Little Bulbs Compose a Spring Scene

Many of the exquisite but small bulbs of spring are currently in full bloom. When planted in masses these little beauties can create quite a splash.
The Glory-of-the-Snow Chionodoxa forbesii is one of my favorites with porcelain blue flowers. Look for this beauty in the Rock & Waterfall Garden.
The little Puschkinia (Puschkinia libanotica) has spread into impressive carpets in the Rock & Waterfall Garden. My macro lens allows for a close view of its floral details.
Native White Trout Lilies (Erythronium sp.) can be found wild in the Rock & Waterfall Garden as well as in woods along the Nature Trail. We have a transitional population that may be a blend of two species.

Grape-Hyacinths (Muscari aucheri) create beautiful bunches of dark blue flowers topped with sky blue fertile flowers. Look for these on the Island Garden.

This wonderful composition of creamy yellow City of Haarlem Hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis) underplanted with Blue Windflowers (Anemone blanda) creates quite a harmony. This image is from the Island Garden.

This color echo of City of Haarlem Hyacinths in bud with yellow variegated 'Color Guard' Yucca is also an outstanding plant composition on the Island Garden.

The new foliage of many of the peonies in the Perennial Garden is beautifully ruddy red or purple at this season. A great color combo with dark blue Peter Stuyvesant Hyacinths.

No foolin', all images taken on April 1, 2009 at Powell Gardens. Powell Gardens' grounds are glorious with spring flowers! Bring your bulb catalogs to make notes on what you must have for your own garden in 2010.

An Olfactory Experience

Voodoo Lily, Corpse Plant, Leopard Palm, Snake Palm, Konjac or Devil's Tongue! A plant with that many names is lucky to have a single botanical name: Amorphophallus konjac. I will call it the inoffensive name Konjac as per the the definitive book Aroids - Plants of the Arum Family by Deni Brown. This plant has been cultivated in China for more than 2,000 years!

Eric Perrette (Senior Gardener - Grower) at Powell Gardens' greenhouses poses next to our first one to bloom this year. Eric is 6'-1" so our flower is 5 feet tall! At this point he said he is "used to" to the unpleasant smell of the flower.

I asked Eric to give the flower a sniff and you can see the expression! The flowers smell (and look like) rotting flesh so they attract appropriate flies to pollinate them. This is the largest one we've grown; they grow larger over time until the bulb weighs about 22 pounds. The flower emerges from the dormant bulb in winter or early spring.


The foliage of Konjac is quite beautiful comprising the large plant in this container (taken summer 2008). You can see why another name for this plant is leopard or snake palm because of the beautifully mottled black on pink stems. The leaves emerge in spring and are a huge candelabra of foliage through the summer. The plants get larger and larger each year. They are marginally hardy, able to survive outdoors if planted in a sheltered spot near a warm foundation. We let our plants go dormant and store them in the greenhouse headhouse until the flowers begin to emerge -- then we pot them up and move them into the greenhouses. This year they will be on display in the fragrance display! (Come see this plant on display this weekend.) The real nasty smell only lasts a couple days.


We also have two related species: the Elephant Yam Amorphophallus paeoniifolius, which produces an even larger bell-shaped, fluted flower. Its bulb can weigh up to 55 pounds and ours is not old enough to bloom yet. The largest flower of them all is Ammorphophallus titanum the Titan Arum, which always attracts national media attention when it periodically blooms at botanical gardens across the country. Our plant has years to go until it will flower and we will surely let you know when it does!

The Year of the Lily at Powell Gardens

The ample moisture and more reasonable temperatures have made the summer of 2008 the year of the lily at Powell Gardens. Lilies (Lilium spp.) are bulbs, most with exceptionally showy flowers and some with intense fragrance.

There are hundreds of species of lilies and the Easter Lily (Lilium longiflorum) is one of the most popular. Easter lilies are actually from Asia but forced into bloom for Easter sales. Hardy selections of Easter Lily bloom in midsummer and are pristine white with a very fine aroma. These were photographed in the Perennial Garden. The Madonna Lily (Lilium candidum) is the actual lily that is the symbol of purity and faith for Christians. Madonna lilies must be ordered now and planted by Labor Day because they must grow some foliage before fall.


There are thousands of cultivars of lilies but luckily they are assigned into several groups: Asiatic Lilies are some of the easiest to grow in our climate and come in a wide array of colors from white to yellow, orange, red and burgundy: this is the cultivar 'Savannah' in the Perennial Garden. Most Asiatic lilies are scentless and the flowers face upwards.


Tumpet lilies like this cultivar 'Golden Splendor' on the Island Garden are tall with trumpet shaped blooms that are also fragrant. This clump was hit hard by the Easter freeze of 2007. It languished all last year but we "let it be." This year it came back as if nothing had happened and seemed to make up for lost time!


Oriental Lilies are some of our most fragrant and require proper siting in our climate. These Stargazer Oriental Lilies were photographed in the Perennial Garden--in the afternoon shade of native trees. Oriental Lilies can literally bake in our hot afternoon sun so that the flower buds brown and never open.

New hybrid lilies have created quite a splash. This is a LA Lily: LA stands for longiflorum (Easter) - Asiatic (not Los Angeles!). LA lilies have the colors of Asiatic lilies, the fragrance of Easter lilies, and an exceptional hybrid vigor. This is the cultivar 'Gerrit Zalm' in the Perennial Garden which would be a great addition to a moon or white garden.

Some of the newest hybrid lilies show incredible vigor! This is a new Orienpet lily. Orienpet stands for Oriental - Trumpet hybrid lilies. These have the most hybrid vigor, good heat resistance and awesome fragrance. The unnamed hybrid shown from the Perennial Garden is well over 6 feet tall. Unfortunately the colors of many Orienpet lilies are just plain ugly blends of pink and yellow.

Powell Gardens' favorite Orienpet lily is the cultivar 'Silk Road,' which graces the entrance to the Island Garden's Sunken Garden. It has good color, fragrance and abundant bloom on sturdy 6 foot stems! Make sure to include lilies into your gardens for next year--there are many species and even more cultivars to choose from. Many of the later blooming varieties are still in bloom for ideas at Powell Gardens.