Narrow-leaved foxtail lily
Eremurus stenophyllus · Asphodelaceae
Tapering spires packed with hundreds of small, starry flowers that open bright yellow and fade to burnt orange, from the bottom up.
- Size
- 3½ ft tall, 16 in wide
- Zones
- 5 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Mid June to mid July
- Pets
- Not checked
- Job in a bed
- Accent
A bed built around narrow-leaved foxtail lily
The planner designed this bed around narrow-leaved foxtail lily when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 715 that suit those conditions and its dry soil, and says below why narrow-leaved foxtail lily stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Moor grass 'Greenlee' × 9, tan
- 2 October daphne × 8, pink
- 3 Wild quinine × 3, white
- 4 Brown-eyed Susan × 3, yellow
- 5 Dwarf English boxwood × 1, dark green leaves
- 6 Eastern bee balm × 3, pink
- 7 Narrow-leaved foxtail lily × 1, yellow
- 8 Greigii tulip × 7, red
Why this plant
- Nothing here is unique to it. Its leaf, flower shape and colour are all on the plan already. Its case rests on where it stands and when it performs.
Why here
- Forward of its place. At 3½ ft it belongs at the back of the bed: this far forward it stands in the way of what is behind it.
- One plant. An accent is used singly, like a punctuation mark.
Why now
- In flower for five weeks. From mid June to mid July.
- Part of the bed's peak. With moor grass 'Greenlee' and eastern bee balm in mid June: 3 kinds at once. No week has more.
- Leaves gone by midsummer. They die back and leave bare ground. A perennial that comes up late stands beside it, and grows over the gap.
Planned as an English border: 6 of the 6 groups (100%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The bed is balanced: the left half carries 48% of the visual weight and the right half 52%. Moor grass 'Greenlee' is the plant there is most of: 9 of the 35.
The planner's own design check: 13 Excellent, 4 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where narrow-leaved foxtail lily goes in a border
At 3½ ft it belongs at the back of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is moderately tall (3 to 4 ft).
Its job: accent. An upright plant used singly, like a punctuation mark, and repeated at intervals to give the bed rhythm.
The smallest and easiest foxtail lily. Plant the starfish-shaped roots shallowly on a mound of grit, in full sun, and do not disturb them. The leaves die back as it flowers.
- Dramatic spires in early summer
- Gravel gardens
- Cutting
What to plant with narrow-leaved foxtail lily
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Catmint 'Walker's Low': in flower together for five weeks, from mid June; grows up in time to hide its dying leaves; a low mound at the foot of its spires.
- English lavender 'Hidcote': purple against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, in flower together for four weeks; a low mound at the foot of its spires; low enough (18 in) to stand in front of it.
- Blue oat grass: in flower together for four weeks, from mid June; a low mound at the foot of its spires; happy in the same dry soil.
Questions about narrow-leaved foxtail lily
Does narrow-leaved foxtail lily need sun or shade?
Narrow-leaved foxtail lily grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants dry, sharply drained soil, on the lean side, with no feeding, and little watering once settled.
What zones does narrow-leaved foxtail lily grow in?
USDA zones 5 to 8. It is hardy to zone 5, which means it survives winter nights down to about −10 °F (−23 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does narrow-leaved foxtail lily flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers mid June to mid July. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 5 | Mid June to mid July |
|---|---|
| Zone 6 | Mid June to mid July |
| Zone 7 | Early June to early July |
| Zone 8 | Early June to early July |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should narrow-leaved foxtail lily be planted?
14 in (35 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 16 in (40 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 3½ ft (110 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many narrow-leaved foxtail lily plants do I need?
At 14 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 9 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 9 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 28 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as one at a time, repeated along the bed at intervals; a slender one reads better as a clump of three.
In the bed above, the planner used one in one group.
What can I plant to hide narrow-leaved foxtail lily's leaves after it flowers?
A bulb's leaves have to be left to yellow for about six weeks after flowering, to feed next year's flowers. Plant it among perennials that come up late and spread wide, and they grow over the leaves as they fade:
- Blue false indigo: 4 ft tall and 4 ft wide, in flower late May to mid June.
- Peony: 3 ft tall and 3 ft wide, in flower late May to late June.
- Citron daylily: 3½ ft tall and 2½ ft wide, in flower mid July to late August.
What does narrow-leaved foxtail lily look like in winter?
Narrow-leaved foxtail lily is underground: it dies back after flowering and waits as a bulb until spring. Mark where it is, so a fork does not find it first.
More Eremurus
- Foxtail lily Eremurus x isabellinus
In these guides
Every fact on record
- Type
- Bulb
- Size
- 3½ ft (110 cm) tall, 16 in (40 cm) wide
- Plant
- 14 in (35 cm) apart
- Height class
- Moderately tall (3 to 4 ft)
- Place in the bed
- Back
- Flowers
- Mid June to mid July; upright spires; yellow, orange
- Leaves
- Fine texture, summer-dormant; green
- Shape
- Upright, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 5 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Lean, dry and sharply drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
- Family
- Asphodelaceae
Not yet checked against an outside reference: its figures rest on general horticultural knowledge. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.