gloriosa lily...unreal....

This plant is amazing..one month old and two feet tall and it has 2 flower buds already! Now that is instant gratification!

Wow, Louise, just gorgeus! I agree just one month, blooms and all, can't get any better than that, so what is the name of it? Clemen

it is a Gloriosa Lily, you know they sell the tubers in the box stores in the spring. Exotic and looks like some kind of orchid. I decided to try one this year. Just awesome! It is the climbing Lily.

Any fragrance?

no one seems to mention a fragrance, so I am guessing not. I think they just grow them for the exotic beauty of the flowers. My jasmine growing next to it smells good though :)

I grew some a couple years ago and never noticed a scent...but I never stuck my nose right in them either, so if it's one of those things that you need to be really close to notice I could have missed it.

Well they seem to be pretty easy to grow. It remains to be seem if I can get them through their dormant period though...

You should have no problem. When it starts to get cold just dig up the tubers and keep them in something like sawdust and then plant them when it gets warm. Here I just leave them in the ground all year. They multiply pretty good.

Dee

They are pretty salt tolerant too!!!

I was given some of these by a fellow gardener, about three years ago. I grow mine in hanging baskets, and they are awesome. When the foliage dies back in the fall, just leave them DRY in the pot. Around May 1st, start watering them a bit, then when you see the first sign of growth, start fertilizing them with a weak mixture of miracle grow/water. They are an awesome plant - wish I could get some tubers in different colors - I think there are about 6 different colors.

I've been so disappointed....and about to give up! I've had tubers potted up for months now with nothing. I bought what I think is a newer variety, greenii. I checked recently and didn't find any rot, so I'm not sure what the problem is. Any ideas?

Hey Jo,

You will be able to put them in the ground when you move down here. I don't know about 6 different kinds all I could find were 3 - the common red and yellow, solid yellow, and yellow with dark red markings.

Dee

ashleykelly - you didn't happen to plant them to deep did you. Mine are planted just below the surface of the dirt, maybe an inch of dirt probably less. When I first planted mines several years ago I planted them and nothing happened. I found out they were to deep, so I dug them up and now they are growing great, matter of fact they are getting ready to bloom. They are in sun till about 2:30 then they get shade from the house. I would be interested to know where you got the new variety 'greenii' and what color it is.

Dee

here is where i got mine
http://www.easytogrowbulbs.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=156&gclid=CJPu2ZfDspICFSK9FQod_w5jQg

thanks Dee! you're right, i may have them too deep. it's worth a try because nothing's happing like this. i'll have to look when i get home to see where i got them, but easy to grow does sound familiar. if i remember correctly, they're suppose to be a lime greenish color...which i thought would be really cool. please post pics when you get blooms.

jkj - you should have never posted the website, bad,bad for me - I just placed an order - and they weren't all glory lily, LOL.

Ashleykelly - will take pictures when they bloom - on the website just posted by jkj they have one described like yours, it look more yellow to me, but the petals have a smoothier look the the 'lutea' that I have. This will be interesting.

Dee

dee, i know how that goes, my checkbook is crying

jkj - Mine too, especially after I went to seedsprout nursery Sat. I am real broke, LOL

Dee

Dee, Plantsystematics.org (http://www.plantsystematics.org/taxpage/0/genus/Gloriosa.html) lists 27 species of Gloriosa lily!!!

I am aware of:

rothschildiana
carsonii
grenii
lutea
supurba
vurescens
simplex

Oh no, I can't look!!

lol..thanks everyone for the info. I did plant mine shallow in the pot. The tubers already had growing points on them when I bought them. They sprouted pretty fast. I will just let them sleep in the pot then. I will wait to divide them when I wake them up. I had not idea they grow that fast! Cannot wait to see the first flowers.

You know..up until this thread, I didn't know these were a vine/climber.
I planted some about a month ago that Cathy in FL. sent me, and I was perplexed today when I saw that they were attatching to other plants with the end of their leavs...okay..the pieces are falling into place now....LOL.
Guess that lilly part of the name fooled me!

lol that would be kind of creepy seeing them "grab" stuff when you did not know.

BAD, BAD, KAY! there goes my checkbook!

I love these guys. Yes, Ashleykelly, plant these shallow and horizontal but don't be too disappointed the first year or so. They will take off.

Mine are potted but in this zone, they overwinter outdoors. Not a problem.

I did find something interesting this spring. A house, plant, pet sitter wanted a start so I fished around just under the surface of the pots and couldn't find anything. I thought maybe they were done for. When the shoots started sprouting, I removed a couple for her. They had worked their way to the bottom of the pot. On another thread, Rodicap says

beautiful pic. podster. thanks for the info

These are just lovely.
I started a bunch of rothschildiana seed from last year that is doing well. I don't think they will bloom this year but will in time.

Now where can we find the 27 specie to purchase. Would love to grow some of the others.

Bea

Delicious to look at but beware, this plant (especially the tuber) contains colchicin which is a very potent poison and a teratogenous stuff...the plant is perennial but needs winter rest, I grow it here in the garden (I am on Reunion island, tropical area) and it stays hidden most of the year then it starts out of the ground and soon blooms, try to pollinate it and you will get seeds. Now, it takes a few years from seed to flower as it has to buid a proper tuber first, this is why your plant is NOT one month old but at least a couple years...

Thanks for the correction! I did mean one month from no growth from tuber, not actual age. That is amazing in growth rate!

Bea, I, too, would like to know where to buy the 26 varieties I don't have!!!

Many of them may not be widely available in the trade, just because they exist doesn't mean anyone's bothering to cultivate them. I did get G. carsonii (I think) from Bulbmeister.com, they had a couple different ones so you might look there. They didn't have anywhere near all of them though!

Okay, I noticed winter conditions for the plant, that's good to know..Any other requirements the plant needs? Full sun, part - fertilizers.
I have noticed that it seems vigorous. It seems to double in size every week.
rj

RJ - I have mine planted receiving full sun till about 2:30 then it starts getting shady. I fertilize them about once a week. Now mine don't get but about 4 ft tall and yes they grab onto anything. If you don't give them something to hold on to, they will just lay on the ground. We have that intense sun here but I don't think quite as strong as yours, although it sure does feel like it come Jun.

Funny, this weather, we are usually in the upper 80 - low 90 during the day and low 70 at night, but so far we have only been in the upper 80's and middle 60's at night. Shock of all shocks is there isn't alot of humidity. Hmmm, what are we in for in a month???

Dee

willow creek has a good price on the more easily obtainable four varieties.
http://www.willowcreekgardens.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=68&gclid=CJOX_-6yppMCFQqgnAodyiHJcg

bad, bad lavender. you just made me buy more!

lol i know, but really we enable eachother. Sometimes I think Dave's is like alcoholics owning a liquor store together....

me to, cuz i'm real addicted

I did put some thing for them to grab onto this last weekend. They get mid afternoon soon, and evening shade. They seem to really like the exposure they're getting right now.

Our weather has been similar, 80's and 60's but even when it's 70's at night the humidity is lower than usual. As a matter of fact last weekend it got up to 92F and high humidity, we were worn out quickly, and realized...that we were getting very spoiled on this pleasant weather!

Ya know, I don't mind the 90 degree weather, but when you put the humidity factor in, it
just gets to dang hot.

I know! We went to a private plant sale on Sunday and it was very hot.. it still didn't stop us from buying some plants, but we didn't last long
...a couple of real rare plant growers have sales around here and can pick up some cool things