LILIES - RHS Lily Group

iver whose broad meanders we had crossed and re crossed getting here and
whose significant impact on the landscape seemed hard to reconcile with the
insignificant stream that emanated from a modest hole in the ground in the
corner of this municipal park. After a hearty breakfast at a local Diner, we took
the road that leads to Mt Shasta. It wasn’t too long before one of us spotted
some lilies by the roadside. After parking our vehicle under a tree, some shade
being necessary as the temperature was about 40°C, we walked back to where
some L. washingtonianum var. purpurascens were growing through Manzanita
plants, their tough protectors against grazing deer. The furnace-like heat and
resulting hard and parched soil certainly exemplified dry-land lily conditions.
The miracle was that something so fine and, apparently, so delicate could take
such punishment. I theorised, to myself, that, below ground, there might still be
some residual snow-melt moisture that enabled the bulb to counteract the grilling
effect of the sun on the stem and flowers, but I would have needed a pickaxe to
reveal the bulb and test my theory and, apart from any ethical considerations, all
I had with me was a plastic spoon!
When we arrived at Orleans, having driven north, again, from Mt Shasta, we
checked-in to the Orleans Mining Co., a Motel that proved to be as intriguing
as its name. Among its other attractions, it had what, with a stretch of the
imagination, could be called a museum of mining tools and other dusty artefacts,
but I was disappointed to find that there wasn’t even a trace of Orleans’ most
famous denizen – Bigfoot! Bigfoot or the Sasquatch, as well informed readers
will know, is America’s version of the Abominable Snowman or Yeti and he,
she, it ??? was first observed near Orleans in 1958. Sadly, despite driving many
miles through the backwoods above Orleans in search of lilies, I, again, found
no trace of Bigfoot. However, the temperature was between 30 and 40°C, far too
uncomfortable for someone to be wandering about in a gorilla suit I suppose.
Not bumping into Bigfoot was disappointing, but the many lilies we saw, as we
looped north from Orleans into the wooded hills of Humboldt County and then south
to pick up the road that took us west to Eureka and the Pacific coast, were a glorious
compensation. The first and last species we encountered was L. rubescens, but while
the first plants were, characteristically, upward facing with tepals that fell gracefully
downwards, the last plants had tepals that were more rigid which gave the flowers
a star shaped appearance. The second species we found was L. kelloggii, a happy
accident that came about because we missed the turn off to Onion Lake. Another
unexpected bonus was to find a yellow form of L. kelloggii, albeit with a single
insect-damaged flower, which our resident expert Barb had never seen before and
which none of the standard lily reference books mention. Back on track we were
soon at Onion Lake, which was far more beautiful than its prosaic name suggests,
and investigating some plants of L. pardalinum, L. wigginsii and their hybrid
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