Five years ago we bought two ginger lily tubers. We planted them in our unheated conservatory and since then they have been throwing up a couple of leaves every year but no flowers. Imagine our excitement when we saw this a couple of weeks ago.

We went to collect forty lovely irish mountain sheep fleeces from a friend today and when we got back home and had unloaded them we collapsed into the armchairs with our cups of tea.
We were leafing through a book about art nouveau and found a picture of a lily. It was a lovely exotic looking yellow flower and we remembered our own lily.

This was the sights that met our eyes as we raised our gaze and i am not kidding when I tell you our mouths fell open.
This wonder flower is about as tall as a winebottle placed on a five foot stalk.

When seen up close the colours are dazzlingly brilliant.

It was worth the five year wait. We will now sit in its shadow, sipping a lovely hawthorn gin and tonic and enjoying the sweet ginger lily perfume wafting through the air. There is a Swedish saying; “If you wait for something good, you can never wait too long”. We think that applies in this case. To further our delight we have found another three buds!
It looks great Maria, a lovely plant. I was offered one but thought I needed heated greenhouse!
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We have a poly carbonate roof on ours but no heating. If you get another offer you might want to give it a try! The scent is so refreshing and lovely 😍
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These are some of the flowers I miss from my little bit of time in the Los Angeles region. There are some here, but they are neither as variable nor as popular. I get the impression that they are not quite as fragrant either.
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I had no idea how nice they would smell! Every morning for the last while, when we have stepped into our conservatory we have been met with a cloud of scent. We do have a red leaved variety as well but it was only planted last year and has some tiny buds at the moment. I wonder if the flower will be yellow or some other colour. I hope you are far away from the fires by the way.
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One of the fires is about a mile and a half from my home. It is very saddening to consider how many homes were burned.
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So sorry to hear this Tony. I hope it does not get any closer and that it is under control now.
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The fire was in such a hurry to get to town, and then just stopped on the outskirts. It was weird. It has not gotten any closer for quite a while, and is sort of burning in on itself.
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