From The Lilies by Henry Percival Spencer:
‘Tis passing strange this life of ours,
Nought in this world can we explain;
We are helpless as the flowers
Forced into life by April rain.
What reap we for our joy and pain
Except the hour in which it lives?
He who can fathom Loss and Gain
Can tell us what the Future gives.
The Lily comes, the Lily goes….
From Green Thoughts: A Writer in the Garden by Eleanor Perenyi:
“Sooner or later every gardener must face the fact that certain things are going to die on him. It is a temptation to be anthropomorphic about plants, to suspect that they do it to annoy. One knows, after all, that they lead lives of their own: plant the lily bulb in the center of the bed and watch it come up under a brick near the edge; pull up a sick little bush and throw it on the compost heap, and ten to one, it will obstinately revive.”
Hello!
Here are a few more photos of my Tiny Epic Asiatic Lilies — some from the previous post along with a small handful of new ones (those whose backgrounds were very cluttered in the originals), all reprocessed on black.
Thanks for taking a look!
I have to admit I have more respect for plants that pop up and do well without any encouragement from people or circumstance. It’s like they land in a spot with sufficient dirt and sunshine, and it’s enough to make them happy.
What you say is so true! Gardens and landscapes can be full of surprises.
About ten years ago, I bought several Lizard Tail plants for my pond. They did really well, returning every spring for about five years, then eventually stopped growing back after getting knocked over a few times by thunderstorms. I didn’t replace them because they became hard to find locally.
Fast forward to last year, when after a long absence one appeared outside the pond, wedged in a thin strip of dirt around the edge of the pond, a little spot that gets a good bit of sun. The Gardener (me, I admit) tried to transplant it and broke it just above the root… sad!
Fast forward one more year, and — spoiler alert! — it came back again, this time with a few more tiny Lizard Tail plants along with one that’s about a foot high. I’m just going to let it keep growing, since, apparently, it thinks it belongs in that spot. Will be interesting to see how big it gets!
Thanks for the comment!
Wow that’s a whole fiesta in one blossom, what a knockout!
It’s pretty wild! Pretty and wild looking! Somehow manages to have every possible lily color in one flower… lots of fun to zoom in on and photograph, for sure.
Thanks for the comment!