Saturday, July 8, 2017

The time of the lilies


The daylilies (Hemerocallis fulva, the orange ones on the left) have just come to an end. We ate quite a lot of them! Very helpful for recipe testing. 


Now the Nicotiana mutabilis and agastache are flanking the big flush of July trumpet lilies.  On the right are 'Summer Palace' not liking the New York heat and humidity, I suspect. Their promised pink is quite washed out. June belonged to the elegant Lilium 'Regale' and also to the pure white Formosas (some are still blooming in pots)  - the latter were hit hardest by our early spring freeze and only a few survived. 


'Silk Road', so disdained the first time I received it as a bonus bulb from the peerless Lily Garden in Washington state, is now the flower I will always associate with my New York gardens. Our lease has just been renewed for another year (I was holding my breath), but there will be other gardens. Who knows where. [9 July 2020: Huh - read on]


'Silk Road' is tough and striking and reliable and tall.


And she smells good.


These, above, are about six feet three inches.


The agastache escort. 


The delicate turks caps of 'Madam Butterfly' are lovely. I should have planted them in pots, I think, as they are a bit lost in the jungle of the side beds.


And echinacea - this one a gift, now well established, from either Kirstin or Julia, both neighborhood friends with green fingers.


These are...what? They have 'Ice Caves' written all over them but emailed orders yield no confirmation; I am going to have to scratch through my saved printed invoices to check. 


And 'Silver Scheherazade.' Tall and late-blooming and needing some staking.

Like me.

18 comments:

  1. Lovely photos - amazing how much can be squeezed into a small space. Regarding the lilies, do you have red lily beetles, and if so what do you do about them?

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    1. Thank you. I'm lucky not to have ever had the beetle. One lily in more shade does have a mealy bug...

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  2. Yes i would like to know about red lily beetle prevention too. My lilies have taken quite a hit this year between bad weather and ill health. I did scrape off the squidgy larvae though.

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    1. Where do you live, Amy Lee? I've never seen the beetles, here...

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    2. I live in the UK..i wiped off the larvae which looked like sticky poo, and managed to save most of my lilies..been more this year than ever

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  3. Congrats on the lease renewal - know it's a load off. My Silk Road did not make it thru the first winter, but yours are so pretty I may try again.

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    1. Thank you, Win. Phew.

      I wonder why the Silk Roads did not make it. Maybe rot?

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  4. What a delightful Sunday afternoon post. I love lilies. Yours are so beautiful.

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  5. I love lilies and it's time to plant some more. I don't know why, but after several years they seem to sink into the ground and disappear. I love your garden, but no water feature?

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    1. Lilies can rot if the ground is very wet in winter. But water feature? Maybe one day. It's not a priority, for me, especially in freezing winters. In a rental apartment it makes little sense - so many of the 'instant' ones look very tacky.

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    2. We have very wet winters so that may be the problem. True about "instant" water features.

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  6. We have the red beetle here in Maine. A systemic works to make the lily unappetizing. Nothing else works. the brown mush is filled with eggs. so do remove it. the greenhouse where I work has stopped selling the lilies. Been two or three years since we had any in stock--but we still have customers begging us to sell them something to kill them. Nothing does. Enjoy them while you can.

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    1. They make for a good case against plant smuggling and trade :-(

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  7. If I were you, I'd watch out for the beetles. I started noticing them in lower Westchester about 3 years ago. I had two rows of Casablanca lilies that were wiped out after 2 years before I realized what the culprit was. I first suspected deer - I'm a lazy gardener, plus I don't use chemicals of any kind in my garden which is pollinator and wildlife friendly. One day in July 2014 when they'd normally be in their glory I realized they were just bare sticks and thought the deer had chewed them down. The next year I saw the beetles on my other lilies (and fritillaries by the way) and absolved the deer. Who knows - maybe the lily beetles will detour around NYC assuming there's too much concrete to find delectable sustenance.

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    1. I think it is inevitable that they will arrive here at some point. It just has not happened yet. I will notice them very soon, if or when it happens :-)

      Sorry about your lilies!

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  8. Gorgeous lilies!
    And their names are magical.
    So glad you've got another year on the lease.

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  9. You have inspired me to order Silk Road for the back of my border, just saw them in the local Lilly catalogue!

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