Lilium Pardalinum

Native to moist meadows and watersides in Oregon and California. Very difficult to find but quite easy to grow, the Panther Lily is one of the finest native American bulbs, free-blooming and magnificent.

It sets deeply recurved blooms (Turk’s Caps) of bright red, burnt-orange, and rich golden, all set with large maroon spots and a cluster of anthers that dangles from the center like tongues from a bell. Varying from 3 to 6 inches wide, the blooms arise in clusters of about 20 on well-branched, compact plants just 3 feet high and 15 to 18 inches wide — small enough for containers, but offering a huge impact in the border or other garden setting.In the wild, L. pardalinum is found in wet meadowlands and along the banks of streams in California and Oregon, usually in coniferous forests at high elevations.

It will not mind your ordinary moist garden soil one bit, however, provided the drainage is good. This is a plant so adaptable to moisture that once it is established in your landscape, it even tolerates seasonal flooding!Panther Lily is a magnet for hummingbirds, so consider growing it beneath one of your feeders. It tolerates heavy clay soils nicely, and is a vigorous, adaptable presence in the sunny border, cottage garden, or other open setting. It flowers most heavily in midsummer, and is fine cutflower.

Zones 5-9.