July 21, 2010

Beautiful, Exotic and Easy to Grow

Jean from Dig Grow Compost had a recent post titled, The Lilies of Buffalo. She has recently returned from Buffalo, NY, where garden bloggers from all over the country met up and toured the city and many of its beautiful gardens. Visit her blog. You'll be in for a treat.

Last September I bought a few Asiatic Lilies from a local greenhouse. They were deeply discounted and couldn't be passed up. I didn't get them in the ground until October and didn't hold out much hope for their winter survival.

Now I'm not saying that any of my lilies compare to the ones in Jean's post, but they have surprised and delighted me. These 'Sunny Sulawes' bloomed just two days ago and I can't stop looking at them.

These yellow and purple lilies were in a container labeled Purple Asiatic Pot Lily. I was thrilled to see the colors that bloomed.

'Tiny Nanny' white lilies. Different than the white lilies in the first photo. The leaves on these are narrower and the flowers are smaller. After these bloomed, something came along and ate the foliage down to the ground.

 Stella d'Oros are growing all over our yard. They are definitely the golden stars of the garden. A very dependable re-bloomer when provided with adequate moisture and deadheaded. I wouldn't be without them.

These Ed Murray daylilies don't show up well from a distance and the camera never does them justice, but up close they are amazingly beautiful, especially when the sun shines on them. They bloom after the Stellas.

In this part of the country, we are lucky to have Baltimore Orioles nesting in our tall trees and visiting our various Oriole feeders, or in this case the hummingbird feeder. I think this is a 1st year Oriole although it could be a female. It was raining outside, but that didn't keep him/her from the sweet nectar.

Slowly but surely
I'll make my way
to your blog.

I go out of my way
to read every word
and study every photo.

And as you know
I luv to leave comments.
Sometimes I'm too wordy
but I can't help it.

See you soon.

22 comments:

  1. What a beautiful array of lilies ... the white ones look so creamy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Sunny Sulawes are so pristine and waxy- gorgeous. I have some of the Ed Murray's too, but nothing outshines my Stellas. I need to thin them badly though. Before kids, I had lots of bird feeders. I wonder if I will go back to that now?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Donna, thanks so much for the shout out! I love your lilies and those "purple" ones are very interesting. I'll be studying the catalogs this fall to determine if there are any Asiatic ones that'll work in my area. I just couldn't get enough of their fragrance during my Buffalo trip!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I just love you. You are so sweet. It seeps out of every photo and every word you write.

    Your lilies are just beautiful. And so are you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. LOL. I don't think you say too much...I think you need to say more!!! Ha ha ha...LOL!
    Love all these lilies! Wow...I didn't know they bloomed in summer...we don't see many down here, sadly. I sure would love to have a yard full!!! CooCoo Kid is doing OK???

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh your lilies are so pretty! How come I never find anything that pretty on discount? Love all the daylilies, I'm just starting to add them to my garden.
    I love the Oriole, another one of the birds I wish would visit here, but I don't think they come this far west.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You know I'm a lily lover, too, Donna, and yours are beautiful! I planted my first Asiatic lily last fall also, and this spring when it bloomed I wondered why I never planted any of these before. I'll be looking for more of them at the end of season clearance sales this year. Your Stellas look wonderful; they get a bad rap because you see them so often, but you just can't beat them for producing lots of blooms. Yours are obviously well-cared for, which makes a difference in their appearance as well.

    How neat to have orioles visit! I've never seen one in our area.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your lily photos are lovely, Donna, you must be delighted. I thought I previously left a comment on this lovely post, surprised (sometimes I leave too fast without checking to see if all worked). Anyway, a joy to visit again. Happy remains of July :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I am attracted to those bright lilies but the white ones take the cake.
    I hope your family has a wonderful trip to CO. etc. Colorado is pretty awesome and I am not biased at all.

    Rosey

    ReplyDelete
  10. obviously you've been living and not blogging and that is what summer is all about !

    ReplyDelete
  11. Donna I'm loving those beautiful white Asiatic Lilies.. Wow!

    I too' wished I could find discounted flowers that are as healthy and beautiful as the lilies you found..

    The Yellow and purple are pretty too"

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love the purple-and-yellow speckled Asiatic lilies. Ed Murray too. What a wonderful color.

    We used to see Baltimore Orioles when we lived in PA -- they are gorgeous birds.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh, I see I left the comment for here on your previous post. I am so scatterbrained. I love the butterfly on the coneflower, too.

    I could have written what you said about wanting to visit all those who had left comments. I am behind in that, too.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Donna -- fabulous pictures! You are an amazing gardener and photographer as well. And your posts always make me want to settle down and get my hands dirty (and then I remember been there, done that ;>).. I love the oriole.

    we are staying near our two new great-grandsons (and their parents) and spending as much time as possible getting to know them. Wonderful visiting, but I'm tired. There's a reason you have grandchildren when you're young ;>)))

    ReplyDelete
  15. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi, Donna!

    Such beautiful lilies you have. I have few in my front garden.Those lilies in the third photo are so special. I haven't seen such colours here. They are so lovely. I have Ed Murray daylilies too. They were given by a friend. I just planted them in pots and can't wait to see their flowers again.

    Thank you so much for leaving sweet comments in my blog. I really appreciate it. Am sorry for my late visit. I have been busy in my garden, cleaning and pruning some of my plants.

    Hope you have a lovely weekend.
    Hugs from down under..

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hi, Donna!

    Hope and pray everything will be alright with your Dad.

    God bless always..

    ReplyDelete
  18. Wow! Naturally I love that yellow/reddish purple combo since I like all things wild and crazy... but your sunny sulawes are just stunning!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous25 July, 2010

    That burgundy and yellow lily is a knockout. I only have two lilies right now, but I plan to put a lot more in come fall. When I say I can't grow delphiniums, I mean I can't KEEP them. I bought it with that bloom, then the whole plant promptly turned brown. Wah! It has happened a lot of delphs around here. I give up!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Beautiful. I swear lilies and daylilies are the best. And easy to care for as well.

    ReplyDelete
  21. What is wrong with the BEE GEES? :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hi Donna,
    I am behind in everything I do. I see I haven't been to your blog for awhile.

    I love the lilies that are yellow with red, or was it purple on them? I want to find some tango lilies.

    ReplyDelete

For you to take the time to leave a comment means a lot to me. You make my heart happy.