Lily Candy

On a recent visit to the Atlanta Botanical Garden we were given a real treat. Lilies all over the garden were eye candy for the soul.

Flowers are the music of the ground
From earth's lips spoken without sound
~ Edwin Curran


Viewed from the top the petals look like a bow, the finishing touch on a beautifully wrapped present.


There is a superstition that says if you smell a tiger lily you will get freckles. And I know the rest of that story!

Sometimes called the ditch lily because of its abundance along roadsides where water is plentiful. The wildflower variety of this plant propagates through tubers while its cousin the ornamental lily grows on tuberous roots.


Ornamental lilies come in many stunning colors and are prized for their arching petals.


Lilies are in the same family as asparagus, garlic, leeks and onions. Most parts of the lily are edible and often used in Asian cooking and holistic healing remedies.



Water lilies were also in abundance throughout the garden's ponds. It was reminiscent of a Monet painting, only one that you could touch.



Water lilies play an important role in the natural habitat providing shade and cooling the water allowing for more dissolved oxygen. It also provides hiding places for small aquatic creatures.

Nestled in amongst the water lily's leaves were these adorable frogs. Poking their heads out to say hello.



American Indians used the roots of these plants to make flour and then baked it into pancakes. The young leaves and flower buds were eaten as vegetables and seeds as fruit.




Each of these blooms is like a work of art.

Gardening is the slowest of the performing arts.
~Mac Griswald


Comments

  1. Truly beautiful photos. Love the information, too. Tiger lilies are a favorite. Some grow in the ditch across from our cottage in Maine. Sometimes they get 7 feet tall.

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  2. I love your blog, Karin. I always learn so much from you! Really, there is an entire meal out there in my stock tank pond? Fascinating! Happy Summer!

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  3. Simply spectacular lilies - both in and out of water. We're fortunate to have both also, although we're still a few weeks away from seeing their grandeur. Great shots, Karin.

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  4. My oriental lilies are blooming now, and wow, just love them. I always look at the Tiger lily in the catalogs...such a beauty. Our local farm person gave me a seed for a lotus flower. Need to figure out a way to plant it.

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  5. Zdjęcia kwiatów są bardzo ładne, a żabek urocze. Pozdrawiam.
    Photos of flowers are very pretty and cute frogs. Yours.

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  6. What gorgeous lilies! I always thought orange day lilies were called ditch lilies. Learn something new every day! LOVE those frogs and lily pads. I once almost crashed my car trying to look at a huge flooded field of water lilies growing wild behind a Winn Dixie. I just never expected to find water lilies growing behind a grocery store!

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  7. I love water lilies! I didn't know about lilies and freckles - kissing a frog might be a cure.

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  8. I just love the folklore behind plants and these were such wonderful stories. Tiger lilies are native and such a welcome sight. My frogs live for the water lilies, but for me they remind me of Monet. Unfortunately the deer love my lilies and they are eating far too many this year.

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  9. A blogger also mentioned to me that besides ditch lilies, they're also called roadside day lilies because they grow beside a ditch. It's kind of like soda, some people call it pop and in New Orleans, it's called a cold drink. I like how you captured the light in your photos.

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  10. Oooo, ahhh. Beautiful Lilies! I'm a huge fan if both Tiger Lilies and Water Lilies. And I must have smelled a few Tiger Lilies somewhere along the way, too. ;-) Your photos are beautiful, Karin. (I posted about the lessons learned meme yesterday--thanks for participating!)

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  11. Very beautiful flowers! I wonder what those pancakes taste like

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  12. I love lilies of all kinds, and the waterlilies are the most beautiful. The do look like they are painted on the water's surface. The frog photos are so cute, they look a little like Beauty and the Beast.

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  13. Based on the one photo I just saw, I had to come and visit you here. Your post is not only beautiful to look at but informative as well. I enjoyed reading about the freckles and lilies. As for the water lilies, I will be looking at the photos just a bit more closely to see if I can spot the little bridge made famous by Monet.
    One more thing; I took a peek at the "Oreo" cows post. That's a breed I hadn't seen previously.

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  14. I came over from Facebook after you left a comment on my photo thankyou. A gorgeous selection of photos, delighted to add you to my photography blog roll and following now.

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  15. I never would have guessed that lilies were related to onions. I'm always learning something new about plants and gardening. I love the top view of the tiger lily, such pretty curls.

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One of my favorite things about blogging is the conversation with readers. Leave a comment and let's get talking. ~Karin

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