Yellow Daylily

Yellow Daylily (Hemerocallis) on my deck, Auburn, California Daylilies are very hard to photograph, because they only bloom for a day. When I first started growing them a few years ago, I didn't realize this. I should have known by the name. I hate to admit it, but it wasn't until I had my first bloom that I figured it out! I soon realized that in order to guarantee constant blooms, I needed lots of plants. The Daylily in this photo is one of a dozen or so plants I have in pots on my deck.  This photo was taken late in the afternoon to get the nice sidelighting you see here. In order to photograph them at their best, you really need to do it during the middle of their bloom. Then they are all the way open, but haven't started to look like they are on their way out yet. But, the light is not always good then. I almost dumped this photo, because of the ugly small bloom. Now, I'm glad I didn't. This shot illustrates clearly the blooming cycle of a Daylily. The smaller bloom was from the day before. And the larger bloom was from the day I took this photo. You can see, that it is starting to curl around the edges already. By the next morning, it looked like the little bloom in this photo.  Even though Daylilies only bloom for a day, they are still one of my favorites!