Crimson Pixie
Dwarf Asiatic Lily
"I've seen no pixies of the pave
The season deck with flower & plume;
No slim, entrancing elves that wave
Their gossamers like wattle bloom."
-Edward Dyson
(1865-1931)
(1865-1931)
"Pixie" dwarf lilies stand twelve to eighteen inches tall & will not tip over the way extremely tall Asiatic lilies frequently do, yet the blossoms themselves are just as big & bold as the full-height lilies. They are perfect for container gardening, small gardens, or garden boarders.
The Pixie varieties come in all sorts of colors: Lemon Pixie is bright yellow, Butter Pixie light yellow, Denia Pixie is white with pink edging, Painted Pixie is yellow with red markings, New Wave white pixie...plus Ivory, Buff, Peach, Pink, Gold, Lavendel, Orange Pixie, & the present 'Crimson Pixie' which is the most extreme of these deeply colored June bloomers.
'Crimson Pixie,' shown in a June photograph, is on close inspection has red spots, & even the stamins are entirely red. Pixie lilies can be grown in USDA zones four through eight, in moist well-draining soil.
Although Pixies sometimes rot out of the garden in wet winters, so need sharply draining soil, when they take, they're immortal. They can spread & multiply more quickly than full-sized asiatic lilies & may need to be dug up for division every third or fourth year.