Here Come the Lilies

57°f as I write this at 9am, 14°C. A few clouds, but the rain predicted overnight did not happen, which means I must go out and water the pepper and cabbage plants I put in last evening.

Stella D'Or, I think.

Hellebores, crocus, daffodils, tulips, iris, peonies...and then lilies. The spring progression of flowers continues, although the roses, once a June spectacular, have jumped the line and have been blooming profusely this month.

I don't know the name of this large white lily. It was a $1 Walmart buy after Easter a couple years ago.

I told my husband that I think, finally, I have almost enough flowers. Because can one ever really have too many? For the past several years I have worked on getting a steady progression of blooms. I think I have Spring blooms pretty much in order, but summer is still a work in progress. Our soil is sandy, and dries quickly in hot weather. 

Stargazer lily, I think?

Over the years we have added a lot of organic matter, generally in the form of mulch, and the soil is much improved. Still, having blooms in the heat of summer is a challenge.  I have coaxed along some bee balm, coneflower, and coreopsis the last two years and those seem to be doing well so far this year.  I also realized that those gorgeous gardens we see in magazines get watered, a lot. So last year I watered every couple days when we didn't get rain, and that helped a lot. Why did it take me so long to figure that out! We are fortunate that our deep well is up to so much watering. I use a mix of bone meal, blood meal and wood ash as fertilizer, and my plants seem to thrive on that.

Lemon lily, which is my secret favorite. Don't tell the others!

I don't know the name of this little pink lily, but it was most likely another marked- down buy. Such a pretty one.

That's the lily parade so far. The native daylilies will come later, adding their bright orange to June days.  There are a couple others that have yet to bloom too. I wonder what colors they will be?

Another one whose name I can't remember. Sigh. I am not a very professional gardener, am I. 

When my son Derek saw the gazing ball, he said, "Uh-oh,  now you are officially old! You got one of those balls!" I remember my mother's reaction to these balls when they became popular in the late 50's. "So tacky," she said. And I felt guilty because I thought they were beautiful and wished we had one! This is my third or fourth-- they fall victim to dogs, children, falling branches. In fact, this one just narrowly missed being smashed the other day when a huge limb fell out of an oak during some high winds in a thunderstorm.

Well, off I go to water those peppers!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.