Candy Lilies "Pardancanda"

The lovely background is provided
by my Giant Variegated Reed

I found some Candy Lilies at my all-time favourite Garden-Centre (The Potting Shed), and I just had to bring them home! They have minty-iris like foliage, and long lime stalks that support multiple small lily/orchid like flowers. My flower colour is a bi-coloured peachy-orange and pink-yellow bloom. After they bloom for a few days they twist away into a cocoon of sorts and develop a seed pod that burst open with shiny black lily-seeds. A very delicate looking plant, a great collectors plant to show off in an area, bees and pollinators love them! I can't wait to grow a massive clump, maybe collect some different colours. It's not uncommon to have multiple colours develop from one plant.

Beautiful fresh bloom from my Pardancanda

Candy Lily will grow to be about 24 inches tall at maturity extending to 3 feet tall with the flowers, with a spread of 18 inches. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 8 years.

This perennial does best in full sun to partial shade. It is very adaptable to both dry and moist growing conditions, but will not tolerate any standing water. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for a low-water garden or xeriscape application. It is not particular as to soil type, but has a definite preference for acidic soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder zones. This plant can be propagated by division.

After bloom, pods, and a new flower in the centre

A new flower ready to pop open!

Some more brilliant examples of "Pardancanda"... I might have to start a collection...

To buy your very own Candy Lilies, you can visit your local garden centre (a good one, not a grocery store or a box store) or order a mixed bag online. Online nurseries also have unique colours and variations available.

New Lilies! When "Mona Lisa" Smiles...

This is a new lily I picked up at Costco in Kingston, Ont. It was $9.99 and I don't think I've ever seen such a healthy shipment of plants anywhere! They had probably 4 kinds of Asiatic lilies, Astilbe, Coral Bells, Hosta and others. The lilies were by far worth the money, with 3-4 tubers per pot and super healthy plants. Somehow I managed to find one that wasn't blooming so I could take it the long drive back to Guelph. Now about three days later it's in full glory!

Lillium "Mona Lisa" (Oriental) Isn't she gorgeous! Super fragrant too!

They also had a few "Tango" lilies but I didn't want to crowd our full car, maybe I'll head back to Costco next week and they'll all be reduced...here's to hoping. Honestly, I just want them all!

Here are the other options from Costco, both Asian and Orientals available. I'm dying to have a tango lily in my collection! Please Garden-Gods, make it so! 

The lilies I ended up buying...

I fooled myself, and my blog post from earlier! I do think that the varieties I stated were gorgeous, but not the variety I had on my mind, I was slightly (very much) off. Anyways... isn't she lovely!? It's a dwarf Lilium Hybrid called "Lollypop". When I got there I had a 50% coupon on the small perennials, so I picked four pots with the largest plants and three blooms per stock. Two aren't even blooming yet, the woman at the cash questioned this and I giggled... because three is better than one and twelve is better than three?!

I haven't exactly decided where she will go yet...

I have my eye on a few things...

I did some garden centre recon and found some plants I'd like to haggle for later today... I would wait until close up for buying most plants on discount, but when it comes to more showy bloomers, it's important to buy them right before they bloom or during. This way can can better assess what kind of blooms you will get; wither it be the colour or size or number of physical blooms on the plants. Store garden centres (as explained in THIS post) tend to have a bad reputation for mis-labeling plants... or over pricing poor quality plants. One rule to keep in mind is typically, if it looks great in the pot, just imagine how it will look in your garden with root space, and special care. If it's healthy and you like the blooms, its the best time to buy it. That way you also get to enjoy a bit of time with it in your garden also.

I really have my eye on some Asiatic lilies I saw yesterday, some were dwarfed and others giants. I'm going back to "Metro" to try and haggle my way into getting a few lilies for cheap. I don't know the variety name, but I'll post that later. They kind of looked like these nice varieties.
                                                         

 "Cappuccino" Asiatic Tango Lily

"Nettie's Pride" Asiatic Lily

"Black Spider" Asiatic Lily

I guess we'll find out later what variety I picked up... I also saw some very tall beauties from Canadian Tire with double blooms... maybe my dad will be into those... can't exactly bike with a 5 ft potted plant in my basket.