Tiger Lilies in the lane: not wild, but uncared for. Growing; uninterrupted essentially. Surviving. Living and prospering through the winds, humiliating heat, and dreadful rains of this summer. Up until now.

   These are not the flowers you see along the crescent in well-tended garden beds full of iris, rudbeckia, snapdragons, or common daisies. These are the flowers that creep out under fences, or stand tall beside the bike racks, garbage bins, or garages alongside parking pads. They own the space they borrow. Pushing up from the soil through the spring, sharing pleasant greenery as the seasons arrived, the lilies continued to capriciously fill space in our lives. 

   Part of our landscape. Noticed, but not truly acknowledged, these flowers have spent past days withering in the heat, and still show off a genuine beauty. Even now they share a simple joy, if you take the time to notice. 

   Often, we don’t.

   The resplendent colours are difficult to ignore. There is a hint of fuchsia (is it purple or pink?) revealing itself through the amber or xanthous, a golden orange so otherworldly, yet entirely natural.

   Is there another colour, or another summer flower, that does what it does to the senses?

   Probably not, and not for long.

   It is only as the lilies in the lane begin to fade away that we take in how much a part of our lives they have casually come to be through the weeks. We simply walked or drove by.

   The month will change in a matter of days. 

   In maybe a week, the laneway lilies will be gone. There will be less beauty to sustain us.

   August seems to take away more than it offers. Summer will slowly lose its vigor, like the lilies, and we will have to wait, again, for next year.

© 2026 j.g. lewis