Summer Colours - Tiger Lillies

Redbush has been avoiding the computer for quite some time as you may, or may not have noticed, not that she wanted to, but other activities have been taking much of her time. She has been weeding, mowing lawn, taking Bonzi to new rally competitions, attending family reunions,and the rest of the time being lazy enjoying some of the summer. There hasn't been much summer as the weather has been quite cool for much of the time, with little needed rain for her plants, thus Mr. Redbush has been hauling water to keep her plants, and Redbush happy. She managed to recently capture some photos of colours in her gardens.

The tiger lily happens to be one of Redbush's favourite flowers. One of her friends tells her that she doesn't like them because as a child she found a snake around one of them, so this is burned in her memory forever. Redbush will share a little research that she found written about the tiger lily that is now burned into her mind. The tiger lily is Saskatchewan's provincial flower. The tiger lily was first described by a famous Swedish botanist, Carl von Linne (Linnaeus) in 1753. His descriptions of the lily:

- helps in suppressing aggressive tendencies in individualsand helps in holitic healing.

-often act as a carrier of viral diseases and so becomes a vector infecting other species.

Bag Lady, this one's for you:

-has some toxic effects on cats, ie; can produce vomiting, inappetence lethargy, kidney failure and even death.

-has edible flowers, and flower buds apart from edible

roots and shoots. These can often have a bitter flavour. When baked, lily bulbs taste rather like potatoes. The Tiger lily is cultivated for its edible bulbs.

- look for dried tiger lily buds in an Asian market. They must be soaked in warm water for about 30 minutes to soften them before adding them to dishes. They can enhance the flavour of egg dishes and salads. (Redbush still has the cat info stuck in hermind, so isn't so sure about the last two bits of edible info).

There is an old legend from Asia about the Tiger Lily.: A Korean hermit helped a wounded tiger by removing an arrow from its body. The tiger asked the hermit to use his powers to perpetuate their friendship after his death. The hermit agreed and when the tiger died, his body became a tiger lily. Eventually the hermit drowned and his body was washed away. The Tiger Lily spread everywhere searching for its friend. ( Redbush will look at wild tiger lilies much differently now).

- a superstition about the Tiger Lily is that smelling it will give you freckles.

- a belief that it stands for wealth and prosperity.

After reading some of these excerpts, Redbush is not so sure about this perennial being her favourite. It was part of her wedding bouquet, however, some decades ago. She still tends to have aggressive tendencies from time to time,especially when her computer is on the blitz,or when Beatle decides to take a 5 minute romp through her slow-growingvegetable garden, and especially when the same telemarketer phones five days in a row (of course it's never a real person, so she can't scream obscenities at them and tell them that nothing is free is this world including their exotic trips). Although she isn't a cat, and doesn't have one, she can't see herself adding any to her egg dishes, or salads. Redbush is still trying to find wealth and prosperity, but, the lotteries aren't cooperating with her. What summer colours, superstitions,memories do you have etched in your mind? She hopes you have had and continue to have a great summer filled with colour!