Tawney wild daylilies (Hemerocallis fulva) are starting to congregate along our roadsides and elsewhere. They soon will become crowds that will wave at passing vehicles.
Occasionally, a few naturalized lemon lilies (aka long day lilies or Hemerocallis citrina) have joined the tawny wild day lilies.
Unlike true lilies that grow from delicate bulbs, tawny wild daylilies grow perennially from tough roots and runners. That means that they can be invasive. They’re native to Asia, but came here with our earliest European colonists.
These emblems of high summer are called daylilies because most of them, when they reach the flowering stage, will be opened by the touch of the sun and wither overnight. However, if it is a dark, cloudy day, many day lilies will remain closed. By the way, the wild ones also are commonly called ditch lilies due to their ability to live in roadside ditches and on other sloping surfaces.
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on July 2 [lemon] and 3 [tawny], 2023.)