My favorites—so far

THESE are knocking my socks off this spring. Erythronium "Pagoda." I also have the revolutum (below). You need a warm spring like ours has been for these to do well. Last year the buds froze. So whatever this weather means, here's one of the benefits.

Comments

[Michele Owens]

Beautiful! There were wild trout lilies in the woods when I was growing up in New Jersey--yellow, with spotted leaves. I've always wanted to plant them. You've inspired me to order some this fall.

[eliz]

You should Michele--these do not get lost in the shuffle, as species tulips can. You want to plant a swath of them.

[Lisa Albert]

I planted 15 Erythronium oreganum and I'm loving their nodding yellow blooms and mottled foliage! They are such a delight in spring. I must have more!

[joanne]

Having lusted after these for quite some time, I purchased a bunch of Erythronium 'Pagoda' last fall (failed to find a source for the straight native species), and after reading how difficult they can be to grow, and how the bulbs should never be dried out or moldy (most of them were one or the other, some both), I never expected them to come up this spring. All of them but 3 underachievers did come up! And they were great, even if only one of them bloomed, but I'm thinking I actually prefer the native ones - Pagoda's leaves are far larger, but they aren't nearly as pretty, and I actually prefer the varied colors you see on the native (E. americanum) flower, even if they do hang down bashfully and require you to crawl around on hands and knees to see them.