Tall, dramatic, producing a blast of unrestrained intense fragrance from large, numerous flowers (sometimes more than 20 per plant!), Washington lily is probably the tallest, showiest native lily in the western United States. The name is deceptive – and refers to Martha Washington – not Washington state. Indeed, the plant occurs from the Oregon Cascades, southward into the Sierra Nevada (about as far south as Yosemite), showing up mostly in dry-ish montane forests and open slopes with well-drained dry summer soils. Like other lilies, Washington lily produces a slow-growing scaly, edible bulb (one that can be divided as it matures to produces more plants). And like other lilies, it is relatively straightforward but slow-growing to propagate from seed – germinating best with prolonged cold-wet stratification – resulting in a single small leaf that appears briefly in spring for several years, then senescing annually before it is mature enough to send up a large, flowering stalk. Try propagating outside in containers, exposed to all the elements, not in a pampered greenhouse space. Older plants bloom in summer (June–August), with large, nodding trumpet-shaped white to pale pink flowers (some blushed with an intense rose color) on stalks up to about 6-feet in height. These flowers are semi-actively visited by large bumble bees by day, and by Sphingidae hawkmoths at dusk (when the flowers are especially fragrant). Deer may browse the foliage, but Washington lily doesn’t seem to be a favorite food plant and they seem to bypass it when better things are nearby. Despite its slow-growth, and limited natural range, this is plant with much potential. We think it is probably quite adaptable on the fringes of its native range: dry urban gardens in Tacoma, Portland or Oakland, or mixed into interesting woodland understory assemblages in low elevations along the coast, especially where shore pine and madrone tend to occur. A very bold plant for the patient propagator. 25 seeds 0.15 grams
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