What Is An Orange Tiger Lily
Whether Lilium lancifolium or Ditch Lily it is a Tough Garden Plant
The common orange tiger lily, sometimes called ditch lily, has a graceful appearance. This tough plant should be a consideration for tough garden spots.
The tiger lily technically known as Lilium lancifolium is found in many gardens. Commonly called the tiger, orange or, less affectionately, ditch lily it is a robust lily easily transplanted and hardened in. Its namesake, the ditch, is where the tiger lily can many times be found.
Orange Tiger Lily
This lily has a trumpet like flower with re-curved petals. The green leaves are lancolate, longer than wider. The common names orange, tiger or orange tiger refers to the orange colored petals dotted with black spots. This lily prefers full sun in a moist well-draining soil. The orange tiger lily tolerates climates to zone 3.
Though the name, ditch lily, hardly describes its graceful appearance, in many Midwest gardens of the United States that is exactly where it is found. While it is not considered invasive, it is a tough plant able to withstand situations hybridized plants may tolerate less. This lily fills in fast and requires little maintenance, making it an economical choice for difficult garden spots.
Asiatic Lilies, Oriental Lilies, Hemerocallis
The argument for understanding flower classification is easily made with the orange tiger lily and plants with similar names. The Asiatic and oriental lily, while in the Lilium family, also have many hybridized cultivars prized for extraordinary beauty. Some of these have dotted petals, orange petals or both.
The daylily, Hemerocallis, does not include the orange tiger lily. Today, the daylily gardener has a sizeable number of hybridized cultivars to choose from. None of these, so far, have been described as a tiger because of its spotted petals.
In books like Grandmother’s Garden by May Brawley Hill, orange tiger lilies are referenced with other traditional perennial plants in garden beds of 1865-1915. Although it might be tempting, it is not recommended to mix the Lilium lancifolium with other Lilium or Hemerocallis plants in the same garden bed. The orange tiger lily is a tough assertive plant and might easily overtake others.
Tiger Lily Use
The Lilium lancifolium is a native of Asia. These days they are found in the north and northeastern parts of North America. Strict native plant gardeners may avoid this plant for their gardens. But orange tiger lilies would fit in rain gardens, in full sun on the rim of pond gardens or where water accumulates in narrow low ground, like a ditch.
Whether you call it Lilium lancifolium, orange, tiger or, with affection, ditch lily this plant is a sound consideration for tough garden places.
