The First Day of Summer

Today may be the first day of summer according to the calendar, but it has felt like summer for a long time.  As I write this... Rumbling and Rain are playing a duet - another number in their extended encore performance this summer.  Now that I know the drill, I make sure to get out to the garden early every morning before Rumbling and Rain take the stage.

It is a good year for the daylilies - although I must say that every year is a good year for daylilies. They have a unique, yet reliable sort of beauty.  They are well-behaved, yet sometimes mischievous - like these two.  I like that.

Here are a few highlights from the past couple of days.  

I've shown you Thumbprint before, but she was in fine form several days ago.  She supplies her own photo-styling!

Speak of Angels is a delicate beauty.  She loves to hide down real low in the foliage.

It's not just me who loves the lilies.  Some little spider has been very busy.  This is Red Ribbons again.

Dallas Star.  Like Texas, she's big.

Pistachio Mint, Beverly Hills and Grape Adventure - all making their own encore performance here on the blog.  This birdbath is a very popular watering spot, especially in the early evening.  One of these days I want to try to get some pics of the birds (the real birds).

Window Dressing - a lovely near-white with a pale green throat.  Next to her on the left is one of my favorite foliage plants - a variegated lily of the valley.  This little batch of it has migrated across the sidewalk.

Here is the sidewalk - all along the right side is the variegated lily of the valley.  As the summer progresses it seems to become a little less variegated.  When this dies back in the fall, you can see lots of snake holes right up against the house.

This is Golliwog - a perfectly lovely spider form.  Very showy in the garden.  The second photo shows her in early morning light.  I love that glowy look.

There is some kind of bug on every daylily when I look through the camera at the bloom.  Check out the antennae on this guy.

Nile Crane is an old-timer in my garden.  That's Scarlet Orbit in the background.

Pretty foliage.  It pays to stop and look at the small areas - there is much to see.

I have never known a "debutante", except for this one in my garden.  May I present... Atlanta Debutante.

Many of my daylilies came from a local grower near Lawrence.  This one was spotted in her own personal garden and instantly loved.  My neighbor and I just had to have it!  It is hard to tell here, but this one is huge.  The grower did not know the name of the lily, so she had always called it Unknown Yellow.  Works for me!

 Mokan Gold went crazy this morning!

This is Lullabye Baby - one of my favorites.  I love her with that Coral Bells foliage underneath.  She has a small bloom, but lots of blooms.

Another old-timer in my garden.  The lovely Mary Todd.

Ouachita Beauty.

Cameo Cupcake.

Here's a real show-off!  Ivory Edges all over the place today!

Red Ribbons can't quite decide how tall to be today.  But still making quite a show.

There better not be any golf carts near my garden!  That's the low and lovely Mynelle's Starfish on the left.

 In the morning, I like to let the light shine through the lily from the back.  This is Daveo Holman.  In normal lighting, this lily is more pink.

Custard Candy is a relatively new addition to my garden.

I think this is Copper Summer.  Or maybe not.  Either way, she's a wonderful lily and she's welcome to stay around as long as she wants.

Vintage Wine and a few Bradley Hardy. Vintage Wine is the first daylily I planted in my garden - almost 20 years ago!

Yasmine.

 This is always a wake-up call when I go to the garden early in the morning!  This is New Note - little and brilliant.

The amazing Etosha.

Two more views of the amazing Etosha. 

Chicago Sunrise.  She's another early morning eye-opener!  She has hearty blooms on tall straight sturdy stalks.  Very showy.

 Another encore performance - by Brand New Lover. 

 This is Matt - a colorful character just like my brother Matt!

 Coral Dawn and Java Sea.

Making Friends.

My all-time favorite.  I know I've shown her before (many times!) but I can't help it!!!  Classy Cast.

I really love getting up close to the lilies - but when everything is blooming the whole garden is very pleasing!  Two years ago I built curvy "paths" through my big garden, which separated the one big space into 6 smaller spaces.  The paths make it so much easier to get in the garden to dead-head the lilies and pull weeds and take photos!

I like a little patio greenery.  The plant in the center is grape ivy.  My Mother-in-law gave me a cutting from her plant 30 years ago (or so).  It is really pretty and does quite well in the house over the winter.  The plant on the left is a Christmas cactus given to me by my Mother in 1970!!!  That's 40 years ago!!!

Rumbling and Rain have finally left the stage.  But I'm sure they will be back - probably tonight!