HARMONY HALL GARDEN - FLOWERS of JULY

Photography by Geoff Welch

July seems like the central month of summer with daylilies at their peak. Daylily's

botanical name, Hemerocallis, means "beauty for a day” as most daylily flowers open in the morning and die by nightfall. Each flower stem (or scape) has a dozen flower buds or more, and some plants can remain in bloom for several weeks.

Over the past decade, I have cultivated a small, colorful daylily garden by the fence on the north side of the mansion. This extends the welcoming warmth of the existing orange daylilies beds established in front of Harmony Hall.

The big eyes of a Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) on a Butterfly bush flower at Harmony Hall.

Double petaled old-fashioned orange Daylily by the front steps of Harmony Hall.

Red Daylily in the Curators Garden.

Wild Queen’s Ann’s Lace amongst the Daylilies.

Peach Colored Daylily after a rain.