Kristin Schleiter is the NYBG’s Associate Vice President of Outdoor Gardens and Senior Curator. She oversees the wonderful gardening team that keeps our flowering gardens looking top notch, curates the herbaceous gardens and collections, and manages the curator of woody plants. She lives and gardens in Fairfield, CT.
Himalayan fox tail lily (Eremerus himalaicus)
One of my favorite plants on our new Seasonal Walk so far is the Himalayan fox tail lily, Eremerus himalaicus. Re-designed by renowned designer Piet Oudolf and planted late last fall, it has been a thrill to watch the garden unfold. After a very cold winter filled with lots of nail-biting, the plants have emerged healthy, happy, and simply glorious. As all the best gardens do, this one changes magically from week to week. The leading characters now are our native columbine Aquilegia canadensis (complete with hummingbirds darting around enjoying the red and yellow flowers) and the magical Himalayan fox tail lily. Elegant spires of white star-shaped flowers dance gracefully down the length of the double border. They are four feet tall this year, but hold the promise of more height in years to come as they settle in.
Fox tail lilies are easy to plant. Their tubers look much like a sea star with a whole mess of legs wearing a dunce cap. Dig a hole wide enough to spread out their roots but not too deep—their noses should be just a few inches underground. They don’t enjoy wet soil and love the sun.
The Seasonal Walk is only just beginning to seduce with its tapestry of plants. I love the fox tail lilies now, but I’m sure there is something else that will start blooming next month that will steal my fickle heart.
Spring gallops at such a steady pace, I barely have a chance to pause and soak in the sights before the vernal onslaught has passed me by. I often like to capture these colorful, ephemeral moments in writing.
This year, one of my favorite fleeting moments was the eastern redbud ‘Pauline Lily’. The redbuds stay in bloom for several weeks from April into May, lighting up the woodland understory with their cheerful color.
While the majority of the eastern redbuds produce an abundance of pea-like flowers that are either the characteristic purple-pink color or the occasional pure white variety, ‘Pauline Lily’ has demure ballerina-pink blooms. The buds start off as salmon-pink and open to a divine pale cream. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the flowers are edible and they can be plucked off of the tree (your own tree, of course) and tossed into a salad or frozen in an ice cube tray to add a festive touch to your drinks.
Remember that all-important scene in The Wizard of Oz where the Wicked Witch of the West traps Dorothy and her cadre of heroes in a sprawling field of poppies, sure to sleep forever? It was memorable not for the witch’s conniving plan, or the fact that Glinda the Good Witch bails out our adventurers, but for the imagery itself—the smallness of the characters when surrounded by such immense (if deceptive) technicolor beauty is undeniable. And while we’re not quite ready to break out a poppy field of our own, we have something just as grand (and guaranteed to keep you awake) in the Azalea Garden.
At this very moment, thousands upon thousands of cheery azaleas are blooming in their eponymous collection, filling the newly greened forest surroundings with pinks, purples, reds, and whites. Seriously—it’s like we borrowed a rainbow and brought it to earth. Under the shifting net of sunlight cast through the canopy, the colors pop even more! But, as with everything that comes of spring, this dreamlike color can only last so long.
There’s at least a week or so left of this transcendent color before things quiet down, so make a point of stopping by!
The lilacs spill onto the scene, dressed head to toe in provocative aromas. Purples, pinks, whites—each bundle of flowers is a flag planted in the name of spring perfumes.
Syringa vulgaris ‘Volcan’ in the Lilac Collection – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
