IN THE FIELD: Roadside Color
One of my favorite things to see when driving the country roads near where I live, are wild day lilies. They begin to make their appearance in June, shortly after the Dames Rocket are finished blooming. They are a common sight on roadside embankments, in ditches and in other naturalized areas. Typically their biggest blooming period is from late spring throughout the summer, and in lesser amounts, into early autumn.
Folks also plant them on hillsides as an erosion control or alongside their driveways to dress up the front of their property. Somehow, one small group will manage to spread far and wide, providing splashes of color lasting several months for everyone to see as they drive by.
I photographed these lilies with my 35mm 1.8 prime lens using an ISO of 200, at 1/250th of a second, aperture set at f3.5 with a sunny white balance setting.
David Heilman 
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Cool…thanks for stopping by!!!
Great photo of the Lilies, David.
We have an International Collection of Water Lilies here in San Angelo. One of only five in the world. You would be in heaven if you were to be here to photograph them. 🙂
Wow I sure would love to see that!!!! Never been to Texas but I will put San Angelo on the list !!!
What a lovely shot – nice and sharp! They are very beautiful flowers. I prefer them to the cultivated ones.
Thanks Meanderer, I prefer them also…some of the cultivated varieties are a little to wild for my taste.
Lovely colors, David. I have the same colors blooming in the garden, haven’t had a chance to photograph them though.
Thanks Gracie, ya know…if our back yard had more sun I would plant some also! You better get out there with the camera kiddo!!
How beautiful people plant them alongside the road and also on hillsides… These are so beautiful flowers I can imagine the road… Your photograph shows too… I loved it, dear David, and I guess they are not in the same colour, should be different colours too… Thank you dear, have a nice day, love, nia
Yes it is very pretty to see them covering hills along the road. Most are this color, although sometimes we see burgundy and orange.
Beautiful! I love seeing these in Ohio when I visit. They seem to be everywhere. Ooohh – 35mm, 1.8 – great fun, I’m sure!
Isn’t it great…driving along, go around bend in road, and suddenly there they are! That lens (Nikon) is super sharp, almost weightless, focuses instantly and was under 200 bucks. On my camera it is the equivalent to a 50mm in the old film days.
I enjoy seeing these lilies, i will keep my eyes open around here. Nice prime lens you have.
They should be blooming any time now!!! Love that lens…it was under 200 dollars…on my wish list are either a 50mm which would equal a 75mm in film or even the 85mm which would equal a 128mm. The primes are so sharp!
very good price…and sharp, well I could benefit from that.
beautiful, David!
Thanks Saffron, they should be blooming near where you live!!! Ours started about a week ago.
Beautiful! I would love to see them growing wild! We have one whole flower bed full of them, I think about 20 different varieties. They do well in our climate.
Wow that must be an extraordinary sight!!! I’ll have to get some more shots of them growing in mass…with a safer place to pull over! Aha…I just thought of a spot!!!
Beautiful color, David! Loved these flowers.
Thanks Nandin, they sure do stand out in the landscape. Especially if there is some shade!!!
These must make a spectacular show as wild flowers. Lovely image!
They sure do…waves of orange as you drive by…sometimes for quite a distance!!
When they go wild they go wild! but they are pretty to see along the way. Pretty picture
Thanks T, Boy they sure do wild…they can really spread and brighten the landscape!
These are beautiful flowers! Awesome shot! I used to grow these, but not where I live now because the deer love them.
Thanks Fergie, surprisingly the deer leave them alone around here…they just come for my hostas. I read online that almost all of the plant (the wild ones) is edible…probably why the deer love them so much!!!
Very nicely spotted and realized, David.
Thanks Kerry, I’ve been scouting for a place to get more of a vista type shot showing the masses of flowers…just need a safe place to pull off the road.
We work so hard to grow Day Lilies and you get them by the roadside?! 🙂
We sure do, sometimes you will see just few blooms and in other places there will be thousands!!!
They look like exploding fireworks!
Hey , Ya know…they do!!!!