Sunday, August 06, 2006

Paphiopedilum (Claire de Lune x philippinense var. alba)


This is an absolutely fantastic plant. It is the only multifloral paph I have, and it looks a lot like philippinense (the original form) but with shorter petals and mottled leaves. The flowers are huge. The best part is, because it has Maudiae in its parentage it not only gets the mottled leaves but it is easier to grow than the philippinense parent. One of the best first multifloral paphs, in my opinion.

Lilium lancifolium 'Citronella'

Lilium lancifolium (syn. L. tigrinum) is the true tiger lily (many people see an orange lily or even daylily and call it a tiger lily!). The real tiger lily is a fantastic plant growing to 4 or even 5 feet tall. The flowers are smaller than other lilies but much more numerous; my plants are young and each produced around 15. Of course they are ususally orange with black spots; the cultivar 'Citronella', pictured here, is yellow. A pink cultivar is also available. They all have strongly reflexed petals/sepals. This was the very last flower left on one of my three plants when I returned home; I photographed it just before it too fell off! For next year I'll be hunting for the original and the pink variety.

I'm Back!




Well I've been vacationing on Vancouver Island for the past 3 weeks but I'm back now, and wow has my garden changed! Pictured here is Lilium orientalis 'Stargazer', my favorite lily. I have a clump with 8 stems plus a seperate single-stemmed plant. Unfortunately by the time I got back they were pretty much done but there were still a few flowers left. I completely missed my L. orientalis 'Casablanca' (damn it!), which has pure white flowers. All of these Oriental lilies have an amazing fragrance.