Lilium formosanum Dwarf 'Philippine Lily' - Four 4" pots

There are 3 stories with Philippine lilies that I often think about.  One, I'll never forget the first time I saw the old fashioned selections, 5-6 feet tall, growing at the edge of a forest in Louisiana. As they swayed in the hot late evening summer breeze, they seemed as if they were garden ghosts guarding the entrance to the forest.  The second story involves a time I was sleeping in an old Texas dog-trot home in deep East Texas harvesting bulbs in the summer heat.  Exhausted and being held up by my clothes that were starched with dried sweat, these lilies continued to bloom.  My third story, is when I found myself in Houston to visit a friend at MD Anderson Cancer Center. After the visit, and definitely feeling gloomy, my companion and I took a walk down through the gardens under the skywalks.  To our delight, and something that brightened up our day, was the large collection of Philippine lilies the head gardener worked into their gardens.  It was in the middle of July in downtown Houston, and here this special bulb was blooming with all it's might bringing some joy to the day.  Flowers tell stories, and we hope this flower can become a part of your life story as well.

Philippine lilies (Lilium formosanum), known also as the Formosa Lily, are great summer blooming lilies for Southern US gardens. They produce viable seed from their flowers and that seed can quickly grow into blooming size flowers. Leave the spent flowers on the stalks and get ready for a treat--the seed pods form a rusty brown color towards the fall, turn upwards, and look like a garden candelabra. Think Victorian candelabra meets a baton that might be used to lead a Dia de los Muertos parade!  Cut the seed stalks off and walk around your garden blessing it with the candelabra and let the papery seeds be carried by the wind and  fall out where they may.  Seeds can form a small blooming size bulb within 2 years. Enjoy this early summer delight!

Some can be 6 feet tall!  Others, such as these, are "dwarf" selections around 3-4 feet tall.  They are great as cut flowers in the middle of our summer heat. This selection blooms around July and August.  The plants will grow in the summer and go dormant in the winter. 

 Look for pinkish stripes that run along the flowers on some.  In others, the pink stripe is not as defined.

These ship in 4" pots. This is dwarf selection, but "dwarf" Philippine lilies still get pretty tall! Think 3-4' tall stalks!