The Sumptuous Orienpet Hybrid Lily
The other day got off to a fine start when I opened the front door to find that the my ‘Conca d’Or’ Lilies had bloomed.
‘Conca d’Or’ is an Oriental-Trumpet hybrid, also known as an Orienpet. I think Orienpet is an unfortunate name, as it sounds too much like Chia Pet (remember them?).
But let’s not get hung up on a name. These are truly luxurious, wonderful Lilies. ‘Conca d’Or’ has satiny flowers of custard yellow edged in creamy white. And the fragrance – sweet but not overpowering – fills the entire Front Garden on a warm and sunny day. The fragrance of ‘Conca d’Or’ causes passing dog walkers to breathe deep and sigh with pleasure. Some of the dogs, too, at least those with more refined tastes.
There is one ‘Conca d’Or’ Lily at the far end of the Driveway Border, the sole survivor out of three bulbs originally planted. I don’t know why the others perished, but this one has gone on to be a robust and sturdy specimen.
There are another five planted in the back of the Sidewalk Border. Orienpets are tall enough to hold their own with ‘Raspberry Wine’ Bee Balm (Monarda didyma) and other substantial and pushy plants.
We also have some ‘Casa Blanca’ Oriental Lilies, but they bloom later in summer. I’ll talk about them in another post.
Do you have a favorite Lily?
gardeninacity 
That lily is gorgeous! The only lilies I have are the Stargazers, and I love them.
Those are beauties, though I don’t have any.
I don’t have a favorite. I love all of these big tall lilies that have a fragrance. I want one of every one I see or read about yet I have so few in the garden. I don’t know why that is except that I am very lazy when it comes to ordering flowers from a catalog or website.
I find they can be kind of short lived, but they are still worth it.
What a beautiful, statuesque lily! And love the color contrast between the lilies and the bee balm.
I do have a fave – it’s good old orange tiger lilies. I have yellow and pink tigers, too, but the orange ones make a decided statement in the garden.
I like the tiger lilies, too. And I love most orange flowers.
Love your lilies. A few got planted in our garden this year, but no blooms as of yet. Hopefully next year, after they settle in.
Something to look forward to!
Gorgeous! I love all the fragrant lilies. ‘Conca d’Or’ and ‘Casa Blanca’ are up there on the list but my new crush is ‘Saltarello’
Hmm. I haven’t heard of that one.
I used to have a lot of favorite lilies but then the beetles came so now I don’t have any. I love their scent!
They haven’t shown up in my garden yet, knock on wood.
Looks AWESOME and so does the Monarda didyma ‘Raspberry Wine’.
Thanks! I think so, too.
Beautiful and I can just imagine the fragrance! I’m excited for my lilies to bloom…I don’t even remember what they are, but this year they are about 5 feet tall and have 8 or 10 buds on each plant!
Sounds like you’ll have a feast for the eyes and nose!
Sumptuous is the word! And they look great with the daylilies which I might not have expected to the case.
I think they look good with hot-colored blooms nearby.
Ch – ch – ch – Chia!
That thing looks almost too big and too flashy! When I grew lilies as cut flowers decades ago, I always preferred the smaller and simpler Asiatic hybrids, which really were smaller and simpler back then. The white was my favorite, but I a mix of two or three colors was even better because it showed off how pretty the white was. I liked almost all of the lilies we grew ‘except’ the ‘Rubrum’ lilies, which looked like what is known as ‘Stargazer’ now. They were too big, too garish, and way to fragrant.
On this we have to disagree. I have never smelled a flower that I thought was too fragrant. Glad you remember the Chia Pet commercial!
Buckets of even pleasantly fragrant flowers can be nauseating when concentrated in a walk in refrigerator! We referred to freesias as ‘fruit loops’ because that is what they smelled like in concentrate. Gag! I do like them in the garden though. Actually, I really dig freesias.
Sumptuous is right! I am a huge fan of lilies.
I like them too, though I find they are sort of temperamental and short-lived in our garden.
Yup.
Wow, what a beauty! I need to show this post to mine, because it’s never taken off like the other lilies and looks a little abused… yet still manages to flower!
My favorite right now is ‘silk road’. It’s strongly fragrant and has a color which stands out well where I have it. No staking is also a plus
Lilies are tricky. I find that Conca d’Or does not need staking, and I am fairly intolerant of plant flopping.
Your lily is gorgeous, so beautiful and I can just imagine the perfume! I have given up on lilies as we are plagued by the red lily beetle and they end up such a mess, love them though.
So far the lily beetle plague has not shown up here. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Hello Jason, those lilies look stunning and I love lilies and would have far more than we have but the effort of trying to keep them from being eaten by lily beetle would be too much. We have a couple of pots of them on the patio . I hope yours don’t get munched!
So far, so good.
She is a beauty! I can imagine her scent stopping passers by in their tracks.xxx
They certainly stop to take a sniff.