Walking among the Cardiocrinum giganteum

An invitation to come see the giant Himalayan lilies showed up in my inbox: “Several folks have asked to visit our garden when the Cardiocrinums are blooming. So we thought we’d send out an invitation to our friends…” They had over 150 blooming stalks, a record for their garden, which goes by the name of Old Germantown Gardens and is named after the road on which they live. Some of you may have visited (it was a stop on the 2014 Garden Bloggger's Fling), or perhaps seen my previous blog posts, the most recent visit during the winter.

How could I miss this spectacle? This simple answer is, I could not.

I hadn’t toured a garden for ages—heck I hadn't even left home in ages—and as gardens go I knew this would be a safe one, it’s huge! Plus, they’d asked their guests to wear masks. I ventured out on our first forecast sunny day after a streak of very wet ones. I was not disappointed.

The scent of these flowers was unbelievable, even through a mask of two fabric layers and a filter. And in fact, truth be told, on more than one occasion I pulled back my mask to get the full experience, it was heavenly. 

If you're not familiar with these lilies the the plant originates in China, India, Myanmar and Tibet. They grow in US Zones 7 to 9 and the bulb is said to take 4-5 years to flower, although a friend of mine just had hers flower after a 8-9 year wait. The flowers themselves are around 8" long and the stalks are typically 7 to 9 feet tall. The bulb dies after the flowers bloom, but offsets remain. They are incredible.

While  I would love to grow these beauties in my garden, I simply don't have the space. They take on such an otherworldly quality when grown en masse as they are here in this garden. Walking among them was a magical experience.

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Weather Diary, June 22: Hi 86, Low 54/ Precip 0 

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