An invitation to come see the giant Himalayan lilies showed up in my inbox: “Several folks have asked to visit our garden when the Cardiocrinums are blooming. So we thought we’d send out an invitation to our friends…” They had over 150 blooming stalks, a record for their garden, which goes by the name of Old Germantown Gardens and is named after the road on which they live. Some of you may have visited (it was a stop on the 2014 Garden Bloggger's Fling), or perhaps seen my previous blog posts, the most recent visit during the winter.
How could I miss this spectacle? This simple answer is, I could not.
I hadn’t toured a garden for ages—heck I hadn't even left home in ages—and as gardens go I knew this would be a safe one, it’s huge! Plus, they’d asked their guests to wear masks. I ventured out on our first forecast sunny day after a streak of very wet ones. I was not disappointed.
If you're not familiar with these lilies the the plant originates in China, India, Myanmar and Tibet. They grow in US Zones 7 to 9 and the bulb is said to take 4-5 years to flower, although a friend of mine just had hers flower after a 8-9 year wait. The flowers themselves are around 8" long and the stalks are typically 7 to 9 feet tall. The bulb dies after the flowers bloom, but offsets remain. They are incredible.![]()
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Weather Diary, June 22: Hi 86, Low 54/ Precip 0
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