'L. rubescens' (Lilium)

This lovely, upfacing flower can be found growing north of San Francisco in the redwood belt and into the central regions of the Hoopa Indian Reservation. The flowers first open pure white with small purple spots. As they age, the flower color deepens finally to overall light lavender similar as to what a trillium does.

A dry land species, this sweetly scented lily can be quite difficult to cultivate. The accompanying photo shows a stem of Lilium rubescens that was found growing at a 90' angel in a hillside and then turned upwards towards the sun. Since the beginnings of B &D Lilies, we have taken in excess of 20,000 photos of lilies and this is by far, my all-time favorite.

After a strenuous climb to reach this colony, here was a stem of Lilium rubescens that was nothing but pure beauty and perfection. Its condition was perfect, a day earlier, there would not have been nearly as much pink, a day later, the first flower would have started to wither. Every pollen grain was in place, it had never even been touched by an insect. Only God could have made something this beautiful.

[This was a moment in time that I knew God had created this flower just for me, as He did the beautiful wife who a decade earlier had given herself to me in marriage. This was the experience of sitting in the audience more than 20 years later of a daughter, not yet born when this photo was taken, watching others wiping tears from their eyes, being moved so deeply by the sound of her exquisite classical voice. This single stem was, without doubt, a bouquet from God, fashioned from the beauty of my wife and nurtured with the tears of overwhelming emotion.]