One of the thrills of coming home to the garden was the appearance of 'Forever Susan,' a group of Asiastic lilies that mostly got chomped by rabbits before they bloomed last summer — their first season. This year I put cages around them the minute they poked above the ground. I ordered this lily after seeing it in a friend's garden. The bi-color blooms offer a lot of drama but in what I would term a sophisticated palette.
I planted a group of Lilium landini (below) in 2015 and its dark color later inspired me to add 'Susan' across the path knowing they would complement each other. For unknown reasons this lily did not make an appearance this year, so I grabbed a couple of new plants on my last trip out to the Flower Factory. When I went out to the garden Sunday, it appeared that a critter had tried unsuccessfully to bite through the thick stem of L. landini. It was hanging down but still attached though all the lower leaves had been stripped off the stem.
As a result, I cut it out of the garden and plopped it in a vase on the table on deck where I was enjoying a morning coffee. I am going to have to order more of these bulbs as I don't want to be without this lily; partly because it is so beautiful and partly because without it, L. 'Forever Susan' dominates the garden more than I prefer.
The weekend was warm but nothing like the temperatures we've had. As a result Mark and I worked on weeding, pruning and general garden maintenance which was sorely needed after eight days away. This week's temps mean that I will need to get out in the garden very early in the morning if I want to get any more work done.
