Another Mystery Solved

Today’s mystery is a plant I noticed in the flower beds last August when we first moved in. I never saw it bloom, and it’s long and leggy, so I wondered if this was some kind of weed. Since it seemed strategically placed in groups in front of the house and along the side of the driveway under the aspens, I left it alone just in case.
Good call. The plant formed orangish buds that looked like seed pods to me. I thought there wasn’t going to be a bloom. But this week, the orange buds transformed into lovely tiger lilies.
According to my plant book, these plants came from China, Japan and Korea, introduced into the US in 1804. The bulbs are valued as a food in the Orient. So, if our veggie garden runs out of goodies, we won’t go hungry.
However, the garden is still producing prodigious amounts of squash, green beans, and now tomatoes. We count two large watermelon and at least half a dozen cantaloupe.

The cantaloupe vines are trying hard with their little crop, but are being shaded by the huge squash and too many weeds. I broke down and pulled a few of the more invasive weeds this morning. I’m breaching our strict no-weed policy here, but I do enjoy cantaloupe.