Open and corkscrewed Blackberry Lily flowers
Blackberry Lily growth habit showing its blade-like leaves
Blackberry Liliy seed pods
Blackberry Lily seeds
Art for Blackberry Lily seed packets from Monticello's Shop
This Asian perennial, which Thomas Jefferson called "Chinese Ixia," is actually a member of the Iris family. Jefferson first received seed from nurseryman Bernard McMahon in 1807, during his second term as President of the United States.[1] These were sown in an East Front oval flowerbed at Monticello.[2] Today the blackberry lilies that are found naturalized throughout Monticello are believed to be descendants of the original plantings.
The Blackberry Lily is a hardy, herbaceous summer-flowering perennial with red-spotted orange flowers on stalks, followed by unusual seed heads that resemble blackberries, but the seeds are not edible.
Visit Monticello’s Online Shop to check for seeds or plants of Blackberry Lily.
Typical Bloom Dates: July—August
Color(s): Orange, Reds, Yellow
Location at Monticello: West Lawn
References
- ^ Betts, Garden Book, 337. See also Edwin M. Betts, Hazlehurst Bolton Perkins, and Peter J. Hatch, Thomas Jefferson's Flower Garden at Monticello, 3rd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1986), 54.
- ^ Betts, 335.
