My Blooming 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 July, this pergola is filled with waist-to-shoulder-high lily stems.
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- As the days progress more buds appear. This pergola gets tons of light, which is great for lilies. For best growth, plant lilies in an area where they can get at least six to eight hours of sun per day.
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- Tiger lilies are covered with black or deep crimson spots, giving the appearance of the skin of a tiger.
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- 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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- And this week, the pergola is bursting with color. These flowers are very hardy, and most stand well on their own.
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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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- 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.
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- In this garden, we also have pops of Angelica gigas, which have broad, fingered foliage and deep reddish-purple stems. The rich coloration extends to the six to eight-inch umbels of flowers that top these five to six-foot-tall plants.
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- Angelica gigas bloom from summer to fall showing off their deep burgundy colors. It looks great in this garden against the bright orange colored tiger lilies.
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- There are still a few white lilies in this bed – adding more interest to the long floral display.
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- And there are still more lilies that have yet to open.
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- In various spots along the outside of the pergola garden are some of the dried Allium Schubertii flowers. In bloom, they bear huge 10- to 12-inch spidery heads of rosy blossoms, but they also look so striking after flowering.
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- Climbing up a few of the granite posts are passionflower vines. The passionflower has a wide, flat petal base with five or 10 petals in a flat or reflex circle. The ovary and stamens are held atop a tall, distinctive stalk encircled by delicate filaments. The stigmas start high above the anthers and slowly bend backward for easy pollination.
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- Rose of Sharon, Hibiscus syriacus, is also known as althaea or althea. And contrary to its common name, the plant is not a rose at all, but a member of the Malvaceae or “mallow” family native to Asia and India. My Rose of Sharon shrubs are planted on the backside of my clematis pergola facing what I call my Party Lawn, where I love to entertain during summer.
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- Blooms on these shrubs can range from light blue, white, pink to red, or lavender.
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- Rose of Sharon bears large trumpet-shaped flowers that have prominent yellow-tipped stamens.
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- This view is from under the pergola looking toward the Stewartia garden where I have more brightly-colored tiger lilies. My Tenant House is in the distance.
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- The entire border is a show I look forward to seeing every year. Have a wonderful weekend, and please continue to stay safe and healthy.
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