This Morning Outside

by Diane Porter

June 29, 2009
In the garden at Birdwatching Dot Com
Fairfield, Iowa

The Michigan lilies have started to open in the garden. This is the lily that grew wild in midwestern native tall grass. It hangs on in prairie remnants and roadside ditches. Hummingbirds are lovely hovering under the flower and probing the blossom from below.

I rescued one of these lilies from in front of a backhoe widening a country road ten years ago, and it has found a congenial place in my garden. This year there are 5 flowering stems and some short stalks that will still take years to bloom. Soon I'll plant some into restored prairie plots.

Its botanical name is Lilium michiganense.