Greeted by Golden Trumpets

Trumpet lilies, that is.  If you stop by our house at the right time in the summer, you are greeted by fragrant yellow lilies by the front steps.

A hand-me-down from my mother's garden many years ago,
these lilies reach more than four feet tall, so they do require staking.

We have been repainting the porch this summer, and I have enjoyed the occasional bursts of scent wafting from the lilies when a breeze blows.  It makes the arduous task of scraping and painting a little bit sweeter. 

I wish you could smell them!

 

Consider the Lilies

Where scattered wild the Lily of the Vale/Its balmy essence breathes

--James Thomson, The Seasons, Spring, 1728

Lily-of-the-Valley, also known as Our Lady's Tears and Fairy Ladders, is such a shy little flower, virtually hiding its petite, white, bell-shaped blooms under broad green leaves.  The scent is subtly sweet yet a little intoxicating.  Our shady yard has lots of these old-fashioned flowers hidden here and there, under shrubs and ferns, and crowding along the back fence.  Each spring, I look forward to bringing in a small nosegay of Lilies-of-the-Valley to freshen the living room or the dining room if only for a few days.

Such charming little blossoms, yet Lily-of-the-Valley is a very hardy ground cover.  It spreads easily in the right conditions; some people even consider it a weed.  So white and innocent -- isn't it hard to believe that it is also poisonous?  Maybe that accounts for another name for the flower -- Ladder-to-Heaven.