I'd just like to show off my lilies... I bought 3 Casablanca bulbs from a (now) well known grower near Hood Canal about 15 years ago. They have always lived in a large wooden tub, and always in Seattle until a couple of years ago when I moved to Virginia. I have had to relearn many, many things about gardening and the lilies have suffered through this painful process and come out well adapted and gorgeous as always. (These pics were taken 2 years ago - they bloom in July here in Virginia, rather than the late August I was accustomed to in the PNW) I've just divided the bulbs for the first time in ... around 5 years I guess (ok... too long, I know) and have replanted somewhere around 35 or 40 bulbs capable of producing at least one flower this year in more wooden tubs, I've given away only a few so far but have plans to share more of the 30 or so that I have not planted. If only I could share the fragrance with the pics...
'Stargazer' is another successful cultivar that can be bought in bulk. A local lily supplier had some huge bulbs on display at big local garden show this year, didn't find out what kind they were.
Those are beautiful. Lilies are one of my favorite flowers but where I live its a constant battle to keep the deer from eating them before they make it to bloom time. :(
Deer must be fenced out for successful gardening to be possible, they are unpredictable and persistent.
HI I have orange asiatic lilies growing in cedar boxes on my 3rd story deck and one red lily.I just don't understand about when to move these darlings. It seems to me that the leaves last forever after flowering and I hate the idea of disturbing them. when they begin to die off I just lop off the tops and everything appears tobe Ok, but I would like to re-arrange the boxes and am afraid to dig up the lilies. Any help?
Ideally you should take the stalks off after they brown not before. They need the leaves to rejuvenate. They can be moved anytime after the leaves have browned. Asiatics are quite prolific and there should be baby bulbs as well.
Thanks for the comments and compliments. Interestingly enough, I have developed a problem with one tub of lilies... I bought one of those half whiskey-barrels (literally from JD - it's stamped) drilled drain holes, installed wheels and divided the lilies, some into the barrel, some back into their original tub, gifted some and stuck some in the ground. The 2 tubs are being treated the same way - regular light fertilizer, good, equal sun, equal water etc, same good potting soil but there is obviously a problem with the lilies in the whiskey barrel... the top growth is much lighter green, almost yellow, and the leaves and growth just above the point where I transplanted them are showing light and dark - veins etc. They are setting plenty of buds and still growing like mad but the color of the new growth is all wrong. Any concrete reasons? Is the charred interior of the barrel leaching iron from the soil? Are the remnants of whiskey causing drunken lilies? I'll try to post a picture tomorrow if I can... I can't see that it's harming them other than the color, but it's disturbing me to see it. Should I have started a new thread for this? Thanks for the thoughts! Elizabeth
Sounds like a deficiency of some sort, try feeding them a tea spoon of epsom salts and work few grains of slow release fertilizer into the soil. Bad drainage can also cause similiar symptoms.
