Turk's Cap Lily
Lilium superbum
The Turk's Cap Lily is native to the East Coast and produces multiple flowers on five to ten foot stalks.
In 1809 Jefferson wrote to Judge William Fleming, a lifelong friend in Richmond, and and thanked him for sending the foliage of the "Alleghany Martagon . . . A plant of so much beauty & fragrance will be a valuable addition to our flower gardens. Should you find your roots of it I shall be very thankful to participate of them, & and will carefully return you a new stock should my part succeed & yours fail." Jefferson also ordered this tall and stately native lily with its reddish-orange flowers from Bernard McMahon in 1812.
Adapted from Thomas Jefferson's Flower Garden at Monticello by Edwin M. Betts and Hazlehurst Bolton Perkins; revised and enlarged by Peter J. Hatch.
In Bloom at Monticello is made possible by support from The Richard D. and Carolyn W. Jacques Foundation.
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Between April and October, all house tours come with a free guided Garden Tour, or you can explore the grounds on your own with the Bloomberg Connects App
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Heirloom Seeds and Plants from the Monticello collection
Plant history in your gardens with seeds and plants from Monticello and the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants.
