Lilies: Lilium ID?, 5 by cathy166

cathy166 wrote:
Popper1, in the fall lily bulbs generally become available for planting and are reasonably priced. Try a package of Asiatics and a package of Orientals. Plant them in an area that gets good drainage, or otherwise put them in a container with good drainage (not one where water collects in the bottom). When I plant in containers, I always use packaged potting soil, as it comes with fertilizer in it, and I amend with perlite or vermiculite. When they go in the ground, we amend the soil enouogh on our own.

Quite frankly, lilies can take a lot of abuse, but they don't like wet feet.

All of the lilies in the photos are in containers. I use either window boxes or large, 12-inch pots. The red lilies in the window box and the yellow lilies are 2-3 years old. I never remember planting so many lilies in one pot, so I think they have multiplied on their own. You'll notice that as they get ready to bloom, the outer petals change color. These are Asiatic lilies.

The photo of the green buds is an Oriental lily (also in a container), and you can see (I hope) that the stems from the flower (bud) come off the main stem in different locations. The 3 buds from the Asiatic lily in my garden come off the stem at the same location. Note the very narrow leaves. When this lily grows, it is looks like hair.

In the white container you can see the lily bulbs just planted (late) a few weeks ago. They are only 3 inches high, but as you can see, they form their buds very early. Even though they were planted late, they will provide some blooms and will do fine next year.

I don't know which lilies grow best in your zone, but if the bulbs are sold locally, you can expect them to do well. In the northeast, we are troubled by the red lily beetle, so I am constantly spraying, but for me, it is worth it. My guess is that Asiatics lilies will bloom by March or April in your warm Florida weather. Orientals generally bloom 6-8 weeks later as I recall. Two summers ago it became so hot that all the Oriental lilies were finished blooming by the third week in July, and that was it pretty much for the perennials. Thank goodness for the dahlias as they bloom until the first frost here.

I hope this encourages you to try a few on your own. Unfortunately the problem with lilies is the more you have, the more you want.
Marcia