It's All About Lilies

So far in July, there have been a number of delightful surprises and there are Lily events coming up!

The first was finding a stand of Candidum Lilies near my brother's Lilycrest Gardens field in St. Catharines. There were probably 30 or 40 plants blooming and in that large a group their colour become so clearly the dominant quality. They are an amazing white - so clean and pure - no other colours on the petals. And the plants were large and healthy - so unusual in Candidums in our area.

The second surprise occurred as I visited more of the front gardens on the OpenGardensToronto 2009 tour. I mentioned this organization in an earlier post. Many of these beautiful gardens are close-by in my neighbourhood so I took the opportunity to visit a few of the front gardens from a previous tour day that I had missed as I wasn't available. Up the street from the Winston Grove garden, I happened upon a front garden at its full peak in full and perfect bloom. It had a beautiful combination of Lilies and Lavender that I'm posting - what a gorgeous colour and form combination!

The Ontario Regional Lily Society Annual Flower show is this weekend on Saturday and Sunday. It will be in the atrium at the Royal Botanical Gardens main building on Plains Road. I will be looking forward to seeing the show in this new venue, and being able to take some scenic photos this time.

Magnolia Sieboldiana

The house at the corner has a very large Magnolia Sieboldiana.  This member of the Magnolia family is typically not hardy here (zone 6 in Toronto).  The hardy varieties, e.g. Star and Saucer, bloom before their leaves are out.  The Sieboldiana blooms in June, after the leaves are out, and over a long period of time - about a month.  The scent of these blooms is somewhat different than the other magnolias.  Their scent is a combination of melon and lemon - wonderfully refreshing.  The Sieboldiana has an additional floral element of lilac and jasmine. It is quite divine, so worth searching out!

Here's a portrait I did earlier in the week.