philly foxtail

The Philly Foxtail began blooming three days ago, and at this rate will probably only last a few more days. It is right at its peak today.  I first blogged about it previously here. To recap, I bought a couple of eremurus 'Cleopatra' in 2004 at the spring Philadelphia Flower Show. One never came up, the other produced one leaf the following year, then 3 leaves the next finally blooming in 2008. It has three stems this year. The lesson here: never buy eremurus in the spring (except maybe potted).  Buy it and plant it in the fall. Or maybe the lesson is: don't buy shriveled dehydrated things at a flower show, no matter how excited you are.

It is clearly not 'Cleopatra'  since it blooms much later and the flowers and leaves are a different color. It may be E. stenophyllus or more likely a NOID hybrid. It is actually much more yellow than the photograph suggests, the early morning light making it look more orange. It is a much more vibrant color than the soft orange of Cleo. Although in general I dislike yellow, and this isn't what I intended to buy, I'm glad I have this one, and I want more.

Just to show you how different it is, here it is side by side with 'Cleopatra'. The leaves die to brown, whereas Cleo fades to straw. Cleo has been done for a week, whereas Philly Foxtail began blooming afer Cleo was done.