Sunday, May 17, 2009

A Tale Of Two Lilies



Planning our garden just has not happened. We work on a find a place to stick this plant system. Plants always outnumber open spots. Here is the rare exception. Yellow and purple is a favorite color combination and the lemon lily was deliberately placed behind the Allium aflatunense. Now we know that the taller plants should be planted in back. Remember we are new at planned planting. Several bulbs were spaced along a crescent. The lily was tucked in behind. Bloom time is another issue. The alliums will likely be past when and if the lily blooms. More tuition has been paid and perhaps some learning has occurred.

Nearby lemon lilies occupy the end of a planting bed. It is now clear to us that these lily buds shrivel and die when frosted. Limited materials available for covering plants would likely have left these plants unprotected. Heat radiated by the stone wall protected the buds in the first picture. That wall is West facing and went into the cold night with enough stored heat to hold back the frost. Freeze warnings are posted for tonight. Temperatures are expected to drop into the 20's. We have covered what we can but expect to be hit hard. A year without lemon lily flowers awaits us. The leaves look OK so perhaps the plants can build themselves up and provide a grand display of blooms next year. Gardening builds character.

1 comment:

Jan said...

I like how you have observed what has happened in your garden so you can learn from your successes, and your mistakes, and perhaps 'plan' something slightly different for next year. Sorry you are having weather in the 20's in mid-May! We did just have weather as low as the 30's the past couple of nights...hard to believe when just a few days ago it was in the 90's and so hot and humid I could not stand to be outside!!