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| Stella D'Oro Daylily |
Where do they get the names for
these blooms? Well...this Daylily in the title picture above, is lovely, very different with its
ruffled edges from the Hemerocallis family called French Lengerie. Daylilys get their common name for their once-daily
blooming pattern. The yellow Daylily in the inset just above is called a Stella D'oro (which also comes in red). Also blooming in my yard at this time are red Asiatic Daylily. I consider them different instruments in the orchestral
arrangement in the garden of life.
Picture an orchestra with a
flute section whose parts are not performed in unison, rather, you have the
trills and spills of the Flute 1 part going on simultaneously with Flutes 2 and
3. Now there is some truth to the difficulty in the levels and solo parts
to instrumentation in parts 1, 2 and 3 in orchestral arrangements, but, most
often, the parts reflect different scores that complement each other, not
necessarily "out-ranking" one another. They may also complement
and duplicate other parts of the orchestra simultaneously.
Parts of the violin, viola
and cello sections may replicate the flute scoring so at any given time, you
have several instruments playing; not in a mis-mash of disharmony and noise,
but melodies and riffs the complement each other, ebbing and flowing.
That is why, when I look at a garden I see all these things going on at once
but they are in harmony.
To see the depth of the
arrangement in any given moment of a day, you have to get out there in the
garden, walk the path, ignore the weeds; consider them punctuation if you will,
all part of the score.
Yesterday, there were three
kinds of Daylilys blooming in different parts of my yard. Back by
the fence row, I had some red Asiatic lilys which are recognizable
by their brilliant colors and freckled throats accenting the garden page like
grace notes but I also have some of those in the front of the house.
Around the path, there are
large patches of the common orange "ditch" lilys, I call them, for
they are found all through North America in the country sides as well, along
fence rows just springing forth to please the passerby.
There are bright yellows
and lemon yellows, perhaps piccolos in the orchestra. Simultaneously, the
antique and tea roses are blooming and there are the sprightly Monardia or Bee
Balm in two colors which stand by the playfully bright blue Bachelor's Buttons.
Go ahead, walk through and
see what is playing in your garden today. Let it sooth you, inspire you,
motivate you, heal you.
This blog entry is memory of
my Step-dad, Dr. James A. Downard, who at 91, passed away yesterday. He
was a good grandfather to my children who had a long life, no great sicknesses
and passed peacefully with my Mother and his children at his side.
