Tackling the Tiger!


Please note: Thank you for visiting my Cottage Garden topic and reading my columns, published here from February 1997 through spring 2003! This Cottage Garden column was written by Barbara M. Martin and is Copyrighted by Barbara M. Martin. It may not be altered or copied or published elsewhere in whole or in part without specific permission from the author. I regret I am no longer actively editing or contributing to this suite101.com topic as of mid-2003. Happy Gardening!

I call them ditch lilies.

So what does the name tiger lily mean to you? Apart from the Woody Allen movie. To most of us, tiger lily refers to that wonderful, hardy, long-lived, tall, orange lily. You know, the really tall one. With the skinny green leaves. It grows wild. Grandmother had it in her garden. The one that's blooming now. Yeah - that one!

Whoops - if I sent you out to bring me one, what would I get? Are we talking about the bulb one or the grassy-leafed one? Many times gardeners go around and round trying to fix the right plant in their minds simultaneously to make sure they are talking about the same one.

Of course the "other" tiger lily is great too but it has its own set of confusion - which one would you call a tiger lily out of all these? Take your pick! Door number one? Number five? Eleven? Twelve? HAH!

So here's a picture of the tiger lily I'm talking about this time. Hemerocallis fulva aka Tawny Daylily lest there be any mistake!

Now that we have that settled, if you have a hankering for some of those tawny ones, here's what to do. First, hunt some up. They can be hard to find in stores, so find some living somewhere wild.

Next, get permission from the landowner, then grab a shovel and maybe a cardboard box. Now go out and dig some up. The running roots are big and not very delicate, so don't be scared. Get a good hunk of root with a few green tops and you are good to go.

This is a great plant to start building your transplanting (or is that plant rustling) skills. Drag it home in the box and plant it somewhere. Doesn't much matter where, considering I had one live for years peeking out of a trash bag just to see if it could bloom that way. It did.

The copyright of the article Tackling the Tiger! in Cottage Garden is owned by Barbara M. Martin. Permission to republish Tackling the Tiger! in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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