LILIES IN JULY
Joan Shaw
Lily 'Casa Blanca'
Ah, the joys of an
electric fence! Even better, an electric fence with a gate across the
drive. After we thought we'd had the flower-eating deer flumoxed with
the fence,
hidden discreetly from the road below our hill by shrubbery, the deer
ambled casually up the drive, which was the only opening we had left
around our two and a half acre garden here at DragonGoose Farm. After
much discussion, we finally gave up the battle and put up a gate.
Gates are not only unwelcoming, at least the (temporary, I hope) cattle
gate we have across the drive now, but are another thing to worry about
when closing things up at night. "Did you close the gate?" (We have by
this time, settled down in bed.) "Uh-oh, I forget to close the gate."
It's halfway down our 200 foot drive at this point, 300 feet from our
front porch, and it's a fair
walk in the dark to check it. On the other hand, it's not too obtrusive
with the
trees and lilacs in full leaf. The complicated task of bringing
the gate up to the top
of the drive with a less inelegant gate we'll leave for next year.
A gate in winter brings its own problems. The drive has a 5% grade,
which makes
it problematical for the early-morning snow-clearing service after each
snowfall. He'll be facing a full stop in order to open the gate and
drive through. Otherwise, it shouldn't
cause to much trouble to the UPS and FedEx trucks, since my husband,
Alan, and daughter, Melanie,
will be leaving early in the morning and the gate open
behind them. I suppose
we could leave the gate open during the day as we do now in the
summer. Whether that will work keeping hungry deer off the place
in the colder, often browse-poor, winter remains to be seen.
Our Flowers – No Longer Deer Browse
Meanwhile, the flowers and shrubs, especially our roses and, now, our
lilies are flourishing,
safe at last from the dusk to dawn
nibbling of our resident deer. There are other non-deer hazards, of
course, most
especially the terrific heat we've had for the past two or more weeks.
The heat is fine, since we have plenty of shade, both high and low.
Even the bright sun is no problem for plants that can take it. The
clincher is water – under intense heat, plants need plenty of it. One
spot, the white bed, in which I photographed a Lilium 'Casa Blanca' (shown at the
head of the page), appeared to be especially stressed yesterday.
Moreover, the large Rosa glauca plants
which encircles this white bed are usually covered with bluish green
leaves and oblong, maroon hips by this time. Instead, I was alarmed to
see their leaves were not only browning at the edges, but also looking
more than a little sparse. Moreover, the Meideland alba roses in the
white bed that usually reward us with continuous bloom all season had
only a
few spent blossoms showing and no new buds. Was it that long ago that I was
admiring the luxuriant growth there? No, it had been so very hot
for so
very long that it's more than likely that the plants had just decided
that they'd had enough.
Thanks to the heavy snow this past winter and the plentiful rain we had
this spring, this part of Utah has plenty of irrigation water
available. So we lost no time
in turning on the sprinklers there and I hope that part of the garden
will be forgiving and
start showing some life.
Meanwhile, I had plenty of lilies looking well enough to please me.
Above right is the magnificent Lilium
'Scarlet
Emperor' which is shaded a good part of the day and never fails
to show a burst of color that can be seen some fifty feet away. Planted
three years ago, it has increased to a nice-sized clump whose flowers
last on the stems for a long, long time. This is an Asiatic type,
blooming in mid to late June – the same
time as the 'Margaret Hilling' rose growing
close by.
Another
spectacular lily is 'Silk Road.'
This is a cross between the fragrant and late-blooming Orientals and
Trumpets – an Orienpet. The
plant blooms during July and August, have large trumpets that
have deep rose petals rimmed in white, and grow here to six feet.
They're intensely fragrant and make an impressive show, rising above
the
roses around them.
Another
Orienpet that makes an impressive show here is 'Scheherazade. This lily
can take bright sun and has brilliantly colored petals – deep red,
rimmed in cream with a star-shaped yellow and green throat. Almost as
fragrant as 'Silk Road', it grows to six feet tall here in the south
copse in almost a full day of sun.
To the
left is 'Black Beauty', an oriental hybrid cross between L. henryi and L. speciosum. This plant soars to
seven feet in one end of the long rose border in the north garden – a truly
eye-catching sight as one turns the corner into the copse. The
fragrant flowers keep coming for over two weeks and the plant's
impressive height adds much drama to the border.
Last season, Spencer, our landscape manager, told me I should really go
up and see this huge lily that was the most exotic thing he'd ever
seen, but by the time I got around to it, most of the blossoms were
finished. Not so this year. I'd been keeping my eye on it for weeks,
waiting with my camera for the first few blooms to emerge – blooms that
are a deep raspberry with thin white edges – while
watching it with some astonishment as it grew taller and taller and
taller.
The species strain in this lily gives it its turk's cap recurved
petals, its nodding look, and its very tall stems. 'Black Beauty',
however, unlike the species lilies we have elsewhere in the garden, has
rigid stems, strong and thick, that hold the flowers aloft without need
of staking. This is saying a lot considering the number of blooms it
produces.
Another group of lilies I found at White Flower Farm are what
they
named, Butterfly Lilies. These are the closest to species lilies that
we have here and nod all along a Nanking Cherry and rose border in
front of
the south orchard. Their more
delicate stems could probably use staking, but between the roses
in front of them and the overhanging branches of the cherry bushes
behind them, they look fine even when leaning out over the border in a
natural manner.
As described in the White Flower Farm catalog, they are indeed every
known shade possible found in lilies. The blooms are small and recurved
in the turk's cap manner, and range from a couple of feet to eight feet
high. Along that border there are always some in bloom. Below on the
right is a white one that towers above my head – not that I
tower very high myself, but it is
pretty tall.
The
tiger lilies (L. lancifolium or L. tigrinum) also did well this
year, but they do need staking. The startling spots of color they favor
us with throughout the garden are worth the trouble, certainly, and
I've loved tiger lilies ever since I was a child watching my mother
working in our tiny back garden in Gloucester City in New Jersey (see
below). Nostalgia, you know. We all carry it along with us.
Best wishes,
Joan Katherine Shaw
Late July
2006
Photos
by Joan Katherine Shaw
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