Here is a single bloom of 'Karen North' that opened on Tuesday morning, disheveled though she may be from a rough experience. I had to have some work done on my back porch and a construction accident flattened my three stems of this cultivar. Sigh. I now have them propped up with bamboo stakes. The base of the stems was luckily not broken.
In the background can also be seen some buds from the exquisite 'Antique Lace'.
I plan on putting in even more bulbs of Lilium lankongense hybrids this fall. Even though the first year stems have been short (around two feet tall) and sparse with blooms, they are so lovely that I would like to try to get them established in other parts of my garden as well.
Oddly enough, 'Ariadne', 'Peach Lace' and 'Eurydice' failed to produce any viable buds this year. All of them sent up stems which were either void of buds in the first place or which aborted their developing buds. Hopefully they are just settling in and getting ready to produce a nice show for next season!