Sentor Senex asked in the comments from yesterday's blog, if I could post a close up of the FORTNIGHT LILY. Having finally (after at least 6 months of trying other programs) found a simple way to download photos from my camera to my laptop, I am happy to oblige, if only to test my new method!
Here they are just growing randomly as they are throughout all the bare spots in our back yard. For many patches, I just gathered the ripe seed pods and threw the seeds into the area, not knowing if they would take or not. Well they did and we have some bright patches of 'white butterflies' all around the yard.
CLOSEUP
Basically white, with a center of three smaller petals (sepals? I don't think so) of a very delicate purple, with a splash of yellow underneath. These flowers are so easy to grow but I love their delicate color and the overall abandonness (blogger says that is not a word, but you know what I mean) with which they sprinkle our yard. Our back yard is in the shape of a 'C' -- narrow and semi-circular. That means we have quite a large area that has to have many shrubs and flowers to cover -- no room for a lawn, so we have a deck instead.
Incidentally, the Fortnight Lily derives its name from the fact that it blooms every fortnight (2 weeks) throughout the long summer. They just have to be watered.
So there's your lesson on Fortnight Lilies for today and just for good measure take a look at our STAR JASMINE which also covers a fair amount of garden.
This too is a white flower which could get lost among the Fortnight Lilies but it makes its presence thoroughly known as soon as you step on to the patio. It has a very strong fragrance and can't be missed. It blooms through May and June, depending on the weather.
6 comments:
One of the nicer things about blogging is the many opportunities to learn something new.
I did a look up on the fortnight lily--sadly it appears to be cold hardy only to zone 8--or I would be begging for a seed pot!
Oh I love both of those. My garden's full of an invasive blue thing at the moment. I hate it - but it appears almost overnight and it always looks bare when I take it away. But it swamps everything else - so I have to!
Oh I love both of those. My garden's full of an invasive blue thing at the moment. I hate it - but it appears almost overnight and it always looks bare when I take it away. But it swamps everything else - so I have to!
You do not claim to be "great gardeners" but looking over the wonderful photographs from this and the previous post, all I can say is: "Oh my goodness!" What a beautiful backyard you have! All of the flowers appear to be happy and thriving, and seeing that Oriole was a huge treat!
Beautiful. The lilies are so pretty and obviously very generous in their flowering. I can just imagine the scent of the jasmine - wonderful:-)
(I missed this post so thanks for telling me about it and thanks also for posting it. I was delighted to see them close-up.)
Like Morning's Minion, I too looked it up and it obviously wouldn't survive in Northern England which is a real shame. Your close-ups made me think of an iris and I see that among its other names, like Cape Lily and African Lily, it is called Japanese Iris, Butterfly Iris and African Iris. I like Butterfly Iris best - it just about sums up what yours look like.
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