Hi -- this is the time of year, between the spring flowers and the summer ones, when I think, sometimes, I like the garden best. You can still make out the form of each individual plant and the foliage is at its brightest healthiest best. When we decided to put in lilies last fall, I never imagined that they'd add so much to this flowerless time. Partly it's the astonishment that they're here at all -- after winter, after my fumbling and bumbling getting them into the ground -- but I also really love the uprightness of them, and the straight-forwardness of their reach for the sun, just as they are right now. In the case of our little dedicated lily bed, which is tucked at the back of a perennial border, the lily show is not terribly impressive right now. I put 13 asiatics there, of the recurved downward-facing kind, and they were late coming up. After some digging around, as reported in another thread, I found that they seem to have taken extensive underground journeys before turning upwards and poking through. And three speciosums (two album, one rubrum) I planted there haven't shown at all. So this bed is a work in progress. We live in the city and have a small garden hemmed in on all sides by buildings and trees and tall fences. After 6 summers, I now know where to expect every drop of sun. Mostly we're shady. But we've got a few hot spots and right now they've all got lilies in them.
Anyway, I thought I'd take the liberty of posting a few pictures. The first one is of that new bed. Though the lilies are technically at the back of the border, it's north facing, so the soon-to-be tall plants (cimicifugas, artemisia lactifloras, etc.) planted in front of them don't block the sun at all. The idea is that when the lilies are done, the perennials will hide them somewhat. My husband made the bed for me, and another smaller one, which I'll post another picture of. Thanks very much for indulging me! Laura p.s. sorry it's sideways. Didn't realize you can't post pics the other way around. Can you?
