We’re big fans of this willowy Chinese wildflower that was brought back by Irish plant collector Augustine Henry from remote limestone gorges in Hupeh. Enhanced by green nectaries and chestnut brown “whiskers,” its golden-orange petals swoop back like the wings of a falcon. Blooms happily in light shade and alkaline soils. Mid-summer, 4-6 feet, zones 5a-7bS/9WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.

This is the only native California lily that thrives anywhere it’s not too hot. With brilliant orange-red petals that are splashed with gold and leopard-spotted, it was first brought into gardens in the Gold Rush era. In 1939 expert George Slate praised it as “not particular as to soil, easily established, handsome and graceful.” Amen! 4-6 feet, zones 5a-7bS/9WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.

The most historic lily of all, this ravishingly fragrant, dazzlingly simple flower is pictured on Minoan pottery from 1600 BC and in countless paintings of the Virgin Mary. Roman, medieval, and colonial gardeners grew it for its herbal powers, calling it simply “the white lily.” It does best in well drained, neutral-to-alkaline soil that’s a bit dry in the summer, with winters that aren’t too hard on its evergreen leaves. 3 feet, zones 6a-7bS/9WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.

Favorites for centuries, these wild European “mountain lilies” were crowded aside in the 1800s by flashier lilies arriving from Asia. But their charms endure, and today they’re making a big comeback. Blooming in earliest summer with dainty, lavender-pink, turk’s-cap flowers, they’re extra cold-hardy but not always easy to please. Give them a cool spot, humusy soil, filtered sun — and patience. 3-4 feet, zones 3-7aS/8WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.

The small, graceful blossoms of this luminous wildflower seem made by fairies. Like its lavender-pink cousin (above), it demands a cool site, filtered sun, humus-rich soil, and patience. 3-5 feet, very early summer, zones 3-7aS/8WC, from Holland.

Subtle but majestic, ‘Mrs. R. O. Backhouse’ offers an impressive pyramid of up to 30 fuzzy pink buds that open to small, martagon-like blossoms, each a soft amber and cream blushed with pink and lightly dotted with maroon. It’s happiest in very light shade, never needs staking, and is much easier and more vigorous than its wild parents, L. martagon and L. hansonii. 4-5 feet, zones 4-7S/9WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.

Grandma’s red velvet cake, rich with cocoa, is the same dark, luscious color as this enduring Hall of Famer. (Try our heirloom recipe!) Its New England-bred, triploid vigor makes it easy to grow almost anywhere, and hummingbirds love it. Asiatic, 3-5 feet, zones 4-8aS/10WC, from Washington. Chart to compare.

Discovered growing with abandon in the rugged wilds of Szechuan, this richly perfumed lily is so beautiful and easy to grow that it led to a lily renaissance in the 1920s. In fact, George Slate in his 1939 Lilies for American Gardens advised, “If only one lily is to be grown, it may well be this.” Kissed with burgundy outside, it glows with gold on the inside. 3-6 feet, early summer blooming, zones 4-8aS/10WC, from Holland. To see one customer’s fasciated regal lily with over 50 blossoms on one stem, click here. Chart to compare.

Is this what heaven smells like? It’s my favorite floral fragrance – lush, complex, and never too much. ‘Rubrum’ is achingly beautiful, too, with pink and white petals “all rugged with rubies and garnets, and sparkling with crystal points,” to quote the RHS’s John Lindley soon after it arrived from Japan. My wife Jane and I liked it so much we included it in our wedding 30 happy years ago. Wonderfully late blooming, 4-5 feet, zones 5-7S/9WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.

‘Casa Blanca’ is a fine lily, but we like this wild ancestor of it even better. Exquisitely fragrant, its flowers are more graceful, less huge, with showier, jade-green nectaries that enhance its sparkling whiteness. Like L. speciosum rubrum it’s a form of the variable “Japan lily” which “commanded extravagant prices” (Breck, 1851) when it was first imported and became one of the Victorian era’s most popular flowers. Its late bloom extends the lily season. 4-5 feet, zones 5a-7bS/9WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.