Michigan Lily is a native North American wildflower that brings wild elegance to garden borders and rain gardens. This species thrives in hardiness zones 4 through 8, growing 2 to 5 feet tall with striking downward-facing orange-red flowers that bloom in June and July. The blooms are Turk's cap type, with densely spotted, reflexed petals that create an exotic appearance despite the plant's undemanding nature. It's equally at home in full sun or partial shade and actually prefers moist soil, making it an outstanding choice for wet meadows or low-lying garden spots where other lilies struggle.
Partial Sun
Moderate
4-8
60in H x 24in W
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Moderate
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Native to wet meadows and bottomlands across the central and southern United States, Michigan Lily evolved to thrive in conditions that challenge most ornamentals. The orange-red flowers, each reaching 3 inches wide, face downward with spotted, backswept petals that seem almost geometrically perfect. Low maintenance and naturally disease-free, this species spreads slowly through stolons, rewarding patient gardeners with an expanding colony of blooms that attract hummingbirds and pollinators year after year.
Michigan Lily shines in rain gardens and wet landscape areas where its tolerance for moist, even poorly drained soil allows it to flourish where conventional ornamental lilies would rot. The showy flowers draw hummingbirds and other pollinators to meadow gardens, prairie reconstructions, and native plant borders. Its low maintenance needs and disease resistance make it suitable for naturalistic plantings and larger garden spaces where establishing colonies of self-spreading bulbs creates seasonal impact with minimal intervention.
No timeline data available yet for this variety.
Plant bulbs 5 to 6 inches deep in fall in average, medium, well-drained soils enriched with humus. Space bulbs 12 to 24 inches apart.
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“Michigan Lily grows wild across wet meadows, woodland edges, prairies, and even along railroad right-of-ways throughout portions of the central and southern United States. This native species was never domesticated or bred; it simply endured in places where it naturally thrived, and gardeners eventually recognized its ornamental value. The plant's ability to flourish in conditions most cultivated lilies cannot tolerate made it a logical choice for garden use, representing a direct connection to American wildflower heritage rather than a modern breeding achievement.”