BRG New Lily Bed: Layout to Summer Blooms (Bring your camera!)

Along with the new Rose Garden and Peony Beds at the BRG, the new lily bed is coming into bloom this summer. Here are some pictures to show it from the starting layout to coming into full bloom this summer.

Fall 2008 Rototilling the Lily Bed

Late last fall, city staff worked hard to prepare the site of the lily garden bed. Volunteers worked alongside and independently to lay out the shape of the future garden, and then plant the hundreds of lilies before winter. See the leaf blowing in spring video here and rototilling lily bed video here.

Cross Shaped Design New Lily Garden Bed

Once the garden area had been tilled, new top soil was added to prepare the bed for planting. As with any collaborative undertaking like that of the BRG city staff and citizens, a few compromises occur, either by design or by happenstance. Once such compromise is the shape of the lily garden. While mostly true to the original design concept, minor inadvertent variations did alter the shape. This can easily be amended as the bed matures.

The Shape of Lily Bed to Come

In the above picture, the lilies had all been planted, and the lily bed was being edged with dwarf irises. Though early December is a bit late in the normal gardening season, volunteers were able to take advantage of the warm-ish weather to plant the irises around the perimeter.

Summer 2009 Lily Garden Coming Into Bloom

I took the pictures of the lily garden coming into bloom just at noon, the worst time to take pictures, but the best time to catch the lilies without too much shade. ( Click on the picture to see larger size, then click the Back button to return to this page.)

Blaze of Orange, Red, Pink, Yellow and White Lilies

The photos simply do not do justice to the blaze of vibrant colors of these lilies! Warmed even more by the clear sunshine, they are truly lovely! The city mowers had been at work a day or so earlier, so the grass was nicely trimmed. But I noticed that it's time to get weeding the lilies!

That this is a new garden is shown most clearly by the proliferation of clover! Following a rainy week, the soil is damp and makes for easy weed pulling.

Lilies and more along Lakeshore Road

Along Lakeshore Road, near the Port Credit sign and the annual beds, you will notice that new benches are in place in the flower beds close to Godfrey's Lane. Most of the lilies in this garden, too, were newly planted late last fall, and they, too, are now in bloom.

I took some pictures of the individual varieties of lilies, and posted them here. Now, garden gloves and hoe in hand, I am heading over to the BRG to pull out those weeds!