Sunday, May 13, 2012

Lily Livered

I'm a coward.  Some call it being lily livered.

You see, I was worried when I came home from vacation what I would find.  Would the plants be watered well?  Would any be dead?  What would be blooming?  Anything?  What about the weeds.  Would they have taken over everything?


What would my garden look like?

These questions kept going through my mind.  Last year my garden looked so bad when I returned from vacation, it was hard to take.  The thought of how my garden looked through last year's drought made me lily livered.


I was worried.

Could I face my garden?  What would be there?  These questions kept running through my mind.


So, when I got home, I unloaded the car.  And out of habit, I looked out the window toward the garden.

And what I saw took my breath away.


The lilies were blooming!

I couldn't wait to go outside and walk around my garden!


The lilies are blooming!  Oh, what gorgeous flowers they are!

I love roses (duh!), and hydrangeas, and many other flowers.  But the lilies - oh, the lilies! - are regal and splendid and magnificent and amazing!


I may be lily livered.  But I'm also lily hearted, and lily eyed and lily everything else!  They are all I can think of now!

Because the lilies are blooming!

58 comments:

  1. What a sight to come home to, your just lilicious.

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    1. lilicious!! What a great word! :) And yes, it was a great sight to see!

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  2. Everything looks lovely. Can't wait for my big buds to open up and was quite surprised to walk out and see a Daylily blooming this morning. Not a big swath of them as you have but it's a start. Glad nothing was ruined while you were gone.

    Cher Sunray Gardens

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    1. It's it wonderful to walk outside in the garden and see something new blooming? Keeps the anticipation going almost all year!

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  3. Hope your lovely surprise is a good omen for my own return home after a long working holiday. I still have 3 weeks to go, but hope everything has survived, more or less. And if it is half as pretty as your garden, I will be feeling very pleased with myself indeed.

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    1. 3 more weeks must seem like a very long time to be away from your garden. I hope you have something wonderful blooming when you return.

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  4. It is so nice to have you back from vacation. I missed reading your posts. I have lilies blooming at the moment as well. SO BEAUTIFUL!

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    1. They really are beautiful. I forget from year to year just how gorgeous they are. I'm definitely going to get more!

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  5. Now that was a good sight to come home to. I love lilies to so I know your joy. LOL! Your garden is so full of color. I just love it.

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    1. It was thrilling to come home to a garden that was doing well, instead of a suffering one like last year. I breathed a big sigh of relief!

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  6. That's awesome! I'm so glad they were ok, and they are so beautiful!

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    1. I would have been happy with the garden, but seeing the lilies blooming in addition to everything else was just fantastic! I guess the garden doesn't need me as much as I think it does!

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  7. Welcome back! What lovely flowers to come home to! I planted my first oriental lilies this year, 'Stargazer' and I'm waiting anxiously for the blooms. I hope they are as pretty as yours!

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    1. Your stargazer lilies will be beautiful! I have planted those in the past, but I don't think they have returned for me. :( I hope you have better luck with yours.

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  8. Lilies are so pretty and they look great in your photos. They seem to be blooming very early but maybe the norm where you live. They are lovely plants!

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    1. I think we have been a bit early for most of this spring, but things are beginning to even out now. I think May is probably about the right time for these to bloom here.

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  9. Welcome back, Holley! Oh, the lilies in your garden are beautiful! I'm anxiously waiting for my Stagazers to bloom. I worry about the garden when I'm on vacation too. It looks like yours came through just fine. :-)

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    1. Isn't it exciting when the lilies bloom? I hope your stargazers are gorgeous!

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  10. I'm a big fan of lilies too, but the lilies in my UK garden are nowhere near flowering yet, at least another month or two. I grow most of mine in pots, otherwise they become dinner for snails.

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    1. By July here, it will probably be so hot everything will be dormant. Lilies in pots sounds lovely! I will have to remember that!

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  11. I know exactly what you mean about worrying what the garden will look like when you've come back from a trip. Yours looks gorgeous right now. Lilies are in my top 5 favorite plants and can't wait to see mine bloom sometime in the next two months.

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    1. I think they're make the top 5 on my list, too! Yes, I definitely need to get more of these!

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  12. You obviously didn't have a thing to worry about! Your garden looks quite lush and full of blooms, both lily and otherwise.

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  13. What a wonderful surprise to come back home too. Every now and then, our gardens give us surprises. It just makes all the work and worry worthwhile. Cheers, Jenni

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    1. You're right, Jenni - the surprises are so wonderful! I think that's why gardening is so much fun - it's not static, but ever-changing.

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  14. I love the lilies. Your garden certainly didn't disappoint. As gardeners, we always hate to leave our gardens in the hands of others, but plants seem to endure anyway. Now won't you really enjoy the rest of the summer watching your garden grow?

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    1. Yes, I have no plans to leave the garden again this summer, so I'll be able to enjoy every bloom!

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  15. What a happy homecoming you had! Such an exquisite, "Hello, Mom, welcome home! Glad you're back so you can take care of us." What a beautiful garden.

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    1. Sherry - I love thinking that the garden was missing me, too! :)

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  16. What a beautiful sight to come home to! They look so lovely with all of your other flowers.

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    1. The lilies really are magnificent. I couldn't have had a better homecoming.

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  17. Wonderful sight...waiting for my irises to bloom...lilies are still just growing here...

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    1. Wow, Donna - it's amazing to me that your irises are just now starting to bloom! Seems like that was a long time ago for me. Isn't it interesting how different the weather is all over the world?

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  18. They are spectacular!! Mine are a long way from blooming. I love reading your blog - it is like a prelude to what will be happening in my garden if I just have patience!!! DO you get red lily beetle there? I don't have blooms yet, but I have been busy every morning looking for the little horrors and squishing them when I find them - worse than japanese beetles!

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    1. Jayne - I don't think I get red lily beetles, but I really don't know. I've only been growing lilies for a few years, and these white ones just for the last two! I imagine they will find me fairly soon if they are anywhere around!

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  19. Beautiful flowers and beautiful view! It's great to come back home and have such a surprise! 8)

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    1. It was a fun surprise! I'm so glad I didn't miss the show!

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  20. What beautiful blooms to come home to. I'm glad the garden didn't disappoint. :)

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    1. Yes, it's VERY disappointing when the garden disappoints! And so exciting when it doesn't!

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  21. Holly, I remember last year when my lilies bloomed I couldn't stop looking at them, touching them, photographing them .... they are so beautiful!! Yours look STUNNING and make me LONG for spring :)

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    1. That's exactly how I feel! I can't stop looking at them, photographing them, sighing over them.... it's crazy, but I guess it's lily fever!

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  22. Great Lily shares. Love Love Love Lilies!

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    1. Me, too! I never knew I'd love lilies so much, but these big white ones have stolen my heart!

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  23. How absolutely stunning - and that these came as a surprise waiting for your return from your holiday! What a bonus that must have been.

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    1. It was a sweet surprise! I couldn't have asked for anything more!

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  24. Replies
    1. And they're just as pretty, if not more so, in real life.

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  25. They wanted you back. Beautiful! Mine are getting ready to bloom.

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    1. What a great thought that they might have been missing me! Wouldn't that be fun if our gardens could talk to us!?

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  26. Hi There, I'm trying to catch up after being gone for a week. Same here---we wondered what we'd find when we got home. BUT--we also found lots of lilies blooming --along with our roses... What a wonderful thing to come home to!!!!!

    Your lilies are beautiful...
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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    1. I'm glad to hear you're back, and that you also had lilies blooming when you got home! It really is a wonderful welcome!

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  27. Lilies are like the showoffs of the spring garden so I really don't blame you for delighting in everything lily!

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  28. You've got to wonder where saying comes from? Mine are just days from full bloom...ooh exciting!

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    1. The saying comes from the liver being white like a lily - and thus, bad blood circulation. (And, obviously, you need good blood circulation to be strong and courageous.) :) I know your lilies will be just as mesmerizing!

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  29. Beautiful. Welcome home. Your garden looks great.

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