The kiss of toad lilies

My toad lilies are hopping this fall. These tiny blooms pack a big punch in my shade garden.

And when I say tiny, I mean it. When I first fell in love with these lilies, it was online. I imagined gorgeous Stargazer lily-size blooms based on the photos. Of course I didn't read the size descriptions. I fall into that trap all too often when shopping on the web. I went ahead and bought a whole bunch of seeds to start indoors …

One seedling succeeded one spring ago. But after I transplanted outside, it wilted away like the others. But it soon had some new buddies growing strong all around him. My green-thumbed mother-in-law had found some mature toad lilies from a friend and a shop. And managed to procure a few for me!

A "slug cup" took the place of that poor seedling.

It was a rough first year for those toad lilies as icky squishy slugs moved in last summer. I was worried I would have no blooms but they prevailed.

Those pretty orchid-like blooms are about silver-dollar size. So they might be smaller than expected BUT just look at all that detail in such a little thing!

Four varieties thrived last year but I've since forgotten all their names except one — Samurai. It's the first one to bloom each year and was featured two posts ago back in August.

Earlier this summer, I realized I had planted those lilies way too close to each other. 

Lots of new babies popped up and are competing for spots. I'll have to dig up a few when they sprout next spring to spread them out — and share them with my friends and family.

So far, my knitty friend Barbara has shown interest in these exotic flowers. She's the one who also got me interested in Blogtoberfest this year. Check out her blog, too, to read about her knitting and life adventures this month!