2016

Well i am new to this site. And fairly new to gardening. But i have fallen in love with lilies. We bought our house a few years ago and did some landscaping that included asiatic lilies. Last year i did all the landscaping around my house and found some oriental, and orienpet lilies and planted those.

The plans this year are a 48 foot long flower bed. Just for lilies. I have ordered from b&d lilies, the lily garden, lily pad bulbs. Along with brecks, American meadows, and Michigan bulbs. I ordered a little of everything for a full color spectrum

Allow me to help you along what will probably become an addiction:

Anastasia (Orienpet) and Crystal Blanca (the latter being a shorter Casablanca), an easy oriental (picture 1)

Lilium Sorbonne ( a really easy oriental) and Diana Gibson of B&G's favorite oriental (picture 2)

Silk Road, one of the earlier orienpets (picture 3)

RedAlert, a scented longiflorum asiatic (picture 4)

Silver Sunburst, a trumpet (picture 5)

B&D is a great supplier, and your best bulbs will almost certainly come from them, followed by those of The Lily Garden. I have also successfully ordered from The lily Pad. I would very much encourage you to check Dave's Garden Watchdog before ordering. Some of the companies you listed have a troubled history. Another source I can recommend is Brent and Becky's Bulbs. Not as extensive a selection, but many wonderful lilies, great customer service and low prices for great plants - but you must buy five, which you can often get for less than the price of two of others.

Donnamack. I didn't know about gardenwatchdog until after I ordered from some of the places. But I have ordered some anastasia, blushing angel, citrine angel, corsini, eremo, holland beauty, Uchida, Mr. Cas, karen north, giraffe, lilium henyri, lilium leucanthium, gloriana, summer palace, scherherezade, black beauty, forever susan, eyeliner, and a few others. Some are going to be mothers day gifts to about 4 people. And not all are going in the 48 foot raised flower bed. I have other spots to fill in as well. But the flower bed I'm doing will still have room to expand if I want. Next year should be nice.

So since you have some experience, how long after I plant the bulbs, until I can see something come up?

I received the bulbs from lilypad bulbs already. Some were bulbzilla. Huge bulbs, but one of them, some of the scales literally just fell off.

The Lily Pad does send lovely bulbs.

I received some this spring as well. You should start to see the new bulbs pop up within a month. Some of the bulbs you will receive will have sprouted - handle them with care. All of the ones I have received had sprouted. This is actually great, because you know the bulbs are alive and happy. There are three important, but simple, things to remember about lilies. One is that they are never dormant. When you get them, try to get them into the ground fairly quickly. Two is that if you can't then chill them - but keep them away from ripening fruit in your fridge (apples, pears) because those fruits give off a gas that makes the bulbs abort. Thirdly, even if you damage the sprouts, plant he bulbs, because they will boom next year. I just planted some Mr. Cas I had in the refrigerator for ten days.

You have a nice span of lilies. Some will be ready to bloom in June, some in July, and some in August. This is really nice, because it will give you a long season of lilies. I wasn't as smart as you are, and all my initial lilies bloomed at once.

Uchida is one of my favorite lilies. These are second year ones. It is one of the last lilies to bloom (a speciosum) and will be coming up in August, even September.

And Anastasia may be my favorite lily! And talk about staying power! The last picture was taken in July of 2007 at my former home. I still have these bulbs - they are blooming, and multiplying every year. Great choice!

It's fun to "talk" about lilies with someone who is actually growing them as bulbs. So many people buy them in pots, which is very expensive. Have fun!

Donna

Yeah. I bought a "Tom Pouce", casa blanca and a couple other varieties last year. Something like $30 per pot. Now granted i still got multiple bulbs in each pot since there is multiple stems in each one. Though i do love my "tom pouce" . The picture is mine from last year.

While weeding in one flower bed where i planted some asiatics a few years ago i found some bulblets. Picked them up and potted them. I think this fall I'll dig around where my established, older bulbs are and I'll probably need to split the bulbs and who knows how many other bulblets i might find. They have been planted for 4 years!

Unexpected bulblets are always a pleasant surprise.

Your Tom Pouce is gorgeous!

I put bulblets in pots and put them in my garage in the winter. I try to remember to water them once a month - just a bit - but last year I forgot. They came through anyway!

New flower bed. 36 feet long, 36 inches wide, 8 inches high. Planted the delivery from B&D Lilies today. Waiting on the order from the lily garden

I just received ten beautiful lilies from Brent and Becky's Bulbs. Where I am going to put them I am not sure. Orienpet Kiss of Fire and the longiflorum oriental Bellsong. They sell in multiples of 5, so I must find placement for 10.

Nice problem. And the bulbs are spectacular!

Editing to add that the North American Lily Society is finally having its show in Chicago, at the Chicago Botanic Garden. I volunteered. Still have to pay, but it's not bad ($90) and I get to be up close and personal with the lilies. I helped with the peony show in Janesville and a rose show in Chicago, and working it is a blast. Even the presenters are paying for admission, but I don't have to stay in a hotel and I am fed!

Brent and Becky Heath are presenting!!!!!!


This message was edited Apr 23, 2016 12:08 PM

Flavia bloomed today