My Pergola Garden in Summer
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.
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- Tiger lilies, Lilium lancifolium, bloom in mid to late summer, are easy to grow and come back year after year.
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- 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.
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- In early spring, this garden is filled with bold green stems of new growth.
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- By late May, this pergola garden is filled with lots of blue and purple flowers. This palette of colors is a big favorite at the farm – it grows more colorful and vibrant every spring.
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- In early June, the granite posts are filled with gorgeous clematis flowers.
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- And then the entire garden goes through another dramatic transformation in summer. Here it is now – bursting with gorgeous orange. This side of my long pergola is one of the first areas I see when I drive into my property. This pergola has thousands of waist-to-shoulder-high lilies.
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- 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.
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- Lilies are well-known for having heavily pollinated stamens, which stain. Here, it is easy to see those pollen-filled anthers. When cutting, always remove the anthers to prevent a clothing disaster – just pinch them off with gloved fingers.
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- The blackish, round “seeds” that develop in the axils of the leaves along the main stem are called bulbils.
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- The leaves can grow to three inches long and about 3/4-inch wide. They are medium green, narrow, smooth along their margins, and glabrous, clasping the stem at their bases.
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- There are also a few white lilies in this bed – adding more interest to the long floral display.
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- And some lighter orange lilies.
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- And there are still more lilies that have yet to open.
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- In various spots along the pergola garden are some of the dried alliums which I leave through the season.
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- In this garden, we also have pops of daylilies. The daylily is a low-maintenance perennial—easy to grow, virtually disease- and pest-free, and able to survive drought, uneven sunlight, and poor soil. The daylily’s botanical name, Hemerocallis, comes from Greek hemera “day” and kallos meaning “beauty”. The name is appropriate, since each flower lasts only one day. Despite their name, daylilies are not “true lilies.” Leaves grow from a crown and the flowers form on leafless stems called “scapes,” which rise above the foliage.
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- On the granite posts, there are a few lasting clematis flowers. I have always loved clematis, and over the years I have grown many varieties of this wonderful plant. When well-maintained, clematis can bloom profusely from early summer to early fall.
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- There are a few bell-shaped clematis flowers that are still going strong too. These have slightly fragrant blooms.
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- Not far from the pergola is this giant weeping copper beech tree – I love these trees with their gorgeous forms and rich color. I have several large specimens on the property. On this afternoon, the clouds were also rolling in – look at the sky. Unfortunately, rain did not follow.
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- And across the “soccer field,” where my grandson Truman loves to play when he visits, are six matched standard weeping hornbeams, Carpinus betulus ‘Pendula’. Weeping hornbeams can grow to be about 50-feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 40-feet. These are very rare and precious trees and I am so happy they continue to thrive here.
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- On the other side, across the carriage road – a stand of stately bald cypress trees, now full of gorgeous soft green needle-like foliage.
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- In front of the tiger lilies is a border of boxwood shrubs I grew from cuttings. They’ve developed and grown into nicely sized specimens. Buxus is a genus of at least 70-species in the family Buxaceae. There are more than 300 boxwood shrubs planted on both sides of the pergola.
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- The entire pergola border and its surrounding gardens, trees, and other specimens provide a spectacular show every summer. Straight ahead is my perennial flower cutting garden – also filled with beautiful lilies this time of year. All the gardens are looking spectacular, but here in Bedford, New York, we’re still waiting for some much needed rain. I hope we get some soon.
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