Description
The double-flowered Tiger Lily has stems up to a metre tall, clothed in narrow, deep-green leaves. Each bears 20-30 large, scentless, deep-orange, starfish-flowers spickled all over with dark purple-black spots. The petals are long, reflexing and pointed and 2-6 whorls of them sweep outwards and sideways around a tighter, central cluster. Flowering is July-Sep depending on your garden.
This makes no seed putting the resulting extra vigour into lots of flowers and the production of large, purple bulbils in the upper leaf axils.
Spectacular, readily grown in most soils. It likes cool, humus-rich acid soils (doing less well on lime). It likes a little shade.
This clone displays no signs of virus and is vigorous and healthy.
Supposedly introduced in 1870, this is to western cultivation as its history in the east goes back further.
Photo © Kenpei used, with thanks.
