Staking lilies

I love my lilies. I have been picking them regularly now for weeks up at the top vegetable garden.

And the lilium regales in the courtyard never fail to please. I planted them as bulbs about three years ago, and to my delight they are well settled and come back again and again.

Their scent can really lift up the space in the evening and I have even resisted cutting them and plonking them in a vase.

And continuing my theme of don’t believe all that you see on the internet, here is the main reason I haven’t cut them and plonked them in a vase.

I forgot to stake them.

As these planters are quite spare, I haven’t devised a way to hide my staking rods. I’m thinking of creating a chestnut grid this autumn.

The planting ought to be lush and busy. But I haven’t come up with anything apart from the roses, the mint and some tulips so far. And it’s not quite enough.

Remind me to make this a winter project – more work needed on the courtyard planters. Or at least prod me with a sharp stick next spring to remind me to get some stakes into the pots before they do this rather graceless flop.