The Friends of the San Jacinto Mountain County Parks held their annual
Lemon Lily Festival at the Nature Center on Saturday, July 13. This
month’s record-breaking heat wave meant an early blooming season, and
fewer human visitors to the event. Those who made it enjoyed crafts and
games for kids, a story walk, free face painting and “bounce house,” as
well as food and craft vendors and live music.

FSJMCP Vice President and Nature center volunteer docent Jeff Galizio
said that last year, with the wet winter, July was perfect timing for
the festival, but this year the lilies bloomed early and, at least at
lower elevations, were gone by the time of the festival. The blooms
normally last about two weeks, Galizio said. The good news is that the
restoration project near the Nature Center had more flowers than the
year before.

Freemontia, the magazine of the California Native Plant Society
published an article about the Lemon Lily and its festival in the
December 2016 issue. The article said that the Lemon Lily“ may be the
only native geophyte to have its own festival.” Geophytes are plants
with underground storage organs, or bulbs.

The story notes that the first Lemon Lily Festival was held downtown in
2010, but it has since migrated to the Nature Center, where the FSJMSP
have kept its spirit alive. Lilium parryi is one of 11 Lilium species
native to California. It is also found in southeastern Arizona and
Sonora, Mexico. It is a wetland plant that likes creek flood plains.
Once common in our Idyllwild, the plant was a victim of its popularity
with gardeners. One 1902 harvesting group took 5000 bulbs in a single
season. Neither federally or state listed, it is listed by the Forest
Service as a “Sensitive Species.”

FSJMCP’s next Nature Center event will be their August 17 Butterfly
Daze, which will feature a live butterfly tent.