Lily Foliage

Okay, certainly not the best photo, and if I had thought this out I would have taken individual pics, but you’ll get the idea: to appreciate a less exciting feature of lilies – foliage. Really quite interesting, in my opinion.

Take note of :
the stiff leaf form of Lilium speciosum var. rubrum
the red-gray leaves of Soiree
the typical growth of orientpets, like Sarabande
the stubby leaves of Lilium lankongense
the diversity of asiatic foliage as shown with Shirley, Tiger Babies, Sunday Dress, Kathy Jan and others
the almost lacey quality of Lilium leucanthum
the characteristic absence of lower leaves on Lilium davidii

Now I expect you all to dig up this thread come spring, and add some good pics displaying the many leaves of lilies.


This message was edited Feb 23, 2007 7:21 PM

This pic of martagon type lilies was taken at the same time as the previous photo. These lilies grow in the same garden and adjacent to those others. Obviously, lilies belonging to the martagon section of the Llilium genus emerge earlier and grow faster in the spring. They are also the first to bloom. Lilium x ‘Super Tsing’ is a hybrid of Lilium martagon and Lilium tsingtauense. All martagon section lilies have whorled leaves, but not all whorled leaf lilies belong to the martagon section of Lilium.

I was thrilled to find Lilium tsingtauense one spring, for the first time, at Funkia Gardens (WI). Being many years ago, I didn’t know that these krinkly, undulating leaves were the natural growth pattern of the species. I thought the plants were virused. Now that I know it’s the way they are supposed to be, I find the texture very agreeable, inviting and interesting. Unfortunately, as the leaves mature they “flatten” into normal leaves.

Lefty It's fun comparing all of those lily leaves. Nice photos!

L candidum is very like L tsingtauense. The first year I had those come up, I didn't think it was a lily at all and just like with the L tsingtauense, it becomes more lily looking as the stems grow and mature.

I'll have to remember to get some pics of leaves this spring.

I was not aware that any other lily species did the "krinkly thing". And I did realize candidum might be hardy here. How many springs have you had candidum, Beaker?

Tsingtauense has another suprise up its sleeve as its leaves mature. Until I find that darn photo, would anyone care to take a guess?

It will be three this spring, if they make it. I do have them in a foundation planting with lotz of mulch. Not so sure how krinkly they are; maybe more broadleafed. They certainly don't look like a normal lily when first emerging. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I do hear of these not making it for whatever reason even south of here more than two or three years. It's so lovely, one of my favorites. You need to get them in the ground as soon as possible in the fall to get the roots to settle in. They don't come as a bulb but as a small potted plant. If I recall, I received these in late August or very early in September.

I am looking forward to your spring leaf photo(s). The flowers look to have more dense white color than I have ever seen. No wonder people like them.

When people talk lily foliage, I always have to chuckle. If you don't have the red lily beetle, don't worry, someday you will. My foliage rarely looks good. It's hard to control. Actually this is a pretty minor case. Support research!

You have some very healthy looking lily leaves Lefty, they look much nicer than most of the hybrid lily leaves.

Mainiac, lily beetles, don't remind me of those! I had about a dozen in 2005, thought I had got them all but when cleaning up in spring I found a couple more. Last year I had them by the droves and I don't know where they came from, they are said to be poor fliers but all 115 didn't come from my garden. I kept a daily look out on my rounds, the hot year may have brought them from other places on air currents but they kept coming, until late in the year. I cleaned some of the bed where I usually find them for a start the other day and found 2 more under the leaves!

And I'm growing lots of species lilies now, bulbs and from seed, I must be mad!

I was going to say that most of the asiatics seem to have similar leaves in my yard. I am looking forward to getting more species so I can enjoy the unique foliage. Considering that the foliage is around more than the flowers appreciating the plant form can be a very enjoyable experience. I am looking forward to tinkering with some Cernuum hybrids with the wispy leaves. The martagons are quite unique, I don't have any of those yet :*(

Andrew

The lily leaf beetle: I had completely forgotten about that. But I do already have a folder to squirrel away tactics I deem worthy for combat when it comes. Nor have I seen a Japanese beetle in my yard yet. Sigh. Such is life.

I adore the leaves of the tsingtauense....where do I get one/two/three and are they as difficult as the Martagon. Yours look so healthy and wonderful.

It seems the lily leaf beetle is spreading fast, I wonder if they would survive very cold winters. Which tactics are those Lefty, pick off/squash tactics? Somebody said they squashed with their fingers, I put my foot on them but hate doing it.

Yuk. I don't think I could squash bugs like that. If and when they get here, I'll be using chemicals. I've heard they don't survive cold winters, but I don't know if it is true or not. I hope it's true, we have enough pests to deal with as it is.

Ah, but they do survive cold winters. Here in Maine they have moved into Zone 4 territory. The chemical of choice here is Immucloprid. It is the active ingredient in a Bayer product I get a Walmart. (Rose and Flower Insect Spray.) They are moving about 100 miles per year -- north and west. I know they have reached Vermont. That gives you a bit of time. I pick and squash when I see them, but they are tricky. If you don't get them on the first try, they fall off the plant and lie upside down in the soil and make themselves blend in the soil. Then they are hard to find.

I have found that too, so very red and you can't find them! You need to have a hand or something to catch it underneath, but often I think I can pick it off easily and don't do that, then spend ages raving around the plant to find it. If I don't find it I go back later, they usually climb back up.

I think I have developed a 6th sense on when there will be a beetle under a leaf, I found myself making a beeline for just one plant last year and mostly found a beetle. It could be an evolutionary thing, where the sun maybe is on a plant, I found they like to sit in the sun, my senses may be leading me according to experience!

I find they prefer certain types. Asiatics and martagons in particular. They absolutely loved L candidum. The later varieties must not be as tasty! LOL

It may have more to do with their life cycle than a perference.

I wish I could get candidum to do something for me...I have tried it many times and never ANYTHING

You have it all wrong, levilyla: Tsingauense are as easy as martagons. They are pretty closely related and will cross with them.

One thing that I have done with potato bugs that I will be eager to try with lily leaf beetles is pick a bunch, put them in a sealed plastic jug with a little water. Leave 'em in the sun for several days. Blend contents. (Doesn't everyone have a separate blender for this kind of stuff?) Spray all over the lilies. The idea is that at least one bug with have some kind of disease fungus/bacteria that will incubate in the warm sun. Spray it all over the lilies and you infect the lily beetles. It worked fairly well for potato bugs.

levilyla - where have you tried with the candidum, soil, sun, ect? I have mine next to the house in a bed with a southern exposure that has plenty of peat mixed in. This provides the acid that the orientals need and maybe the candidum needs them too. Unlike the asiatics that seem to do well in any kind of garden soil, some of the other lilies really need that acid soil. They really should do well in your zone, so all you have to figure out is why they don't.

Well...I am willing to try again. I never knew that lillies liked acid soil (which I sure have). Leftwood...good idea about the beetle "syrup" but yuk...don't think I could do it.

Doesn't this one look like a flower sprouting from the soil ?

Lilium martagon, the only lily I have and also the only one as far as I know that can tolerate some shade. It has tender pink flowers.

Originally, I had three of them, this is the only one that came back loyally every year.
When I still had all three, I noticed a remarkable difference in the foliage, while the other two martagons had more narrow-oblong leaves in a darker shade of green, this survive was different from the start. The leaves are more rounded and broader and the green very pale. At first I thought it had a shortage of some kind in nutrients, but even after giving it organic fertilizer, it kept that pale. I like it because it lights up in a shady spot.
It is the only type I can have because I don't have enough sun for the other types in my garden.

If anyone knows about other lilies that can tolerate half shadow, please let me know.

forgot to say, that this one has always been spared from lily beetle attacks, although I do have them even in my secluded little town garden ,(where do they come from? ). The ones I have attack my little community of Fritillaria meleagris.

I wonder where your L martagon originates from bonitin, if it was so different. Now I would like to see what the flowers look like!

Wallaby,

I bought the three bulbs in a nursery, they were potted up and sprouting.

I was so glad to find them there, because I had been looking for them for a long time, they don't seem to be easily available over here

I wish I could let you see its flowers, but I haven't been lucky.
Last year the flower stalk was destroyed by a territory cat fight.
And the year before that, the pictures didn't come out well and I disposed of them.
Hopefully, I'll be more lucky this year.

Just popped in to say that your foliage looks incredible--can't wait to see the blooms!

Lilium martagon var. caucasica is suppose to have wider than normal leaves, and it is also a giant among the martagons too. Don't know about the shade of green though. I would love to get seed of this variety someday.

This is what I was thinking about your leaves bonitin, there are different varieties of L martagon from different places.

There is the pink, a white form, caucasica is a deep wine, and there is var. daugavia plus some others. I got the seed this year of a wine form from a reliable source, but all he could tell me is they were from a wine form, I really want them to grow because it could be he was being cautious, as not many people believe the true and pure form of caucasica is still around so people are not going to put their professional heads on the chopping block.

I also got. var. daugavia seeds which is from Latvia, it has lavender pink flowers heavily spotted. He didn't say exactly where the seeds came from when I asked about it, but did say he could vouch for it's provenance.

It's a shame you lost the others, but the one you have left may be one from a more harsh climate, or your conditions just might have suited it better.

Leftwood, I don't think that it could be Lilium martagon var. caucasica, because the colour of its flowers is not deep-wine, like Wallaby says. The flowers of mine are much lighter in colour.

The owner of the nursery I bought them from is a real plant lover not a plain businessman. He often travels to foreign countries to discover new plants to try them out.

I'm not sure whether he has cultivated his martagons himself from seed or whether he has bought them as bulbs.
They were in one of his huge serres where he also has mother plants. The one I have was just among all the others, only labelled as 'lilium martagon'.
I must ask him as soon as I get the occasion to go back there. I want to buy more!

When it makes seed this year shall I save it for you Wallaby and Leftwood ?

bonitin that would be great if you get seeds! Perhaps to save a territorial cat fight breaking the stems you could place some canes around it in a teepee fashion.

If I get flowers and seeds on L duchartrei I can send you some too. Fingers crossed!

It does look like your grower has got some special plants if he travels, I love to get plants from these special sources!

L martagon is found from Westen Europe to Eastern China, some scope for difference there, also at high altitudes to 2300m.

Excellent idea for protecting the flower stems Wallaby!
Thank you for the offer for the 'eventual' seeds of your
L duchartrei.

Bonitin, thanks for the offer of possible seed! I should also have extra martagon seed this season to give. I plan to do some controled crosses of:
Lilium martagon 'Terrace City'
Lilium martagon 'Claude Shride'
Lilium x 'Super Tsing'
Lilium tsingtauense
Lilium x 'Marhan'

Wallaby, that's terrible about var. caucasica: I didn't know its existence in commerce would be suspect. Drat. The true var. cattaniae is also problematic.

Gee Lefty, perhaps that's what I meant! There is a pic on this site that just says L martagon dark form, it's very deep wine and leaves are light green,

http://magnar.aspaker.no/liste.htm

Looky here, do you think they would misname it if it wasn't for real?

http://www.b-and-t-world-seeds.com/carth.asp?species=Lilium%20martagon%20v%20cattaniae&sref=442475

Cheap for them too, and in stock!

It was listed in the plants of Europe East section

http://www.b-and-t-world-seeds.com/a1.asp?title=Plants+of+Europe+East&list=102

Magnar's pic looks like a true cattaniae. But I have never seen one. I did see a very dark maroon one at a friends garden with Hugh Cocker once, thinking it might be that variety. He said definitely not. Hugh says they are "dark, dark, dark" to use his own words. I think any company in it for profit would call it black, and any reputably accurate company would call it almost black. So I don't think the "dark maroon" at B &T would be the real cattaniae.

(Giggle) That really makes my day that maybe you had caucasica and cattaniae mix up. I have high hopes for obtaining caucasica someday (and cattainiae too). I do have cattaniae seeds started last year from NARGS, but who knows if they are genuine yet. I didn't recognize the donator of the seed, so there is no help there.

This message was edited Mar 31, 2007 8:47 AM

I'm thinking of going for the cattaniae from B&T, they have sources from all over the world with over 40,000 seed varieties. I wasn't going to order again from them but that isn't too bad a price, and who knows! I would have to make it up to a minimum order, here I go again!

The brain-dead transposition was enabled by the PRODOFFPARD!

I was sooo lucky today! thanks to my dear and helpful brother I managed to visit the same nursery again where I obtained my lilium martagon.
They were again in the same spot in the huge greenhouse like the previous time. There were about 40 of them all potted up in different stages of development.
Now I noticed how different they all looked in varieties of foliage; some darker, some lighter, some broad-leaved, some more oblong, some with a purple stem, some with a subtle purple rim on the edges of the leaves..I had a hard time choosing as they were all looking at me saying : 'take me! '
I felt the greed coming up and bought 5 of them!! I'm really mad because now I'm going to break my head to find a suitable spot for them! It's very hard to be a plant-aholic and to have to bare with a poor 100 m2 .
I will take a picture of their foliage tomorrow.

I also had a moment to talk to the kind grower:
he said that he buys them as tiny bulbs and that these has been grown from seeds collected in the wild.
That's probably why there is such a wide variety among them.

I am jealous! :*)

Andrew

Lucky you bonitin! They sound 'desirable'!

They don't really need a lot of space, but I know how difficult it can be to find those places.

I am going to create a lily nursery bed for my seedlings behind the greenhouses, worry about garden places later!