Left: Turk’s cap lilies (Lilium superbum) at Black Rock Mountain State Park. Right: Plant structure, showing buds, blooms and foliage.
Prior to the disruption of in-person activities by the pandemic, I enjoyed going to the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference for many years. In addition to the presentations, one reason that I enjoyed going was so that I could see some of the beautiful wild plants on the Blue Ridge Parkway, including the superb lilies known as turk’s cap lilies (Lilium superbum). They are in full bloom on the Parkway during that 3rd week of July (and certainly earlier).
In the deep, rich, moist roadsides of the Parkway, the stems of this lily reach 10-12 feet tall. Each stem is festooned with multiple orange blooms, and the stem leans out towards the road for best light. Swirling around them are dozens of pipevine swallowtail butterflies. Behind the lilies are the woods where tall trees support the vines of the bigleaf Dutchman’s pipe (Aristolochia macrophylla), the host plant for these butterflies.
Left: A clump of Lilium superbum on the Blue Ridge Parkway, weighted by blooms and surrounded by pale jewelweed (Impatiens pallida). Right: Pipevine swallowtails visiting a lily.
These lilies grow in Georgia as well. I have seen them in the wild mostly in north Georgia at several of the state parks there. Fingers crossed that mine, which were grown from seed by a friend, will bloom this year. I started the year with 6 stems but four of them were cut off by burrowing critters. My advice is to plant the bulbs with sharp gravel in the hole (Permatil is a good product). Look for these and other native lily species at native nurseries or online where you can buy them as bulbs.
You can read more about Georgia’s native lilies in an earlier blogpost of mine. And if you’re up for a nice roadtrip in July, read more about my visits to the Blue Ridge Parkway in this blogpost. I even give you the mile marker location for the best lily spot
