Summer arrives.

 

When summer officially arrives in the Deep South, the daylily reigns. I have a goal of planting several new breeds before summer is over. This and phlox is a my dream, to just have beds full of them. Smiling. I love summer. When I was very young, I lived in a swimsuit all summer long. We swam in rivers and lakes, in the local towns' pools. I think I learned to swim in my grandmother's bathtub. She had one of those big claw-footed things and the water was deep enough for a toddler to swim. Later, my mother sent me off to swimming lessons. Both my parents spent a lot of time on lakes, boating and fishing and that sort of thing and felt swimming was a natural thing. These daylilies are from my mother's yard. It was her favorite flower, considering she had thousands of them in her garden. This is the longest day of the year, June 21 or so, depending. Summer solstice. Every day now on will get shorter and shorter, the countdown to the shortest winter day. But I won't think about that right now. Summer is here, full of warmth and color and so much beauty.