I was feeling pretty accomplished last fall when I finally put together a list and a map of all the bulbs I have planted in my flowerbeds in the last several years. However, once my lilies started blooming last week, I realized I have a little more work to do.
I didn’t have it recorded on my map, but this little lily was easy to figure out. ‘Tiny Padhye’ is an Asiatic lily that grows only 18 to 24 inches tall with white flowers that have a distinctive, dark-maroon center:
Because of our early start to spring, the daylilies grew like gangbusters and buried ‘Tiny Padhye’ before it could emerge from the ground. My plant is barely 9 inches tall but it’s blooming!
I had to dig through several garden journals before I finally figured out the name of this Asiatic lily. I planted ‘Tiny Sensation’ in 2010. It didn’t bloom for me last year. In fact I don’t even remember seeing a flower stalk. No wonder I was caught off-guard when it appeared last week:
Like ‘Tiny Padhye’, ‘Tiny Sensation’ grows 18 to 24 inches tall (my plant is just shy of 24 inches tall). The flowers are yellow with maroon splotches and freckles.
The jury is still out on this next lily. I have no record of planting any lilies in between my rose bushes, but suddenly this bright-yellow beauty appeared. The stalk is thick, and the flowers are large and waxy like an LA (longiflorum Asiatic) hybrid lily, but the only bulbs I planted in my yard last fall that even come close to having yellow flowers are those of ‘Conca D’or’. But that cultivar is supposed to have very pale-yellow, not bright-yellow flowers.
According to my not-so-handy map, ‘Conca D’or’ should be growing in a different location nearby. When it blooms perhaps I’ll know more about my yellow mystery lily.