Common Name: toad lily
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Liliaceae
Zone: 5 to 8
Height: 1.50 to 2.00 feet
Spread: 1.50 to 2.00 feet
Bloom Time: August to October
Bloom Description: White with heavy blue-purple spotting
Sun: Part shade to full shade
Water: Medium to wet
Maintenance: Low
Flower: Showy
Culture
Easily grown in average, medium to wet, well-drained soils in part shade to full shade. Prefers moist, organically rich, humusy, slightly acidic soils in part shade. Soil must not be allowed to dry out. This is a stoloniferous plant that will colonize in the garden over time in a non-invasive manner. A light winter mulch will help protect roots.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Tricyrtis, commonly called toad lilies, is a genus of about 16 species of herbaceous perennials from the Eastern Himalayas to the Philippines. They are valued garden plants in large part because of their unique flowers, ability to flower in shade and late summer to fall bloom time.
Genus name comes from the Greek words tri- meaning three and kyrtos meaning humped as the bases of the three outer petals are swollen and sacklike.
Common name presumably relates to the spotting on the flowers.
‘Blue Wonder’ is a compact hybrid cultivar that typically grows in a vase-shaped clump to 18-24” tall on upright stems clad with ovate, medium to dark green leaves (to 4” long). Small, creamy white/powder blue, lily-like flowers (1” long) with heavy blue-purple spotting/blotching and purple anthers appear in clusters in the upper leaf axils and stem tips in a late summer to fall (early September into October in St. Louis) bloom. Each flower has six showy tepals (similar appearing sepals and petals).
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. Slugs and snails are occasional visitors.
Uses
Borders, woodland gardens, shade gardens or naturalized areas. Best sited in areas where they can be observed at close range because the beauty and detail of the small flowers tends to get lost if plants can not be examined and appreciated close up. Good cut flower.