Tiger lily

* Common name: Tiger lily

* Botanical name: Lilium tigrinum or Lillium lancifolium

* What it is: A perennial bulb that produces green, bladed foliage and brightly colored, black-spotted, orange tubular flowers in early summer. Bulbs are winter-hardy and don’t need to be dug and stored inside as with other summer bulbs such as dahlias and gladioli. There’s also a red-flowered version.

* Size: Plants grow 36 inches tall. Space six to eight inches apart.

* Where to use: Grow toward the back of a sunny perennial border or interplant between and among foundation shrubs and evergreens. Blooms best in full sun but will flower in light shade. Avoid wet soil.

* Care: Snip off flower stalks down to the foliage after flowers fade. Let remaining foliage alone until frost browns it, then cut it to the ground or at the end of winter. Fertilize in early spring with a balanced, granular organic fertilizer. Bulbs can be dug and divided in early fall.

Stake plants if they get too tall and leggy and begin to flop.

* Great partner: Any green foundation shrub or evergreen. Coreopsis is a color-coordinated perennial-flower underplanting that blooms at the same time. Dwarf goldthread falsecypress is an excellent gold-needled evergreen partner, and red roses pair nicely and bloom at the same time.