A direction of the mind, a creative vision on a sunny morning, a field of flowers billowing all around, “Now, if I cross that pink flower with stubby petals and this magenta with stripes like shooting stars coming from the throat, what will result?”, fresh pollen grains dabbed onto the stigma of the other flower, then waiting, pod collecting, shelling and sorting while the snow comes down outside, then sowing in early spring, planting that summer out in the field and then the wait.
The wait is worth it. With a cup of coffee in hand, or walking through with a garden visitor we see the new, never seen before flowers spring up, those special ones are carefully watched and separated from the rest, evaluated and admired until finally they are released into the world, a unique trait, an improvement, a form or clarity of colour that keeps bringing me back decides for me, calls me.
So for 2025 these new lilies are released into the world. Out of our garden, they are now meant to be with others.
Lilyfield’s first lily introduction is Brave Maia (May-yah), named for the narrator of C.S. Lewis’ Till We Have Faces. Maia is the nickname given to Orual, the princess who thought she was ugly because she had been told that, without beauty she grew in outward strength and deeds until finally she was led to look at her interior life and only then, was able to see her true-self and let the story she had been rehearsing in her mind fall away, to allow for reality, her strength, beauty and face to shine through. Brave Maia is an early blooming peach lily with large flowers, at the most she will get 2.3 feet tall.
As Brave Maia establishes she will make a nice stem of flowers, unusual in a short lily. She will be one of your first to bloom paving the way for the abundant mid-season lilies of which there are so many more available. Earlies are harder to come by, and I hope this helps add length to many perennial gardens.
Now where Brave Maia has large blooms, Little Hands has tiny slightly cupped magenta flowers with white-lime patches coming from the nectaries of each petal. Little Hands reminds me of tiny things, like kitten paws, mini tea sets and of course the careful hands of a child at play. The little buds are more stubby and oval compared to those of most other lilies. I hope you enjoy this unusual garden lily.
Little Hands may have small flowers but they make way for a long bloom-season, the incredible bud-count creates a lily that blooms for over a month once established. The last of the blooms may still be around when the hummingbirds come through in August.
Fresh Canvas is full circle to the beginnings of my enjoyment of lilies. One of my first gardens was a white garden, billowing with tall white nicotiana, white petunias, gaura, a white rose, and creamy-white lilies. I remember cutting a stem of those pristine lilies and bringing it indoors and setting the stem in a vase at my front window. Now here, I bring forth Fresh Canvas, a different take on the creamy whites, it glows a bit with green and faces outwards, adding new dimension to the usual cut-flowers that only face up.
Fresh Canvas is an absolute favourite among visitors, the purity of the fresh flowers engage amidst a sea of colour. Paired with our darkest lily introduction, Reckless in a vase or in the garden, stunning.
Complimenting Fresh Canvas is Reckless, we are so excited to introduce it. Before Reckless, Spring Lake was our darkest lily. Where Spring Lake is bold in its deep red, Reckless is brooding in its maroon depth.
Reckless is a taller lily with numerous blooms and dark stems that have secondary and tertiary buds, providing a flush of flowers after the first, on mature plants. Reckless will add dark depths to your garden.
Finally, Flickertail, its garden name was gopher, explodes in the garden with an explosion of burgundy speckles across creamy yellow petals. Not unlike the gopher hole first made and then excavated even deeper and wide by our helpful dog, Shrew.
Flickertail was named as gophers were running about enjoying the happy sun as I puttered around in the garden. Not much has changed, the gophers are still there, this beautiful lily has passed through years of evaluation and I am happy to release it to other gardeners. Anyone need a gopher or two?
I hope you enjoy the fruit of the joyful creative efforts here, I just dab the pollen, and am often amazed by the results.