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.