Lilies II

Lily 'Stone'

Lilies flaunt their colors and wonderful fragrances in your garden.

Let’s talk about lily varieties, when to expect them to bloom and ideas on incorporating them into your landscape.

Pamela McGeorge in her book titled Lilies says

Lilies are stars; few of them fit into the chorus.

Lilies come in a variety of forms and sizes and are suitable for locating throughout the border.Place them back away from walkways. If you brush against the pollen laden stamens your clothing will be permanently.

Orienpets & Trumpets

Tall varieties like the Orienpets and Trumpets can range upwards of five-feet, and require display room in the back of the flowerbed. Nothing else stands a chance against their impact.

Lilies display well against a hedge or among shrubs, evergreen or deciduous. Plants with flowers that contrast in size and shape make good companions, like Caryopteris, Artemisia, Alchemilla mollis, Salvias and roses.

Variety paks

Personally, I don’t purchase variety packs. You don’t know what colors and heights you have and it will take a number of years before the bulbs multiply enough to make an impact. A variety pack may also give you the one color you dislike the most, while being short on the color you love.

Combinations tooted to bloom together may only do so for the first season. In following years they may bloom at different times and the impact of the combination is lost.

Mark location at planting

Be sure to mark where you plant your lilies. A careless foot can break off the growing tip when you are cleaning out beds in the spring. You get only one chance with a lily each year. Break off the growing tip and the flowers are gone for the growing season.

Asiatics

Asiatic hybrids are the first to bloom in June/July and stand 3-4-feet in height. Most of this variety has upward facing flowers, but a few have an outward nodding form.

Martagon

Martagon hybrids have the Turk’s cap form, with petals that nod and recurve back to the growing stem. They bloom in late July or August in my garden and have a more subtle form than the Trumpets and Orientals.

LA Hybrids

LA hybrids, a cross between Longiforum and Asiatics, bloom in June/July. Their flowers are durable cut flowers and are intermediate in height.

Trumpet

Chinese Trumpet lilies bloom in July/August and require staking because of their 4-6-foot height and their heavy trumpet heads. They require full sun or may become leggy and exacerbate the toppling tendency from the heavy flower heads.

Orienpet

Orienpet lilies, an Oriental and Trumpet cross, bloom in July/August. They grow 4-6-feet tall. Orienpets’ petals have a great deal of substance to them and are a gorgeous edition to your garden.

Oriental

Oriental lilies have large reflexing flower petals. They grow 4-5-feet tall. Catalogs refer to Oriental fragrances as being ‘heady’ and deserving of a site where you will pass often to enjoy their perfumes.

Asiapet

A new cross between Asiatics and Trumpets are called Asiapets and are rarely listed in catalogs. They are just beginning to come on the market. Look for them.