As July slowly fades into August, we visit the Daylily Garden at Harmony Hall in Sloatsburg, which was in bloom early morning and afternoon on a rainy Saturday in mid-July.

Harmony Hall Curator and resident photographer Geoff Welch has documented many of nature’s highlights in this part of the Ramapo Highlands, especially in his own back yard at the Jacob Sloat House.

Welch not only photographed the daylilies in full, colorful bloom but captured a shot of the moon over Harmony Hall.

Hemerocallis, popularly known as the daylily, were brought to America by the European colonialists. Welch caught several of Harmony Hall’s many small, colorful blooms, including the Chicago Apache and the white with deep purple coloring of the Deseperado Love Daylily, as well as the blue flower of chicory and a a shot of the leafy green community garden, tended by the Friends of Harmony Hall.

The scientific name for daylily is Hemerocallis, with the preferred spelling as one word. Derived from two Greek words meaning “beauty” and “day,” the daylily’s name is rooted in it’s short moment of blossom, which takes place in just one day. Each plant has many flower buds and many stalks in each clump of plants to make up for the short life cycle of the blossom. So, the flowering period of a clump is usually several weeks long, with many experiencing more than one flowering.

Photos courtesy of Geoff Welch.