Black Beauty

I think there are subtle differences between yours and my BB. Having not seen Black Dragon, I am not sure. My BB seems to have a lighter shade than your lily blooms. Also, the foliage on yours is dark green whereas mine is light to med. green. How tall is your lily? Is yours also very tall?

Thanks Karen. Yours look fantastic and happy. The flowers look very much like mine, to me. Mine are still quite small (they were suffering under too much shade before I dug them out last fall and put it in a pot). The stems are only about a foot or so long and they don't stand upright even though they had a lot of sunlight. The leaves also are in a single plane. I'm not sure if this is because the plants are so small. Come to think of it, I don't think they looked like that when the plant was in the ground.

This is what it looked like earlier in the season when buds were just forming;

Somebody gave a cut stem of what they called 'Black Beauty' to me some years back, and the flowers were small, about 3", and very "turk's cap" with dark burgundy red flowers of a sort of dusty or muddy color to them, no scent at all, and a dozen or so blooms to a stem. How big are your flowers?

It measures about 4" if the petals are not stretched out. My lilies are 6-7 feet tall. The foliage is not in a single plane like yours. The stem has leaves all around. Yes, you are right. THe flowers have no scent or I don't smell any. Well, hope you can find the id of your lily but I think it may not be Black Beauty.

Hmm, well then, mine is probably not Black Beauty since mine measure 7-1/2" without the petals stretched, and they do have a significant fragrance, not very strong, but detectable from a distance. Thanks for your thoughts.

While your lilies received a lot of sunlight - you have them very close to a wall. Next year you may want to move them out so that they receive sunshine from all directions. (it looks as though they are in a planter??)

Can you find a place in the garden, so that they are planted, and yet still receive full sun. that will straighten the stem. The size of the flowers is also determined by growing conditions, so if they do not have happy feet, their heads will show it. Good rich soil, not too wet, good drainage.

Thanks for your thoughts, Tessa! Although the photo shows them against a wall, they actually moved all over the garden, to where there was broken sunlight (i.e. under the pergola), but I had to be careful not to put them in full all-day sun or the leaves would burn. It's one of the problems of living in the Southwest - the sun is so intense. I tried growing Casa Blanca lilies, but they fry to the ground in June no matter how much water they get (and in partial sun) and yet they were not happy in the shade either. I guess it's a little silly for me to be trying to grow lilies here, but Scheherezade and Silk Road seem to do okay, and my neighbor's Asiatic lilies seem to be fine. I'll try to give my "Black Beauty" lilies more sun next year, and they should also be bigger bulbs by next year, and I'll see how they do.