Lilium 'Casa Blanca'

Lilium 'Casa Blanca': Huge White Bowls, Serious Perfume

'Casa Blanca' walks in and the whole yard smells like a five-star hotel lobby. Huge pure white blooms with curled-back petals and orange-red anthers. PLAY IT AGAIN? ABSOLUTELY.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Lilium 'Casa Blanca' (Oriental hybrid)
• Common Name: Oriental Lily
• Height: 90–120 cm (3–4 ft)
• Spread: 30 cm (12 in)
• Flowers: Very large, pure white, bowl-shaped flowers about 20 cm (8 in) across, with petals that curve back at the tips and orange-red anthers. Strongly fragrant.
• Bloom Time: Mid to late summer (July to August)
• Foliage: Glossy green, lance-shaped leaves along tall stems
• Features: RHS Award of Garden Merit, strongly fragrant, long-lasting cut flower

Where to Plant: Plant it where you'll catch the fragrance: near a patio, a path, an open window or a front step. It's lovely in white or moonlight gardens, where the blooms glow at dusk, and it grows well in deep containers with lower plantings to shade its roots.

Companion Plants: Give fragrant 'Casa Blanca' a sunny or part-shade bed with white peonies, white spiderwort and lavender clematis. Paeonia 'Krinkled White' opens single white peonies at 75 cm in May and June. Tradescantia 'Innocence' adds white spiderwort at 50 to 60 cm from June to September. Clematis 'Stand by Me Lavender' brings nodding lavender bells at 86 to 97 cm from June to August. Sesleria autumnalis adds chartreuse tufts at 30 to 45 cm that flower from August to October.

Plant Care: Plant it in full sun to part sun, in rich, well-drained, slightly acidic to neutral soil. Oriental lilies dislike wet, heavy clay, so add compost or plant in a raised bed if your soil stays wet. Keep the roots cool with mulch or low companions, and water regularly through the growing season. In a windy spot, the tall stems may need a stake. Watch for the red lily leaf beetle, a common pest in Ontario and Quebec, and pick off adults and larvae promptly. Rabbits and deer also nibble lilies. All parts of lilies, even the pollen, are highly toxic to cats. Deadhead spent flowers, but leave the stems and leaves until they yellow in fall so the bulb can rebuild. Divide crowded clumps in fall. Oriental lilies are less cold-tough than Asiatics, so a winter mulch helps in colder gardens.

History: 'Casa Blanca', Spanish for white house, dates from the 1980s, became one of the most widely grown white lilies in the world and holds the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Oriental lilies like it come from crosses among Japanese species such as Lilium auratum and Lilium speciosum, which gave the group its huge, fragrant flowers.

Final Thoughts: One stem in a vase perfumes the entire room, so plant enough to share. THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP.