Turk's Cap Lily Martagon Lily

Lilium martagon, the Turk's cap lily, is a bulbous perennial found across Europe and Asia, sending up stiff stems three to six feet high. Leaves are carried in whorls up the stem, and each stem holds many small nodding flowers from July to September, pink to white and heavily spotted maroon, with petals curled sharply back on themselves.

It is slow to settle and often sulks for two or three years before flowering properly, then persists for decades, so it repays being planted once and left alone. Every part is severely toxic to cats, pollen included, which makes it a poor choice in a garden where cats roam or where cut stems come indoors.