Guest Author - Kimberly Cassandra Cannon

The blackberry lily is so picturesque among their counterpart perennials. It is a native of China, Korea and Japan and its scientific name is Belamcanda chinensis and is considered a perennial flower. Though it resembles an iris by its long sword-like foliage, it has the flowers of a lily; they have a beautiful yellow-orangey tone.

Although it doesn’t spark much excitement, it gives impact in the color of its flower-power and is uncomplicated to grow.

With leaves that bear a resemblance to the iris and yellow-orange flowers that sit atop, the green skirted foliage, this insignificant yet appealing delight brings focus to other perennials in your border. Its foliage appears early in the spring that remind you of a miniature iris. Later into midsummer, you will begin to see a beautiful orange flower with red spots begin to bloom.

It grows quite fast and is easily adaptable to most soils in Zones 5-10 from July-August. After the flowers have ceased blooming on the Blackberry lily, the seedpod will then turn into what resembles a blackberry, thus the name in which it was given.

There’s only one real downside to this six-petaled flower that is, the flower only last one day (just as the daylily and most other lilies) but not too long afterwards, will a repeat performance of blossom splendor make its way to the surface. New flower buds will appear daily during the summer.

Should you consider planting them in your garden, place them in well-drained soil that has been amended well. (Very important note: always amend flower borders before planting anything) – can find more information about amending under the subtopic “soil preparation” in my site under Bulb Gardening.

Clay soils may be okay for some other plants but are not good for this particular plant, thus the need to amend the soil foremost. It requires full sun to partial shade as the light requirements and modest water necessities.

As the years pass, eventually the rhizome of the blackberry lily will need to be divided. Propagate by division when the blooms begin to decline yearly or they seem to stop flourishing altogether. Blackberry lily can be propagated by seed or through division. Or, let it self-sow by leaving it as is until time for storage when rhizomes are dug up and stored away in colder climates.

Because of its complimentary style of the Iris, it has problems with the same pests, the Iris borer. Although a nuisance in the garden, resolve the matter quickly by simply removing the borer along with its meal (the dead or deteriorating foliage) away from the plant.

Design tip: Plant clusters of the blackberry lily among ornamental grasses to draw attention to the small color tones of impact in your flower bed/border to add small, yet visual stimulation in your landscape.