Garden Candy

Day 166
The Daily DuBrule

When I moved into my house eight years ago I noticed what looked like a Belamcanda (blackberry lily) growing in one of the gardens. Blue green foliage resembling a bearded iris gives rise to beautiful orange spotted summer flowers. Imagine my surprise in late July when the flowers opened yellow. I had candy lilies! Pardancanda norrisii comes in carnival colors of yellow, pink, purple, peach, and everything in between. I shouldn't have been surprised these were yellow as everything the former owner of my house planted was either yellow or pink.

The first flowers

As the years went by my candy lilies self seeded throughout my gardens. I let the seed pods form and ripen on the plants as they are decorative and I dry them, using them for fall arrangements.



My favorite way to play with them is to make pumpkin arrangements. One year I decorated the stone wall by my courtyard with these pretty pumpkins filled with flowers and candy lily pods and the following spring baby plants appeared. These have matured to gorgeous summer blooming flowers that attract hummingbirds and butterflies. 

Candy lilies seeded in by the wall

Each year the color palette changes. The old yellow ones haven't been around for a while. They were overtaken by perennial ageratum (Eupatorium coelstinum) and that's okay with me. I have too much yellow in my gardens anyway. Give me the roses and burgundies and peaches any day. They are eye candy in the garden and the brutal heat and humidity doesn't bother them at all. A perfect summer flower.