Gardening, 4 Years of Lily Growth Progress

2913 flower head of Asiatic lily

We have this fabulous unidentified lily in the garden. It is completely spectacular, and a garden star. It arrived on our property when purchased in a generic bag of lilies I bought one year to fill out the garden bed with some color.  One of the most spectacular aspects of the bulb, plant, cultivar, is its fragrance. I wish there is a way I could share its scent with you. One sniff would lift your day, the fragrance is intoxicating. That is validated by the constant parade of bees swooping up to take a sip.

Lily third, year 2013,  of bloom, completely mature specimen

An interesting aspect of cultivating this lily is the size of the plant. The first year, it was short stout and strong as a tree. It had a lovely bloom, but was distinctly different than its mature self that appeared three years later. The photos below show year, three descending to year one of groth.  As I have mentioned before this year's three year old plant and its flowering was nothing short of a wonder, a blessed wonder. It lifted my spirits daily, through its two week blooming period. I'll share some photos of it this year, and in the past three years so you can see its growth. Enjoy!

2013 three stalks(after catastrophe)  from one Asiatic Lily bulb

same lily 2012 two stalks from bulb

20012 brought two stalks on the same bulb, as seen above.  When it bloomed in 2012 into multiple stalks,  I assumed the plant had created multiple bulbs, each with its own stalk. A catastrophe in  2011 caused the bulb to regroup and morph for the year. The catastrophe was a quite sad invasion by animal. An irresponsible dog owner chased their dog into my garden, when it ran away from them at a local park.  They irresponsibly let their dog loose in the park, he ran up the street and away from them. His route was directly across my lily bed. The poor lily was ready to bloom spectacularly.  It had a head of magnificent large buds...until he ran right across it and broke it off at ground level. I believe that the plant put all its energy into enlarging its bulb, in fact multiplying its bulbs, for the rest of the year because the next year it had a double stalk. The following year, 2012 it also had two stalks but huge ones....and in 2013 the plant put up three magnificent stalks...They were wonderful! Look at the photos bottom to top, they tell the tale of destruction and rebirth.

2009 bulb above, planted in a pot...I figured out it was too big for that and moved it to the garden bed.

closeup of 2009 bloom....beautiful