Plant Talk: Orienpet lilies

October 12, 2009

Local Lilies - Time to Plant

There's no compromise involved buying local when it comes to lilies. B&D Lilies in Port Townsend produces fat lily bulbs that sprout huge, fragrant lilies....and the catalog is gorgeous. It's time to order - November is lily planting time, and B&D starts shipping mid-October.

If you're looking for dependable. easy-care lilies try the hybrid 'Orienpets' which combine the flamboyance and fragrance of Oriental lilies with sturdiness and persistence of old-fashioned trumpet and Aurelian lilies.

Here are a few of the beauties offered this fall by B&D:

Sweet-smelling 'Conca 'd 'Or' is an Oriental-Trumpet cross that tops out around 5 feet, with huge lemon yellow flowers traced in darker yellow

‘Bonbini’ is an especially show lily whose name means "welcome" in the Papimiento language. The petals are creamy white traced in watermelon pink.

Lily 'Suzuki' grows 3-4 feet tall, and opens bright orange, blanching to cream with orange tips over the summer.

Posted at 06:00 AM in lilies, Orienpet lilies | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

New Book: Petal & Twig

Petal & Twig Made The New York Times!
From Anne Raver's review: "Valerie Easton, a Seattle-based garden writer, discusses the art of growing and arranging cut flowers in “Petal and Twig: Seasonal Bouquets With Blossoms, Branches and Grasses From Your Garden” (Sasquatch Books; $16.95). Written as an informal diary, with photographs of arrangements from her own garden, and tips on cutting and keeping flowers fresh, the book inspires ideas not only on what to grow but on how to combine (or not) those beauties inside. See review here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/29/garden/new-books-on-growing-and-arranging-flowers.html?scp=1&sq=petal%20&%20twig%20anne%20raver&st=cse
The first reviews on the new book are in! From Publisher's Weekly:
"Open your eyes and keep it simple: those are two lessons Easton passes on from her own 40 years in the garden. When selecting and arranging flowers for bouquets, you needn’t spend a bundle buying a bundle of imported flowers.....The result will be unique, local, imaginative, and inexpensive. Color photos throughout illustrate and inspire."

In the News

Montreal Blogger Reviews "A Pattern Garden"
I was so pleased to find that "A Pattern Garden" is still being reviewed...check out Allan Becker's generous review on his Garden Guru blog.. I felt like Allan really understood what I was working towards in that book....he writes...."There is a delightful abstract quality to this publication. In it, the author takes good garden design to a higher, more spiritual level. Instead of discussing the aesthetic and scientific elements of design, as so many traditional garden design books do, she focuses on the role played in garden design by archetypal ideas - a.k.a. patterns - that reference the longings of human beings. These pleasure and comfort-rooted ideas are those that inspire designers to create gardens that are satisfying beyond their beauty." see more at http://allanbecker-gardenguru.squarespace.com/journal/valerie-easton
Planting art
Check out this interview with Val in the Chicago Tribune on using art in the garden...

The New Low Maintenance Garden

Reviews Are In....
"Over the years, countless books have espoused a low-maintenance approach to gardening. None have been as engaging, practical, or inspiring as this latest of Easton's contributions to the gardener's bookshelf,"
- Pacific Horticulture magazine, Jan/Feb/Mar 2010
"A handy guide to a garden you can raise without a corresponding increase in your blood pressure..handsome and informative...."
- Metropolitan Home, Dec. 2009
"This book is an invaluable addition to the garden library – destined to be a classic for many years to come."
- Garden Design Online