August 21, 2008
Lilies Of The Garden (Not the Valley)
I was surprised the other day to see a wonderful white lily blooming in my patio perennial border. I had completely forgotten that I had rescued some past-their-prime lilies from one of the big box stores for 50 cents each last year and planted them near a patch of daylilies and a bright pink garden phlox.
Lilies are a great flower in the garden. With more than 100 species and who knows how many cultivars, there is bound to be one that will thrive in your garden.
One of my favorites is the tiger lily. One of my grandmothers always had a beautiful patch of these at the back of one of her flower borders. I have several tiger lilies in my garden as well as some Asiatic lilies, but this white one has proven to be my late summer surprise. A friend of mine, who happens to be a horticulture professor, says this is probably a Formosa lily.
Lilies are one of those plants that many gardeners are passionate about—just check out what Elizabeth at the Garden Rant blog had to say about the summer in lilies.