My Favorite Plant - an appreciation of the 'August lilly'; this and other items are discussed - Brief Article

Flower & Garden Magazine, Jan, 2001

Dear Flower & Garden: Enjoy your magazine very much! "My Favorite Plant" is the first thing I read on receiving it.

I am enclosing my favorite because it brings back many memories of my mother and how much she enjoyed her "August lily." No one in the area had them, and she shared many with neighbors, friends and her daughters. What is so amazing about these is that they come up and do well in many different spots--in fields, gardens, roadsides and flowerbeds, depending on where the birds and wind carry the seeds--without having been planted. She gave me one at least thirty-five years ago, and from that one I have enjoyed watching them appear in springtime and flourish in areas I never expected. The lilies came up at my front steps, I wouldn't move them, and they have multiplied each year. This year we had nineteen beautiful blooms! Needless to say, the neighbors get to enjoy them, as well as passersby.

When our daughter moved to Texas, I carried and planted her one, and she says hers have popped up in many "strange" places. She loves them just as much as we do. My mother would be so happy to know that her grandchildren are also enjoying her lilies!

Geraldine Olive Birmingham, AL

To select the right plants for your yard, learn to use the Plant Hardiness Zone Map.

Not all of your most useful gardening tools are out in the garage along with your rakes, hoes and shovels. One is probably inside your home in the back of a gardening book--the Plant Hardiness Zone Map.

The first zone map was published in the USA in the 1930s. It was revised in 1965 and again in 1990.

Today's hardiness zone map has eleven different temperature zones. (If you have a zone map with only 10 zones, it's an older version and should no longer be used.)

Zone One is the northernmost, or coldest zone, with an average annual minimum temperature of -50 [degrees] or below. Zone Eleven is the southernmost, or warmest zone, with an average annual minimum temperature of 40 [degrees] and above, making it the only zone that's essentially frost-free.

The map has long been a boon to gardeners. With just a quick glance at a plant tag, you can determine if the plant will survive a winter in your area.