Lake County Native Wildflowers: Lovely lilies
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Towering like a beacon along creeks and streams atop stems up to eight foot tall, native Leopard lilies bloom when the days are long and summer is almost here inviting butterflies and hummingbirds to stop and rest for a spell, and the wildflower enthusiast to appreciate.
Preferring damp, shady locations, the Leopard lily — Lilium pardalinum ssp. Pardalinum — is found in forested areas of Lake County blooming in June and July, but only for a few weeks before they fade away.
There are five species of lilium that call Lake County home. The leopard lily and California tiger lily look very similar and have golden orange petals fading to a deep orange and flecked with reddish orange spots and bloom in June and July.
The chaparral (or redwood) lily has the longest bloom time, ranging from April through August, with creamy white to darker pink petals flecked with deep fuchsia spots.
Washington lily and purple flowered Washington lily (also known as the Cascade lily), both ranging from a pale to deep lilac and white, are elusive in the wild and mostly found in the northern parts of Lake County in the Mendocino National Forest June through August.
Between the three of us, we only have good photos of the leopard lilies, and are happy to have those as finding them in the wild can be a challenge.
Luckily for the home gardener, leopard and California tiger lilies are widely available commercially, so if you’re lucky enough to see one in the wild, please make sure to let it grow and bloom where it is to feed the native wildlife.
Now that spring is winding down and the wildflower season is waning, we’re going to pause our wildflower column for a while, but we’ll be back blooming again soon!
To see and learn more about these species of Lilium in Lake County, visit CalFlora.
Nurseries where you can purchase:
Leopard Lily: http://www.cnplx.info/nplx/species?taxon=Lilium+pardalinum+ssp.+pardalinum
California Tiger Lily: https://calscape.org/nurseries.php?id=2192&showmap=1
Chaparral Lily: https://calscape.org/nurseries.php?id=2200&showmap=1
Washington Lily: https://calscape.org/nurseries.php?id=2201&showmap=1
Terre Logsdon is an environmentalist, certified master composter, and advocate for agroecology solutions to farming. An avid fan and protector of California wildflowers, plants, natural resources, and the environment, she seeks collaborative solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change. Kim Riley is retired, an avid hiker at Highland Springs, and has lived in Lake County since 1985. After 15 years of trail recovery and maintenance on the Highland Springs trails, she is now focused on native plants, including a native plant and pollinator garden on her property as well as promoting and preserving the beauty of the Highland Springs Recreation Area. Karen Sullivan has operated two nurseries to propagate and cultivate native plants and wildflowers, has lived in Kelseyville for the past 30 years, rides horses far and wide to see as many flowers as possible, and offers native plants and wildflowers for sale to the public. You can check her nursery stock here. They are collaborating on a book, Highland Springs Recreation Area: A Field Guide, which will be published in the future. In the meanwhile, please visit https://www.facebook.com/HighlandSpringsNaturalists and https://www.facebook.com/HighlandSpringsRecreationArea.