LilyFest in Ohio

Two weeks ago, Romie and I, along with my mom and dad, took off for the southeastern part of our state - a mere three hours away - to attend LilyFest near Logan, Ohio. I'd heard about it through Ohio Magazine (what a great resource for events and history in our great state!).

LilyFest is a yearly event, first held in 1992, at the home of Bobbi Bishop. Bobbi and her husband Bruce (who has passed away) created beautiful gardens on their home property, featuring daylilies. The festival has grown since it was held that first year until it entertained around 8000 visitors in 2007.We arrived around 1:00 p.m. and festivities were in full swing. There was live music and many artists and vendors set up around the grounds, as well as a butterfly habitat. The gardens are pretty spread out, so there's room for all the extras involved with a festival. We walked through a Viking settlement in the woods on the way to the actual lily gardens. That was interesting, although I'm not sure why that was going on in conjunction with LilyFest.
We spent about two hours there, strolling through the gardens, which also contained various types of permanent sculptures. Mom bought a couple of Himalayan clematis, and while I wanted to purchase a lily in commemoration of our visit, I left without doing so. I probably would have bought the daylily 'Victoria's Secret' since it is the number one bestseller there, according to the vendor.

I don't know that I would drive three hours just to attend LilyFest again, but it's in the Hocking Hills and that's reason enough to plan a trip around the festival. You won't find much more beauty in our state than here, and it's one of my very favorite places in the whole wide world. More on that to come!

Images from LilyFest

This was a beautiful Smoke Tree (Cotinus coggygria).

Does anyone know what this shrub is? I have a Variegated Japanese Knotweed that has similar-looking leaves, but I don't remember seeing any berries at any time.

UPDATE: This is a variegated St. John's Wort, probably Hypericum androsaemum 'Glacier'.

The people sitting are listening to and watching live musicians.

The woodland setting provided a gorgeous backdrop for the lilies.

One of the vendors did sandstone carvings. I especially liked this water feature with the lizard crawling up the side.

Have a dead tree? Cut it off, turn it upside down, and plant it!

One of the beautiful stained glass art pieces.

I loved this 'painted' lily and would love to know its name. None of the lilies were labeled, unfortunately. Does anyone recognize this?

What a gorgeous caterpillar in the butterfly habitat. I'm not sure what this will later become.

I like the rounded petals on this one.

The hydrangeas were HUGE.

There were a couple of pottery vendors.

Beautiful dark asiatic lily.

There was a nice stand of bamboo growing.

Fritillary

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Black Swallowtail

Lots of green in this one.

More sculpture in the gardens

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EDIT: Thank you to Shady Gardener, who has identified the beautiful caterpillar shown above as that of the Cecropia Moth. She also provided an excellent website that shows all the stages of growth.