We had a storm they called a derecho, a straight wind storm without an eye. We are used to tornadoes in the Midwest, but this was more like a hurricane, only over land. The next morning revealed that we had lost four trees or big chunks of them, and many limbs were strewn over our yard and the rest of the county. Felled was a willow that had been weakened by a beaver, a maple that had formerly lost a big limb, and a white pine, totally uprooted. The pine was in an area that sometimes floods, so it had no need to put down deep roots to reach its necessary water source. It seems that nature prunes and thins out, not only weaker branches, but whole trees to make room for stronger specimens that need to reach the sun.
Strangely, though, a whole patch of naked lilies are still standing on their leafless stems, stems filled with water like a thick straw. These lilies are a mystery to me. In spring they send out long, rich green leaves like other lilies. But in a few weeks, the leaves wilt and die and become humus around the area where the bulbs have been planted. Then, in hot August when everything else is wilting, up come naked stems, like giant moisture-filled drinking straws.
These stems shoot two feet into the air, then produce a mass of buds that unfold into the most gorgeous and delicate pale pink lilies. Talk about late bloomers! Behind our garden swing, rising above a carpet of hostas, there are these glorious lilies. They are like spring in August!
The other lilies have long since finished blooming. Even the enduring day lilies are by now waning into mostly seed pods. Ah, but the naked lilies! They are proudly standing tall and leafless on their watery stems, breathing joy into the hot summer. And, amazingly, after last night’s storm that took down a willow, a pine, and a maple, the naked lilies still stand!
Maybe I am to learn not to despair over late bloomers. They just might surprise me. Just when it seems they are never going to bloom, they rescue the dulling landscape with beauty to take your breath away!
