What are the Best Speices for the East/Midwest

Hi
I have grown both Asiatic and Orientals. But have not tried the species. Any Suggestions? I live in St.Louis.

Hi declfi ~ I'll let someone else field your question since I have no experience with species lilies, but wanted to welcome you to DG and the Lily Forum.

I've had success with L. speciosum 'Rubrum'. I'm about 85 mi northeast of you.

I've read Lilium henryi is virtually indistructible, but I have'nt grown it yet (but plan to). I to have found Rubrum to be a good performer. And the good ol' tiger lily will grow almost anywhere. Lilium regale is great-easy and fragrant. Lilium pumilum is nice to.
Neal.

Hi decifi,
A great resource for answers to your question would be to contact your local/regional Lily Society. You have a wonderful and extremely knowledgable group right in your area, the Mid America Regional Lily Society.
President - Carol Appelbaum, 11075 Easy St., St Ann, MO, USA 63074, jncappel@att.net
An e-mail to Carol will put you into contact with a wealth of Lily information and a super fun group of Lily enthusiasts.
Good Luck!
Ron

Here are the species I have. All in the garden except
priceii, pardalinum and nepalense

auratum
bulbiferum
canadense diff. colours
cernuum
dauricum
davidii
henryii
lancifolium - if you grow this keep well away from your other lilies, they are a virus carrier I have tons of them, I love them
leichtlinii - red and yellow
longiflorum - some in house and some in garden just to see if they survive
lots of diff. martagons
michiganense
philidelphicum
pumilum & yellow bunting
regale -
speciosum
superbum

Have about 11 others in baggies, hopefully germinating happily but don't want to move the bags to see their names.

You can grow all of the above. If you are interested in Species, you should join the species group.

Inanda

inanda--what's the 'species group' is it separate from the Lily Society?

Are species lilies easier to grow than the other kinds?

thanks. t.

Separate, but associated with NALS. http://www.lilies.org/slpg.html

Thanks Moby. I've not been around for a bit. Currently in lotusland (aka the WET west coast) playing Granny. All my baggies now in fridge.
inanda

Hello there, I am just down the hwy a bit. I grow Asiatic, Oriental, Trumpet, Orienpet. No problems with any of them.

Hey Puddles, nice to see you!

Thanks for the link, Moby. Sounds like an interesting group.

Beautiful pic, puddles!

tabasco, many of the species, like regale, lancifolium, henryii, and speciosum are considered some of the most care free and long term perennials.

I grow Lilium:
amabile
canadense
davidii
formasanum
formasanum var. pricei
lankongense
leichtlinii var. maximowiczii
leucanthum
mackliniae
martagon (several types)
michiganense
pardilinum
phillipinense
polyphyllum
speciosum var. rubrum
szovitsianum
tsingtauense
x marhan

more as seedlings. All have been easy in rich soils, although none are as vigorous as most modern hybrids.
My current favorite: a Lilium x marhan seedling:

Welcome to DG, Leftwood ~ that's quite a collection of lilies!

Leftwood,

What a collection!

I am just getting into the species and have very few so far, but that is changing. I hope to add at least one new species each fall if possible.

Welcome to Dave's and hope to see more of you.

Welcome Leftwood from one zone 4a to another zone 4a.

Haven't tried many of the species, but just might since you said that you can grow them. Do you mulch them heavily?

Leftwood - so excited to see you here. I'm also just getting into species and haven't quite figured out which ones are hardy. I have two and have ordered four more for spring planting. Any wisdom you have raising these would be much appreciated. The two I have I'm treating as zone 5; lotz of mulch. Happy to see both L formasanum and L canadense on your list because those are the two I have planted.

Lovely lily Leftwood. I too am interested in the species lilies. Are you growing them from seed? Any pointers you have would be greatly appreciated. Welcome.

Wow, what a welcome! Thanks! I assume you all already know Inanda, because there's a nice list of lilies too.

I think the most basic advice about species is that they do not all necessarily take the same cultural conditions. Best to do some research that is more than just cold hardiness. Some need dry in winter, for instance.

I do mulch (with chopped oak leaves because that's what is available and no weed seeds), but I don't know if I'd say heavily. Maybe 6-8 inches in the fall and whatever remains through the following summer as the worms gobble them up. Formosanum is surprisingly hardy with such an epithet, I would even consider trying it in zone 3. Phillipinense I have only had through one winter so far, and of course, many know that we only had a zone 5 type winter last season. Martagons are naturally zone 3 hardy, canadense at least through 4 (think 3).

I do grow from seed. In my experiences, it has been quite easy, but sometimes slow. The first thing to know is what type of germination your species will have: immediate (emerging soon after germination), or delayed(germinating one season, but not emerging until a cold period is fulfilled). While most (if not all) of the asiatics are of the first category, many species are of the second. I knew this would come in handy someday, because as I read Ed McRae's Lily book, I made a list of which species is which. I'll dig it up and post it here.

Remember that unlike woody plants that are exposed to cold air temps in winter, herbaceous plants like lilies are not, and soil and mulch can help to moderate temps. Growing herbaceous species beyond their traditional hardiness zone is more probably than woody materials, so don't be afraid to be adventurous.

Rick

Sorry, Inanda. I missed your post, but you've got a great list too and not quite the same as Rick's. And I can't believe you are zone 2. Between the two of you, we should get quite an education. I know that there are a number of people who want to get into the species.

Beaker

Hi - I'm new to this forum and Dave's Garden. I LOVE all types of lilies and know I will learn much at this forum. I have Asiatic, Oriental, Daylilies, Orienpet. The picture is of my favorite, though, the Tiger Lily - which grows wild here in Iowa. Looking forward to getting to know you all -

Welcome dax - I know you're going to like it here.

Inanda - I have the following lancifolium planted all over the place. Am I in trouble? What does the virus do to the other lilies? How can they sell these if infected????

L lancifolium var citronella, previously L tigrinum
L lancifolium var flora plena
L lancifolium var red tiger, previously L tigrinum
L lancifolium var sweet surrender, previously L tigrinum
L lancifolium var tiger rose, previously L tigrinum
L lancifolium var orange tiger, previously L tigrinum

Leftwood - I found this description and picture (not sure how good) of L tsingtauense:

Lilium tsingtauense/Qing dao bai he (Chinese). Large, upright flowers of a flamboyant, living orange open in June-July above tropical-looking whorls of wide green leaves. The flowers have matching orange pollen, fine maroon freckles and they are scented. The leaves often turn maroon in autumn. Native to open forest, scrub and grassland on the Korean Peninsula and in the Chinese provinces of Anhui and Shandong. Height to 120 cm (4'). Zone 6.

How are you protecting this bulb? How deeply planted and is it out in the open or near a warm foundation? How deep do you mulch? Did you grow this from seed?

I think I found a better picture of L tsingtauense.

Hi dax, welcome to DG!

dax080,

Welcome to Dave's Garden and specifically to the lily lovers corner!

You have one of the most generous gardeners right there in CR, wait until you meet Wandasflowers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I too am in love with lilies and look forward to expanding my collection each season. I just started some seeds from some crosses I made last summer and we'll see how that goes.

Once more, WELCOME!

Lancifolium orange tiger is the only one you have to worry about being a vector. They are virus carriers so that if an aphid or other sucking insect flies from a carrier to another lilium, the aphid can infact the other lilium.

The hybrid tigers are not carriers. eg Sweet Surrender, Tarentella, the pinks, yellows, whites, whatevers. Only the orange one. So......... I have mine far away from other lilium. In a diff. garden in fact.

Did get a virus on a couple last summer. Put it down to not having enough time to spend in garden (NALS) plus strange strange weather which really stressed lilum in Manitoba and across the prairies generally.

inanda -

Welcome Dax,
You are obviously a very good (or lucky) photographer. The backlighting on that lily is exquisite!

Lily viruses are just a fact of life in lanciflolium. The only way to produce non infected ones are by seed propagation or meristem tissue culture. And eventually they would become infected again, and you wouldn't know it anyway. The only way a nursery would now is if you can culture a virus. Can you do that?

Quizzing some of the expert growers, I found that most don't make a big deal of it. Certainly if you suspect a virus, pull the plant out and destroy it-every bit. And wash your hands well before handling any other lilies. Some growers purposely grow lilies that are specifically very susceptible to viruses, like Lilium formosanum. That way, if a virus is present, than presumably that lily will quickly show symptoms and they will be alerted. There are other lilies moderately susceptible to viruses too, like canadense, japonicum and mackliniae. The general push in hybridization is to produce hybrids tolerant to viruses. But inanda is right in that the only one you really need to be concerned about(if you choose) is orange lancifolium. Definitely not anything as far removed as Sweet Surrender. I grow that one,BTW. I don't think I have ever heard of any resistance.

Be aware that there are some speceies that are just naturally short lived, like Lilium formosanum var, pricei and L. pumilum. Don't necessarily take their deaths as caused by virus.

My lilies are not near the house. Some get up to 8 inches of mulch, and some very little. In my opinion, mulch over the summer to keep roots cool and moist (especially for martagon types and some other species) is just as important as winter mulch.
Rick

FYI ~ yes, viruses can be cultured. Used to do it at the U of MN, but those were the human type viruses. :)

Hi everyone - this is great!! Thanks for your warm welcomes. - Per the comment about the picture - PURE LUCK!! One of those - look at that beauty!! How did that happen? moments. And I'll look forward to meeting lots of folks in the forums as I am going to have lots of questions - right now, I can barely understand the conversation! dax080