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! 

I freaking love Tradescantia/ Spiderwort!

I love Tradescantia. otherwise known as Spiderwort! It is possibly one of my favourite plants in the garden, but like having multiple children, you can never just pick one favourite. This plant is amazing!

Clockwise from top left; "Concorde Grape", "Bilberry Ice", "Osprey", "Blue and Gold"

It comes in many more forms and colour variations, with typically a purple or violet bloom and green foliage. It likes partial shade, and only a few hours of direct sun and moist soil, although it will do nicely in a drought. The flowers only last about a day or two, but bloom consistently throughout the spring/summer season and even into the fall! I also love how they look like a grass and many other types of flowers depending on where you have them, a true chameleon. 

 Here is my Spiderwort blooming this year. "Sweet Kate" is the variety.

My favourite nursery has this variety in stock now and I want it!... Canadian Tire also had a lovely variety I haven't seen around, and I'm going to investigate that one.

"Sunshine Charm"

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...

The New Tulips

Here are the new tulips my dad found and placed in the "old barn foundation" garden. They are a medium height tulip with double/triple blossoms. I find the red and white particularly lovely due to the painted nature and detail in the foliage. They are very hardy and look like great multipliers.

In love with this variety... I think it's called 'Carnival de Nice' 

and the red variety is called 'Uncle Tom' or 'Redwood'.