Fourth of July

Some floral fireworks for Independence Day. The slow explosion of day lilies opening, unfurling petals and fading away, each flower having a 12-hour lifespan.

Day lily. Hemerocallis, which comes from ancient Greek words meaning beautiful day.

Day lilies are suddenly all over the place in early July. They start to line the roadsides as though waiting for the Fourth of July parades.

Why the name day lily? If you look on any day lily stalk, you’ll see half-a-dozen buds, each one slightly bigger than the next. With a punctuality that’s pretty amazing, they will open precisely 24 hours apart. So that on one stalk you have, so to speak, the entire schedule for the week. Today Monday’s flower is open. Tomorrow Monday’s blossom will be but a withered husk, and Tuesday will be in full bloom. And then the next day, Wednesday’s flower will bloom, and so on. (There’s a life lesson in there somewhere, I suppose.)