Oriental Lilies: The Climates They Love and How to Care for Them
Oriental Lilies: The Climates They Love and How to Care for Them
A cluster planted garden patch of Oriental lilies is truly a spectacle to behold. They are graceful and elegant, yet strong and will take a commanding presence in your garden. Growing and caring for them takes a little practice but once you get the hang of it, they will repay you will splendid blooms.
Oriental lilies prefer acid soil and temperate, and moist summers. Provide these by shade, mulching, or container culture if necessary. Their enormous flowers, heavenly fragrance, and late summer bloom time are worth the extra efforts!
Oriental and Asiatic lilies are among the most popular flower choices for northern gardens. Asiatic lilies are easy to grow, as they are very hardy, dont require stakes for support and arent too choosy about soil types provided that the soil drains welland Oriental lilies, with their huge, exotic and heavily perfumed blossoms are being seen in more and more gardens every year.
You can plant lily bulbs in the spring or in the fall. If you plant in the fall, from mid-September through mid-October is best. You can, of course, add hardy lilies planted in containers to your garden at any time from early April to late October. If you buy your lily plants locally rather than ordering them from a catalog, be sure to choose firm, plump bulbs with roots attached and plant them as soon as possible. Though bulbs never become completely dormant, you should not allow them to dry out completely before planting them. If possible, plant mail order bulbs as soon as they arrive.
These lilies will grow best when they receive full sunlight, in northern states at least six to eight hours of sun daily is best. When light is reduced, lily plants tend to become taller but have stems that are more spindly and weak. One species, called Martagon hybrids, bloom well in shadier conditions.
Plant lilies in groups of three or five identical bulbs for best effect, as planting bulbs singly can make lily beds appear sparse. Space your bulbs eight to twelve inches apart and give your planting groups three to five feet of interim space. Small lily bulbs should be planted two to four inches deep and large ones four to six inches deep, measuring the depth from the top of the bulb. You will need to divide and replant large clusters of bulbs about every three years, when they are not blooming as well as they first did.
As mentioned earlier, lilies demand well-drained soil, so do not ever plant them where water can collect and stand as this will cause their root system to rot. If you have clay soil, add organic compost and sand to increase drainage. Work organic matter into light, sandy soil as well to help retain nutrients and prevent soil drying out too quickly.
Before winter winds blow and it starts to snow, mulch newly planted bulbs with four to six inches of loose, weed-free compost, leaves, or wood chips to retard soil freezing, allow roots to continue growing and insulates the bulbs against the dangers of fluctuating temperatures. Established plants dont need mulch if snow cover is dependable, but applying mulch is a good safeguard. Leave all mulch in place until all danger of frost is past to protect tender new shoots from damage. If shoots begin growing through the mulch, remove it gradually and store for use the following fall.
Use a good slow release phosphorus-rich fertilizer in the spring. Though lilies attract few garden pests, rabbits and slugs can eat emerging shoots and aphids can cause problems for flower buds. Remove aphids by carefully washing buds with water sprayed from your garden hose.
To avoid encouraging the fungus botrytis blight, water in the morning rather than the evening to allow leaves and flowers to dry out completely during the day. If you must water in the evening, place water at the plant base rather than watering from overhead.
Remove flowers as they fade and wilt to stop lily plants from expending energy producing seeds, but dont remove stems or foliage, which return energy into the bulb as long as they remain green. Remove old foliage in late fall or early spring by cutting down the dead stalks.
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