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Thursday, July 28, 2011

'Halloween Embers' - Asiatic - Garden Review

'Halloween Embers'
This sassy little creature is well named. The petals are "Halloween" orange in color on the petal tips and the centers are very darkly shaded in our cooler Western Washington weather. The camera picked up “inky-black” as dark purple on a cloudless day when the temperatures finally hit 80+ degrees; in very warm climates the color should stay dark with perhaps a pronounced lighter purple "feathering" to the center.
As with all new varieties, time will tell but this beauty did have my attention this summer.

When an unopened, fully budded stem was brought into the house yesterday, the centers were carbon-black as the flowers opened fully.  It appears that the topmost layer of color fades only a bit - a good thing if you are looking for bright color in the garden.  

Flowers are a bit smaller, just over 5 inches, and this first year of planting most stems had three blooms.  The smaller flower size makes it a good choice for brightly colored floral arrangements indoors. Filaments and anthers are both colored bright orange adding to the allure.

Leaves tightly clothe the stem and a lighter shade of green, with stems growing about 3' tall in our garden this year, but plant could be taller with more flowers when established.  Combine with 'Swansea' or another large flowered orange lily for contrast to show them both off to best advantage.  [Review by Dianna Gibson, July 27, 2011]

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