Lilies are my favorite flower. They last a long time in the garden, are usually fragrant, make great cut flowers, and pollinators flock to them. Oh, and they are so easy to grow! All these attributes make lilies my go-to flower to plant every year. But some lilies just increase in number and come back year to year….. that is my all time fav-‘Black Beauty’, Purchased from Old House Gardens, my lilies have formed two breath-taking clumps that last for at least 6-7 weeks in July and August. When they start to bloom in July, I am in my happy place!
Old House Gardens says this about Black Beauty-“Though absolutely gorgeous – with 15-40 turk’s-cap flowers of dark raspberry narrowly edged with silver – ‘Black Beauty’ is even more prized for its wonderful vigor and long life in all sorts of gardens. In fact, you’ll often hear it called “indestructible.” (It’s even lily-beetle resistant, researchers say.) The first lily voted into the NALS Hall of Fame and one of our customers’ favorites year after year, it’s one of the 20th century’s very best. Sturdy 5-7 foot stems, mid-summer, zones 5a-8a, from Holland.”
I agree with that assessment completely and the only downside for this lily is I do have to support it after it reaches 6 feet tall. If a storm comes through, the stems will sometimes break off or bend down to the ground. But that is a small price to pay to have this beauty in my garden. Sphinx moths, butterflies, and hummingbirds flock to this beauty and my garden is humming with activity when these gems are blooming. Indestructible and coming back every year, this lily will outlive me!
I never realized how gorgeous Lily’s were till a garden neighbor shared a package of mixed asiatic and oriental Lily bulbs with me this year.They are in bloom now and I’m in love with them! All I need to do is find room in my garden for more! And your Black Beauty might just be the next one. Beautiful!
Don’t stop at planting a couple, Get at least a dozen to start