That's so kind, Cath, and I appreciate it! In fact I had a fragrant nodding Asian lily that did hold out for some years. I was getting ideas, and you've reinforced them. Thank you! Happy Easter!

Melissa, As you mentioned in the other thread, I also love those tall, scented downfacing lilies also, especially those with reflexed petals or trumpets. I don’t bother with the upward facing, unscented lilies. If you love lilies as much as I do, but your ground is inhospitable, would growing some in pots be an option?

Noseometer, I already have too many plants in pots. I'm not good at container gardening. I have too big a garden, too many chores, too many plants. All that is fine, but it means that I tend to grow plants that I think will do well in such conditions as I can offer them, which here includes a very respectable range. So much of classic gardening, as known in the western world, originated in the European Mediterranean, so my garden has old roses, lavender and rosemary, peonies, box, lilacs and laburnums, and other more recently arrived horticultural staples.

It depends, too, on what I have on my mind at the moment. I don't think about lilies, probably because no one locally grows those kinds I love so I don't see them, along with the memory of my past failures. At the moment I have peonies on my mind, as the tree and Mediterranean kinds come into flower. And narcissus, always on the edge of being growable. And epimediums, because mine are in bloom now. I've killed a number of epimediums over the years, had some survivors, developed opinions about which are attractive and which less so, and am now ready to invest in a few plants, once I go to work in that part of the garden where they'll be placed (not this year). You know how it is.

About the lilies. Since fall 2017 we've been domesticating the piece of land that lies between the woods below the propagating beds and the shade garden. There's a tractor road and some waste ground, now waste no more, and a steep drop below the road down to the shade garden. This drop, some of it almost vertical, was the home of brambles, nettles, and parietaria, all growing on a top layer of loose rocks and organic matter, with sedimentary rock below. We've been clearing all the brush we could reach, have planted some trees and shrubs and have been using the area as a compost heap, to enrich the ground before adding one or two last shrubs to complete the planting. When Cath mentioned lilies, this area occurred to me as promising. The soil is loose and rich, and it faces east-ish and is surrounded by trees and shrubs, so is relatively cool and fresh. This is where I had the nodding fragrant lilies that held out for some years. With these threads, my mind has opened the category "lilies" once more, and I'll be thinking about them. Though lily beetle is a huge discourager.

Sounds like you know your land extremely well and it's challenges. I'm imaging that it is a lovely challenge though, and a comfortable climate. Sounds like a lot of work! Good luck on whatever you choose to do. I'd love to see the results. I've never tried epimediums, although I've admired the photos of them in catalogs for years.

There are a thousand little things you can do in the garden, and every single one of them is interesting. I have two varieties of epimedium I like and want a third of similar breeding, and that may do me for epimediums. I think these are the ones I can grow easily. Then there are lilies. And Parma violets. And peonies. And mahonias. And lilacs. Lately I've been thinking about Solomon's seal. And how to grow things in the woods in general.

Thousands of things you can do in the garden.

By the way, I spent several weeks in Albuquerque many years ago and loved it. I heard it's been cold recently; I have a friend who lives in the N.M. high desert, I don't know exactly where, and he wrote me about the freezing temperatures.