Flower Garden Plants: Lilies

Lilies are a popular flower for many gardeners. There are a wide variety of lilies too, and many of them are actually wild flowers. Here are several you might enjoy planting in your wild flower garden this year...

American White Hellebore; Indian Poke; and Itch-weed are common names for this wild flower. Scientifically known as Veratrum viride, this plant is part of the Lily Family (Liliaceae).

The White Hellebore has dingy, pale yellowish or whitish green flowers that grow greener with age. The flowers tend to be about one inch or less across in size, and plenty are produced in stiff spike-like panicles.

The stem of this wild flower plant is stout and leafy, growing between two and eight feet tall. The lower leaves tend to be more broad than higher ones, and range from six to twelve inches in size. The leaves among the flowers are small.

This wild flower prefers swampy areas, wet woods and low meadows to grow in, and it blooms from May through July. It tends to do well in the Southeastern area of the U.S. such as Georgia, Tennessee and Minnesota.

Be careful where you plant the White Hellebore because the leavesa and stalk can make livestock and domestic animals sick. Bees, flies and other insects are quite fine with pollen and nectar from it though.

Wild Yellow, Meadow, or Field Lily; also known as Canada Lily, is another popular wild flower. The scientific name for this one is Lilium canadense. It has yellow to orange red flowers that are deeper colored on the inside, and have speckles of dark, reddish-brown dots on them. Flowers usually occur a few at a time and sit atop a bell-shapped perianth which has 6 spreading segments about 2-3 inches long. These wild flowers grow two to five feet tall and tend to be leafy. The leaves are lance-shaped, oblong, and usually grow in whorl patterns consisting of five to ten leaves. These plants also produce a three celled capsule type of seed pod.

Meadow Lilies like to grow in swamp type environments, low meadows and moist fields. They tend to produce flowers from June to July and they grow well in Georgia as well as west of the Mississippi.

The Turk's Cap, or Turban Lily (L. superbum), is sometimes mistaken for the Meadow/Canadian Lily. This wild flower tends to be taller and blooms more prolifically though. It has clusters of three to seven deep yellow, orange or flame-red colored lilies on it, and tends to bloom from July to August. These plants can be cultivated to grow up to nine feet tall and produce as many as 40 blooms on a stalk.

Another wild flower you'll enjoy is the Red, Wood, Flame, or Philadelphia Lily - scientifically known as Lilium philadelphicum. This Lily has tawny, red-tainted or reddish orange flowers. Sometimes the flowers have brown spatterings on the inside. Anywhere from one to five flowers are produced per stalk. These grow from one to three feet tall and have three to eight whorls of leaves that are lance-shaped.

This wild lily prefers to grow in dry woods, sandy soil, borders and thickets. It flowers from June to July and does well in the Northern areas of the United States, the Carolinas, and West Virginia. It also does well during times of drought.