Lilies in the (Annapolis) Valley

I mentioned a couple of lilies in my last post, but since then, they've all started popping open in earnest, and the yard is awash with fragrance and colour. Mind you, with the Oriental lilies I have, the colours are mostly variations on a shade of pink, but that works fine for me. Let's have a walk around the yard and smell them all, shall we? We'll begin with Orienpet 'Purple Prince', which is still looking mighty fine.


How I figured out which were which: I went back and looked through a list of bulbs I got from one small company, looked at their photos versus my photos, and have made a note yet again of where the heck they all are. This one is named after a Dutch opera singer (which wouldn't be my choice of musician genre to name a plant after, but anyway): 'Willeki Alberti' is very vigourous and is just beginning to open up her huge blooms.

Actually, 'Willeki Alberti' ties with 'Stargazer' as being the last Orientals to open this year. 'Stargazer' isn't as tall as it normally is, but has plenty of flowers. I'm thinking seriously about ordering 'Yellow Stargazer' this year, but I refuse to deal with one particular mailorder company here in Canada, so hope I can find it elsewhere.

'Acapulco' is out in the back garden making a colourful contribution along with some very (powdery mildewed) monarda, and hot pink coneflowers and phlox. But 'Acapulco' is definitely the strongest colour in the group. And the most sweetly scented.

It took me a long time to figure out that this is actually 'Tom Pouce', but its not as vigourous as some of its kin and is in a little less sun, so the colours aren't as strong as some have. It's actually been rather daunted by the enormous Clematis recta 'Purpurea' beside it, which has to be divided and moved next spring.

Having no such qualms about being overwhelmed is 'Cobra' oriental lily, growing enthusiastically alongside one clump of 'Raspberry Wine' monarda. This monarda is very very vigourous but I have it planted in half a dozen sites and am encouraging its vigour. You'll see why in a bit.

We had a look at 'Zagora' orienpet the other day, when the flowers were first opening. It's definitely a favourite.

You can see why; along with very striking flowers, it's prolific, and tall; the shorter stems are newer growth. I think more orienpets need to come live here.

Making nice with Sidalcea (prairie mallow, checkerflower) is the stunningly awesome 'Dordogne' oriental lily. Behind it is also my 'Black Lace' sambucus, which has gotten inspired this year and shot skyward. This is a nice grouping of plants but I can't claim design talent. I just planted the lilies where there was a gap in things growing.

Okay, I mentioned the bee balm earlier, and that we have a LOT of it around the yard. We also have a LOT of globethistles, which can be seedy and vigourous but smell great, have neat architectural appeal, and also are a great magnet for butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds.

And the hummingbirds are extremely active and voracious right now, and are drawn to all the different monardas we have (which aren't that many: we have 'Jacob Kline', 'Raspberry Wine', 'Bluestocking', and one other that looks sort of like 'Bluestocking'. The white one went among the missing, and I don't have the pretty candy floss pink one that many people have. But the hummingbirds are happy with what we give them. And I'm happy with what they--and the rest of the garden--give us.