Bring some Middle Eastern luxury to your early summer garden with the exquisitely beautiful flowers of Martagon lily ‘Arabian Night’.

These ‘Turk’s cap’ lilies are so called thanks to their highly reflexed petals which curl back on themselves, giving a turban-like appearance.  Each tall stem is adorned with 20-30 captivating flowers.

A rich palette of gold and velvet-maroon shades gives this variety an opulent and mysterious look.

Perhaps surprisingly, the plants originate from Swiss mountain meadow regions and therefore thrive in part-shade, able to withstand cold winters and are more than happy to naturalise in the right conditions.

Downward-facing, mahogany red flowers are peppered with yellow-orange speckles on enchanting Martagon lily ‘Claude Shride’.  The flowers bloom, up to 30 per stem, during June and July each year.

This dramatic and floriferous 1970’s lily is excellent for cutting and adding architecture and contrast to floral displays, just as it does in the garden border.  Loved by butterflies, ‘Claude Shride’ will naturalise beautifully in part-shade, in rich, well-drained slightly alkaline soil.

Stems of up to 40 flowers are produced every summer from outstanding hybrid Martagon lily ‘Guinea Gold’.

Soft pink buds open throughout June and July to reveal golden down-turned blooms marked with mahogany spots.  This abundant, ‘Turk’s cap’ lily is so called thanks to its reflexed petals which curl back on themselves, giving a turban-like appearance.  The flowers are wonderful for cutting, so be sure to plant enough bulbs to spare a stem or two for the vase.

Perfect for a lightly-shaded border which has well-drained, rich soil – there it will thrive and naturalise, returning for decades to come.

Perfect for naturalising in light shade, Lilium martagon ‘Peppard Gold’ is a relatively new variety of Turk’s Cap Lily.

Tall stems hold numerous flowers, sometimes up to 50 blooms each, which unfurl in June and July from tight pinkish buds.  The turban-like flowers hang demurely, featuring petals of bronzed-orange which dramatically recurve back on themselves.  A cluster of powdery, burnt orange anthers hang tentatively from slender lime filaments, further enhancing the exotic looks of this charming lily.

Fully hardy and perennial, Martagon Lilies are known for lasting decades in the garden, most at home in a mixed, deep border in dappled shade.