8-foot-tall lily is drawing second looks in Millard neighborhood | Garden & Landscape
OMAHA — Last year, it was just one lily stalk that grew and grew like it was auditioning for a spot in “Jack and the Beanstalk.”
Homeowner Marissa Kreifels said it looked like it belonged in a cartoon as it towered over the other lilies they’d bought as bulbs online.
Three-year-old Lida checks out the large lily growing outside a home in Millard.
“We called it a Dr. Seuss plant last year,” she said. “We weren’t sure what the flowers would look like, and it kept growing taller and taller. It looked ridiculous among all the other plants.”
This year, it sent out two stalks. At 8 feet, it’s about twice the size of the other lilies that were planted in that bed.
John Porter of Nebraska Extension in Douglas-Sarpy Counties said those types of trumpet lilies usually get no taller than 6 feet.
“This one is apparently an overachiever,” he said.
Lilies are Kreifels’ favorite flower. This one also has extra-large yellow flowers.
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Kreifels said because of that she and her husband, Dustin, have also called it a banana plant.
“The blooms are just humongous about the time they are ready to open,” she said. “There are probably a dozen on each of the stalks.”
Because of its size, they’ve used clips and twine to attach it to the side of the house. Kreifels says it would break her heart to see it snapped in a windstorm.
It’s so eye-catching that people driving by their house in Millard have slowed down for a second look.
“We have noticed a couple of people do a double take,” Kreifels said. “It sticks out very much.”
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The couple can’t explain why it has grown so big. Marissa wasn’t really even a gardener until they started helping care for the plots at Willowdale Elementary, where one of their three children goes to school.
They are just going to let it do its thing and enjoy the show.
“It is our most highly anticipated bloom of the season for sure,” Kreifels said.
Outhouses grow along with flowers on this Grand Island farm
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his farm near Grand Island, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history, he says.
The outhouses and the landscaping around them have been used as backdrops for graduation and wedding pictures.
Some outhouses are two-seaters and others one. John Hanssen now uses some for storage.
JOHN HANSSEN
John will also ask people for flowers that he plants around the outhouses.
The outhouses come in all types and ages.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.
John Hanssen collects outhouses, which he puts on his Grand Island farm, complete with landscaping. They are a part of history.