for sentimental reasons as its Flowers are small and easily lost in the June garden.

A gardener friend gave me a couple of the classic June blooming Lemon Lilies and one early season pale orange Lily. I liked how this orange Flower showed up in a season of mostly blues and pinks. I also transplanted some of the Day Lilies that grow wild around here to a spot at the top of our driveway. They are a tall deep orange Lily that grows with abandon along the roadsides of New Hampshire and Vermont. They have liked holding up their spot at the entrance to the farm, and I have liked having them there.

In general however, the stunning developments in the world of Day Lilies passed me by until a few years ago when I started to pay attention to Day Lilies again. It was bliss to discover then plant a dozen or two of the colorful new cultivars with their divergent bloom times. Suddenly Day Lilies were not just a blip in the busy June landscape but a luxurious friend all summer long

The gardens here now contain a deluge of Day Lilies. Below are some of the ones blooming right now. I relish how many others are still to come in August and September.

We had a much needed downpour last night. Even the wildflowers were drooping before this night of rain. The Day Lilies deserve a nod for having managed to look fresh and beautiful even through the preceding crisp hot weeks, though I must say this morning as I went out to deadhead them, they looked as refreshed by the rain as everyone else.