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August Lilies

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 Lilies are one of the main joys of August, if you ask me. These are not the blooms of the Asian lilies that come earlier in the season, but those lushly fragrant Oriental lilies and the tall spires of Trumpet and Aurelian strains.

These are opulent flowers, luxurious in color, form and perfume.

If you don’t have the late season lilies blooming in your garden, the time to order them is now, along with other fall planted bulbs. They will be available in local stores sometime in September, usually. I have so fallen in love with the newer “Orienpet” selections that I hope to plant some in my garden this fall. I photographed some in the Inniswood garden in years past.

 In my first garden there were some tall Trumpet lilies, such as the ‘Black Dragon Strain’. Here I tried Lilium regale, but the voracious rodents soon took care of that experiment.  This time I hope to “box” the bulbs in hardware cloth. These bulbs are worth the trouble to protect and to plant with amended soil because they bring so much beauty to the summer garden.

They rival roses in all but the fact that they aren’t shrubs, and so don’t have quite the substance of form, but their vertical visuals make up for that. In fact, it is in the Rose garden section that the park at Inniswood has their most exciting display of many lilies.

 Lilies will start in July, and with the Oriental species and hybrids, they will continue into fall.

What do you need to plant lilies in your own garden?

  • Sunshine, at least a half day
  • A well-drained location
  • A spot ventilated by air, not so close as to encourage disease.
  • If they love their spot and get crowded, lift and divide them in September or October.

 How To Care for Them

  • Plant the bulbs 4″ to 6″ deep
  • Mulch them
  • Fertilize at emerging time and then a month later, beware of too much nitrogen. Bone meal is welcome.
  • Water sparingly, lilies are used to dry conditions, normally.

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© 2013 written for Ilona’s Garden Journal by Ilona E. An excellent blog.

Ohio Has A Summer-Just In The Nick Of Time

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The weather has turned sultry, and late summer is as I would expect it to be: hazy horizons, sweaty brows, hot and humid. I don’t know about you, but I appreciated the cool temperatures we had this summer, even if it did mean delayed tomato ripening. The corn fields are tall and deep green, the soybeans stretch out upon acres and acres, and though there have not been many, the occasional twinkle of lightning bugs welcome me onto a nighttime porch.

I wonder about the smaller numbers of insects this year. While I do see the swoop and flutter of a Monarch or a black Swallowtail, there are not nearly so many butterflies this year. The expected numbers of mosquitoes are far less, as well. Not complaining, just an observation.

We so often complain and worry about what we cannot change: the weather, the times, each other! I must be mellowing out in my old age, because I am becoming much more thankful and mindful of living in the moment. Being grateful for little pleasures and blessings. We so often overlook that, I think. Always eying the horizon. But now the horizon is closer than I once realized, and the sun drawing down to its setting, and I have things yet to do in the daylight that is left. So, why not do it with thankfulness and gladness?

Even the dog days of summer can be a time to take life slower if my energies are not up to a furious workload. To enjoy a slow day snipping off the spent lavender blossoms, to commune with God as I go about the business of the day, knowing that this day was given me, to flow with it’s seasonal experience and not try to remake it in my imagination or force its shape to my will. There are times for that. I am sure when temperatures return to cooler levels, and autumn’s unmistakable scent and feeling is in the air, I will return to innumerable chores and invigorated efforts.

But hopefully the wiser for having taken a bit of slower pace in this late summer sabbatical.