Michigan Lily

Michigan Lily

Michigan Lily is a plant you'll find in the United States that is typically grown for its floral quality. Many dog breeds enjoy lily of the valley flowers. The male and the female lily of the valley flowers have the same flowers on their plants.Michigan Lily dangles beautiful orange to red-orange flowers in summer. Its petals curve strongly backward, distinguishing it from other native Lilies. Challenging from seed, it prefers mostly sunny sites with medium to wet soil. It can be planted in perennial borders or even along ponds and streams. Good companion plants include Turtlehead (Chelone glabra) and Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium maculatum). It is commonly visited by Swallowtail butterflies, and many other butterflies and hummingbirds.

Lily

A Prairie Moon • April 8 Thanks for writing, Jim. Long-lived perennials like Michigan Lily typically work more on root development than above-ground growth in their first growing season. Flowering may occur in the second season but the third is more likely for many species. Soil, site and season all introduce variables into plant development. The bare-root plants that Prairie Moon ships already are one full growing season old, sometimes more, so they can develop blossoms sooner than new seedlings or seeds. For many species, blooms in the year of transplant are not uncommon.

Michigan Lily is often mistaken for (or mistakenly called) Turk's-cap Lily (Lilium superbum) but there are apparently subtle differences between them. L. superbum is not native to Minnesota, but is found farther south and east. Michigan Lily flowers resemble those of Tiger Lily (L. lancifolium) but the leaves are distinctly different and Tiger Lily has distinctive bulbets in the leaf axils. While Michigan Lily plants are often found singly in the wild, it can produce dense stands under cultivation though many gardeners find it has difficulty persisting over time. For what reason is not clear, populations can collapse within a few seasons and may help explain the randomness of this species in the wild. (Source:www.minnesotawildflowers.info)