Tuesday, July 15th, 2025
Mid-July is lily time. Lilies are said to be highly toxic to cats, so it’s a risk to have so many in the garden, but so far, none of our cats has ever died of lily poisoning. The scent from this gigantic tiger lily wafts for many feet across the garden. It and its yellow counterpart on the other side of the steps shine like torches when dusk descends (see below). We have all kinds of other lilies in the garden, including mauve and white Nile lilies (Agapanthus), crimson arum lilies and, down by the pond, yellow and orange day lilies. For my birthday I was given three pink Oriental lilies in a pot. We’ve planted them in the front border, which is very much a work in progress. Until recent years it was impossible to raise many types of flowering plants because there were so many rabbits. Now there are none, as whole colonies were wiped out by disease and they haven’t come back. Deer are more of a problem, but they don’t seem to eat lilies.
