It’s July and the garden is bursting with bees and blossoms.  Oh, and Japanese Beetles.  I found a bunch of them copulating on the Virginia Creeper.  I decided to keep a respectful distance, mostly because they can chew the virginia creeper to their little beetle-heart’s content.  I did look at the hansa roses, though, and discovered bunches of lewd beetles there, too.

But it’s day lily season.  This is my favorite time in the garden, when the day lilies start to bloom.  I have most of the lilies grouped together around my Garden Lady.

Day Lilies and the Garden Lady

If I have things planned right, I should get a month of blooms.  The early lilies are in the middle of their bloom cycle.  The pale yellow lilies to the right of this photo are one of the few things I kept from the previous owner’s garden.  In fact, I now have several clumps of these in different gardens.  The bright red to the right of the lady is crocosmia.

Lavender Stardust

Below is Lavender Stardust, a lily I selected because of its name.  How could I not have Lavender Stardust in my garden.   This, like many of the lilies in this bed, was added late last summer.

The queen, though, is the un-named dark, dark red lily that I bought perhaps seven years ago and planted in my previous garden.  It represents for me a continuity.  And my affection for it is bound up in the story of where I found it, the distance I had to travel to get it, take it home, and then take it again when I moved to this house.   I remember that first summer when I faced a shabby house and a shabbier yard, overgrown with weeds, neglect, and poor planning.  So, I look at this dark, dark red lily and remember that I healed it into that shabby front yard, then moved it to the side yard when the front landscaping took place.  Then I moved it to the back yard.  And finally, two summers ago, moved to its place of honor in front of the Garden Lady.  It is the first lily I see when I enter the garden.

Dark, Dark Red Day Lily

Entrance to the Secret Garden

But there is more than just day lilies blooming.  The Crazy Daisies are tall and lush and host to lots of buzzing things.  And a few butterflies.  Too bad this little swallowtail wouldn’t open his wings for the camera.

Crazy Daisy and Friend

And the Annabelle Hydrangea seems to like this spot at the entrance of the Secret Garden. It replaces a very old and very large lilac bush that was so fragrant when it bloomed, but so ungainly and overgrown when it wasn’t blooming.  It was really nothing more than a huge thicket.  And though I used to get huge bouquets from it, I had to remove it.  I know the Annabelle will fill part of that space.  And I’ve planted two caryopteris in front of it.  Those should get quite large, too.  And I’ve planted other lilacs, so I will get more bouquets.

Annabelle Hydrangea