Blooming Tiger Lilies Along My Winding Pergola

August 9, 2017

Blooming Tiger Lilies Along My Winding Pergola

My long and winding pergola is full of striking orange-colored tiger lily blooms.

This pergola, located on one side of a carriage road near my Tenant House, goes through several transformations during the year. In late spring, a palette of bold purple and white alliums covers the area, followed by the delicate shades of lavender and blue from the flowering clematis vines that wrap around each of the granite posts. Now, hundreds of brightly spotted tiger lilies line the garden bed for all to see - and they are thriving.

Enjoy these photos.

: Tiger lilies, Lilium lancifolium, bloom in mid to late summer, are easy to grow, and come back year after year.

: Native to China and Japan, these robust flowers add striking beauty to any border. I love how they look with their bright and showy orange colored blooms.

: In early June, this pergola was filled with knee to waist high lily stems, with a few red poppies and purple and white alliums.

: If you recall, these lilies were transplanted here from across the carriage road two years ago. I am so happy with how well they are doing in this location.

: By late June, some of the stems were already about four-feet tall.

: And by mid July, there were lots of buds and a few opened flowers.

: As the days progressed, more buds appeared. This pergola gets lots of light. For best growth, they should be planted in an area where they can get six to eight hours of sun per day.

: Here is the pergola on August 1st – so full of lovely lily blooms. One tip when cutting is to choose buds that are just about to open. These dramatic flowers can last up to two weeks when cut.

: And finally, this was the pergola yesterday – look at all the gorgeous tiger lilies.

: Tiger lilies are covered with black or deep crimson spots, giving the appearance of the skin of a tiger.

: They have large, down-facing flowers, each with six recurved petals. Many flowers can be up to five-inches in diameter.

: These flowers are very hardy, and most stand well on their own.

: This season, we also have so many bees pollinating the flowers – it is a joy to see.

: These tiger lilies popped up in their original bed, now called the Stewartia garden.

: They look so beautiful against the bold green foliage.

: While these lilies are at their peak, we decided to take a few drone images. My property director, Fred Jacobsen, revved up his drone at one end of the pergola.

: Fred is an avid drone pilot and loves to experiment with different angles and altitudes.

: There was quite a breeze yesterday, but not too windy for the drone.

: Here is one of the first photos taken as the drone ascended. On the other side, the pergola is lined with beautiful flowering rose of Sharon.

: Look at all the wonderful orange blooms. These lilies can grow very tall – up to five or even six-feet, on slender stems.

: I love how they look along the Bedford Gray colored pergola. My new pool can be seen just beyond the pergola on the left. On the right is my allee of pin oaks.

: Here is the drone’s view at the opposite end of the winding pergola. On the right of this photo is my grove of bald cypress trees, Taxodium distichum – a deciduous conifer in the family Cupressaceae.