Early summer is daisy time, with daisy family species like Shastas, echinacea and coreopsis holding forth in multi-petaled radiance. But all the daisies in the world cannot outshine the tall trumpet lilies that are also making glorious music in gardens right now. Regal lilies or Lilium regale, with their voluptuous, golden-throated trumpets, are among the most beautiful and fragrant of the tall lily tribe.
The word “regal” certainly applies to size. Healthy regals soar, rising between three and five feet on straight stems that can bear up to 25 blooms apiece. This means that they need staking or support from other plants or structures. Some gardeners hate staking, and I used to be one of them. Now I consider it a worthwhile trade-off for statuesque beauties. Bamboo stakes are cheap; clumps of tall regal lilies are horticulturally priceless.
Regal lily blooms share basic configuration and size with their kissing cousins, Easter lilies or Lilium candidum, but color sets the regals apart. Each petal is pristine white inside, descending to a golden throat. Outside those same petals are ribbed and brushed with distinctive burgundy and rose markings.
And then there is scent… Hyperbole is rampant in the world of horticulture, but the scent of even one mature regal lily is quite intoxicating—a singular mix of sweet and spicy notes. One regal in a vase could scent an indoor room. A clump of regals in the garden might easily fill a standard suburban yard with fragrance.
In the horticultural world, regals are as renowned for their provenance as their beauty. The species is native to western China’s Szechwan province, and were among over 1,000 new species discovered at the turn of the twentieth century by Ernest H. Wilson–1876-1930–one of the greatest plant hunters of all time. Wilson, who was English by birth, trained as a botanist and first visited China on behalf of a renowned English nursery, James Veitch and Son. Subsequent trips were underwritten by Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum and Wilson’s many Asian expeditions earned him the nickname “Chinese” Wilson. Shortly after discovering Lilium regale and arranging to lift and ship many dormant bulbs back to the United States, Wilson was caught in a landslide, sustaining a serious leg fracture. The bone was set by a local mission doctor, saving the botanist from an amputation, but resulting in a limp that stayed with him for the rest of his life. Some sources say that he referred to this affliction his “lily limp.” After six expeditions to sometimes wild and dangerous parts of the Far East, Wilson became director of the Arnold Arboretum. Ironically the intrepid botanist, who survived all the perils of plant hunting in challenging territories and circumstances, was killed, along with his wife, in a Massachusetts car crash in 1930.
The introduction of Wilson’s regal lilies in Britain in 1903 and the United States in 1910 sparked a lily renaissance. The plants were extremely popular in the nineteenth century, but that popularity had waned somewhat as the old century ebbed and the new century dawned. According to horticulture historian Denise Wyles Adams, the exotic regals “added new excitement to the genus.”
In his book, Merry Hall, mid twentieth century garden writer and bon vivant Beverley Nichols wrote of being so overwhelmed by the beauty and fragrance of an impressive stand of regal lilies that he immediately bought the land underneath them. The fact that the property also included a large, extremely rundown house seemed to have been a mere secondary consideration.
Regal lilies remain popular to this day, and have also been used to breed all kinds of trumpet-type varieties.
Some people find growing regal lilies difficult, though I have not had that experience. Buy the bulbs in fall and plant them as soon as they arrive on your doorstep. Fertile, well-drained soil and a sunny location work best, as lilies are prone to rot if their feet are wet. Happy clumps will increase in size and flower-power each year.
If you live in a windy spot, plant your regals where they will have some protection. If you live in a deer-infested spot, you are going to have to apply deer spray regularly or situate your lilies in a fenced or walled garden. Deer find them delicious and love to nip off the buds.
It is a terrible thing to wait and hope for gorgeous regal lilies only to have the deer come in the wee small hours of the morning and leave nothing but naked stalks. If that happens, the only thing to do is aim for better deterrence the following year. Regals, like most members of the lilium family, do not rebloom.
Bulb vendors are taking orders for fall-planted varieties now, so you can reserve your regals while the lilies in nearby gardens are still blooming. One good supplier is John Scheepers, 23 Tulip Drive, P.O. Box 638, Bantam, CT 06750; (860) 567-8734; www.johnscheepers.com. Print catalog available.