Suppose you consider the lily season practically over when Madonnas wither in June and regals shed their last petals in July. In that case, you may be amazed at the list of satisfying and beautiful August blooming lilies.
Of course, the weather has a way of fouling up things, not only family picnics and BBQs but also a simple statement such as “These lilies bloom in August.”
Should it be an early season, the weather abnormally dry or hot, some of the lilies typically blooming in August may have finished in late July. If the weather remains excellent with plenty of moisture (which means more cloudy days), July-blooming lilies may bloom into August.
But it makes little difference when lilies bloom. They are aristocrats of the garden and are lovely any day or month.
Lilium callosum is the dwarf of the lily family. It may show its first diminutive blossoms toward the end of July and still have plenty of buds left for August. The tiny scentless blossoms open on slender but sturdy, erect stems that may grow three to five feet tall.
The segments of the nodding flowers shape themselves into a narrow tube before recurving. They are brick red, faintly spotted with black toward the base. Because the blossoms are tiny, we set the plants in groups of ten or 12 to make a border display.
Fortunate is the gardener who has the yellow form, Lilium callosum luteum. It is considered more choice than dull red. Bulbs are very rare, but occasionally they are obtainable.
The giant of the lily family (referring to blossom size – there are taller lilies) blooms at this time, too. It is Lilium auratum, commonly known as the gold band lily or the golden-rayed lily of Japan because of its origin and the wide gold band down the middle of the petals.
The type and its variants have large bowl-shaped blossoms, some measuring ten inches across. The exotic white flowers, delightfully fragrant, are spotted generously with yellow and crimson.
Growers specializing in lilies have produced some highly colored strains in vivid crimson colors. The planting of different types and forms provides a long blooming season. A well-grown plant may reach a height of 6′ feet and is spectacular in full bloom.
As with all lilies, this garden queen is at its best when given ample room to grow and breathe. Auratum’s show their resentment when they must rub elbows with close neighbors.
Some For The Shade
The August sun is hot. Lilium speciosum requires some protection from its hot rays or the leaves and blossoms’ bleach. Trees may provide this shade, but they should not sap the moisture from the lilies. Mulch may be used to conserve water and to offer more excellent soil.
Ground cover plants also help to keep soil temperatures down. The blossoms of Lilium speciosum variety rubrum have a white background.
Still, they are so heavily suffused with pink and thickly spotted with prominent crimson papillae (the raised “freckles”) that the effect is a lovely crimson color. Seedlings vary in color, the darker ones usually being the choicer.
The reflexed segments have wavy edges. Other varieties have flowers of deep rose spotted with crimson or frilly white flowers flushed with pink, which open earlier than most types.
Lilium speciosum album and Lilium speciosum Kraetzeri are indeed garden gems.
The former sports white flowers with frilly-edged petals while the latter has a pale green stripe down the middle of the petals, and the outside is tinged with green. You can find named varieties.
Against a green background, these white lilies make August pictures that are simply bewitching. Almost all the erect or cup-shaped lilies bloom in the spring, but there is one for August.
The Tiger Lily
Lilium Sargentiae hybrids provide creamy-white trumpets for late July and early August. The outside of the segments is flushed with reddish brown, rose, or green.
The old-fashioned tiger lily, Lilium tigrinum, may open its first spotted orange blossoms in July and extend its blooming period into August. It is such a well-known lily that a description is scarcely necessary.
Even before it blooms, we recognize it by the bulblets (bulbils), dark in color, which form freely in the axils of the leaves. A double tiger lily, Lilium tigrinum variety Flore-pleno, a mutation first discovered in the 1870s, has been reintroduced. It grows four feet more in height and is as spotted as the single type.
“Why do your regal lilies bloom so late?” a visitor asked one hot day in mid-August when tall, stately Formolongi lilies displayed gorgeous white blossoms against an arbor-vitae background. Perhaps they do appear similar to the casual observer.
Still, regal lilies usually have yellow throats, or greenish-yellow, while the blossoms on Formolongi (supposed to be a cross between Lilium formosanum and Lilium longiflorum) have cool green throats.
Suppose one wants to cut them for vases. In that case, it is wise to remove the stamens early in the morning, just as the blossoms are opening and before the bees are about, and then cut them toward evening when the blooms are fully open but before the sphinx moths go nectar hunting and soil the white petals with their wings.
We can count on several strains of Lilium formosanum at this time, too. All these white trumpets are natural treasures and give one a feeling of coolness even though temperatures may be at the wilting level for humans.
The waxy, rich green foliage of Lilium Henryi glistens and shines in the garden but bleaches white in spots in full sun, as do the nodding orange-colored flowers. A semi-shady location with protection from the hot midday sun is the solution.
Some varieties have relatively weak swaying stems. The tall stems have a heavy load because they are topped by many horizontally spreading flower stems, often with secondary buds. One should choose those with stiff branches.
The reflexed petals of all varieties have numerous prominent papillae. Lilium Henryi has been a favorite of hybridizers.
6575 by OR Tiemann