September 2007

I'm a little slow this month with some new pictures.We still have some lilies in bloom this month, but that's only because these bulbs were planted rather late in the spring. This variety is called 'Zagora' and there are a couple of other ones that are still small buds and will probably show their faces maybe even as late as the first week of October. We'll see...Next year they should be more in line with the other OT's we have. This particular variety is rather close in appearance to 'Shocking', another OT we have, and enjoy! For all I know at this point what we see here may not be as labelled, not unusual. Next year when they both bloom at the same time we should be able to draw further conclusions.

These are the two varieties of 'Toad Lilies' we have in the garden. They're not a lily at all of course, but rather a rhizomatous plant which prefers open shade and over time will grow into a nice dense mat with arching flower stems in the fall with small, fascinating little flowers of around an inch or so. I've been trying to find the full scientific name for these but have pulled a partial blank thus far. I have a hunch it is Tricyrtus formosana and these two cultivars are 'Hirta' on the left and 'Blue Wonder' on the right. The genus is native to Taiwan, Japan and the Himalayas.

Another 'Hirta' a week later.