poor return

This year, very few of my lilies came up. What do you suppose happened to them? I don't think voles or squirrels got them. They're kinda expensive so I am very dissappointed.

You aren't the only one.
My lilies seem to live in inverse proportion to their cost (the cheap ones do fine, the expensive ones croak).

While planting a daylily a couple days ago I dug up 5 very nice, big, healthy appearing lily bulbs that didn't bother to grow at all this year. No mold, no rot, some roots, no stems. So I replanted them (with a stern warning to grow next year!)

Silk Road seems to be the only fancy lily I can grow. IT does really well, tho; almost makes up for the rest.

I love Silk Road; it was on my list to order, but I was afraid too after such a poor showing in my lily beds this year. I wonder if the weird spring had anything to do with it. Several people noted that their irises bloomed low to the ground instead of putting up a long stem. We had late frosts; killed my roses back twice and they are still sulking.

I've had some weird things like that with lilies to. Last spring I planted 3 orienpets 'Shocking' and had good first year bloom, but this year only one came back and is too tiny to bloom. This is in a bed of sandy, well drained soil where Asiatics are 5' tall and some of the Orientals look like they will reach 6'. No moles or critters appear to have been there and the rest look like the picture of health. I'm curious if the Easter lily genes in some of the orienpets (which are only hardy to zone 7) may comprimise the hardiness. This year I've added Silk Road, Red Hot, Orania, and Visaversa and they're all budding and looking great so far, so we'll see what next spring brings.

Are you all fertilizing them or did you have any late frosts that may have damaged them?

We had 2 late frosts here and it set back my roses and the irises did weirdly, blooming low among the leaves instead of on high stalks. But the lilies weren't up yet. My lilies are all oriental.

lezro, I would'nt lose hope just yet for those healthy looking lily bulbs. There were a couple I planted last spring that did'nt show up at all last year, but came up strong this year. It seems weird to me that they could go a whole year without any top growth and survive, but occasionally they do.

Woodspirit1, did you have a wet winter and is your garden well drained? Seems like wet feet can kill a lily faster than anything.

I once lost an entire bed of established Orientals due to a zone on our irrigation system that we left on, in error, and it flooded the bed for 8 solid hours.

Changed that garden to a Japanese iris garden in case we ever make that mistake again!

Could you have had too much rain for a period and drowned them as we did?

It's always rainy here but everything is pretty well-drained when you live on the side of a mountain, lol. We did have a pretty harsh winter - perhaps I should mulch them in the future???

Why not try - very carefully - to dig one or two up. You'll see if it's starting (late but maybe possible) or how drenched the soil might be. I'm really puzzled but if I had the problem I'd dig just to investigate.

I wouldn't think you should have to mulch them in your zone, unless maybe they are especially prone to dessicating wind in the winter? Just a thought. I suppose I would try digging one up as pirl suggested.

I am actually in zone 6 . I am up 1,000 feet from out county seat which in zone 7. I think i will dig one up to see. I had an Easter Lily in a pot I got free this year. The top was totally dead when I looked at it the other day, but the bulb and roots looked great !

I had the same deal last year on an Easter lily ~ so I planted it and it's just about ready to bloom now.

So try a test and lift three of the Orientals, put them in a black pot (to absorb some heat), and put them on brick, stone, asphalt - anything that gets warm - let's see what happens. If you could photograph the lily bulbs it would be great!