MOUNT VERNON — “They really wanted to show off this spring, I think,” Carolyn Cline said of the tall flowers with orange lily-like blossoms blooming at the side of her house on New Delaware Road.
After blooming each spring for the 28 years Cline has lived in the home, this year the flowers surprised her with a new show, growing up through a bale of straw.
Cline said the bales of straw were placed along the side of the house last fall.
“That’s a crawl space there that goes under the kitchen,” she explained. “We put the straw down last fall to cut down on the cold air coming in.”
Cline and her family purchased the farm in 1981 from Don and Naomi Rine. Cline said Naomi planted the flowers.
“They are called Frittalaria, I think, and they have come up every year,” Cline said.
She said she first noticed the unusual growing situation a couple of days ago.
“I thought ‘Oh my goodness’, I’m just floored,” she said.
Discuss this story Straw flower heralds arrival of spring