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Inspiring Spaces - Home || Fall 2007 Issue

The Garden Atriums of Poquoson: Husband and wife live their ideals in self-sustainable residential community Ballas In Wonderland: Look Closely: Nothing Is Exactly What It Appears To Be A cottage garden: It grows out of mistakes and education Anthony Brozna: Eco-conscious furniture maker is on the cutting edge of rising green movement Salvage beauty: Add character to your surroundings while preserving history and the environment Designers speak: Some of our favorite people are designers. In this special Q&A Inspiring Spaces talks to three local professionals and discovers their thoughts on design, color, and life. The Casa Blanca Lily: The beginning of a beautiful friendship Editor's Picks: Autumn Colors Matt Cross, folk artist: Erstwhile home for chickens now houses his studio Throwing out works of art: Artist enjoys big success with large-scale paintings Design Within Reach partners with Airstream: Special edition travel trailer respects tradition Doggy do-over: Family canine demands — and gets — new digs Starr-dom: CEO of the Richmond SPCA deftly manages family's furry menagerie

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The Casa Blanca Lily
The beginning of a beautiful friendship
Writer: Gina Denniston
Photograph: White Flower Farm

Ferns make a fine companion for the heavenly Lilium 'Casa Blanca.'

You've seen it in the shelter magazines, gracing the interiors of the world's finest homes (see Page 123 of April's House & Garden, for example). Its ubiquity is exceeded only by the phalaenopsis orchid's. Even so, for stunning looks and outstanding fragrance in your garden, you simply can't go wrong with the pure white Casa Blanca lily.

Gorgeous, long-lasting, divinely elegant – all these words describe this perennial bulb's blooms. As a cut flower, it's a winner. The stems are tall and sturdy, and each will produce several flowers that can measure 10 inches across. You'll want to plant lots of them, and the best time for that is spring.

Choose a full-sun or partial-shade location, and plant the bulbs eight inches deep and six inches apart in well-drained soil. Water well. It really doesn't get any easier than that. Bloom time is July. Scour the bulb catalogues (you must have a stack of them by now) and garden centers for the best deals on Casa Blanca bulbs. Expect to pay about $3 each.

"EVEN IN A GROUP noted for large flowers, vigorous growth, and sweet perfume, Casa Blanca is a standout. The huge flowers are pure, gleaming white, delicately flocked in a way that adds richness and texture. When this lily blooms in our Moon Garden, our staff find excuses to wander nearby, while visitors stand transfixed, lost in the perfume and admiring the hawk moths that hover over the blooms day and evening. Adjectives like 'astonishing' and 'ravishing' may seem like catalogue hyperbole, until you actually see one of these lilies in bloom. Then words fail. Casa Blanca is widely regarded by horticultural professionals as the best white Oriental lily ever."

— Commentary in the White Flower Farm catalogue

They do well in pots, too, if you don't have garden space. You might consider the mobility that containers afford and pot up some Casa Blancas and move them around as the mood strikes you. Whether you grow them in pots or in the ground, be sure to have enough for cutting.

If intoxicating fragrance is your quest, then you've hit the mother lode. A bouquet of Casa Blancas can easily perfume an entire room with their rich, spicy scent. (Beware of placing them around food, however.) And, they're long-lasting.

Staying power, cuttability, ease of cultivation, extraordinary aroma – well, it just doesn't get any better than Casa Blanca lilies. Get to know them.