OMG, I may have messed up bad w/ my lilies!

I had been telling everyone about interplanting my roses with lilies as a beautiful way to support these tall plants. Well, last night I was googling "dividing lilies" and wow! Those lily clump/bulbs get so huge, it will be impossible to dig them out w/o hurting yourself, roses and lily bulbs. I hadn't seen many pics of lilies growing thru other plants, now I think I know why, lol.

Anybody has any comment about this? Since I'm fairly new to lilies, I haven't had to divide yet. Yes, I'm suffering future pain, as an old wise woman used to say.

Bob from B and D lilies has even suggested growing lilies with roses. (B and D is one of my favorite places to get bulbs.) IIf your lily clumps get to the size that you want to dig them up and replant the large bulbs, then do it in the Fall. This is the best time to dig up the bulbs. I know very little about roses, but I would imagine that this time would be the least harmful. FYI I have rarely had really large clumps of lilies. One orange asiatic that had grown a huge bulb actually came right to the surface. Start your digging 3 to 4 inches behind the bulb area and then work your way down.
I use an asparugus knife and a trowel with a very long handle and am very gentle unyil I find where the bulbs are buried. Good luck, but you probably won't have to worry about this for 2-3 years.

Hi Marty ~ Welcome to Dave's Garden and the Lily forum!

I have looked and looked for the thread I found last night. Man! you just had to see this clump of bulbs, about the size of a dinner plate. There must have been 20-30 bulbs in there, the size of chicken eggs or so. I don't remember reading how long since last division, if any, but it sent me in a tizzy, imagining digging such a clump from under a big, thorny rose bush.

But Marty, you're right. I will not worry about it any sooner than I have to.

Or dig them this fall before things get out of hand. :)

or cut the roses to the ground, then dig the lilies.....(Can you tell which plant I like best? lol)

susy, that is pure heresy! lol

Here is lily Dazzle and nearby yellow rose. The rose will grow big and in a yr or so the lilies will be growing thru this shrub rose. Or that is what I hope.

ta dah! my first 2009 lily bloom. Planted amidst rosa Tropicana. I don't know what this one is, looks a like like Menorca but I'm not sure.

Dazzle is an LA, right? So it probably will produce tons of babies. I doubt you would hurt the rose once it gets going well. Cover the rose with something like a tarp so you're not geting pricked and pull it back away from the lilies, and dig away. Shrub roses are normally really tough. I'd do it in the fall, so the rose has time to look pretty again. You have a few years before you need to worry about it though.

Looks like it's going to be very pretty.

here is another view showing a little more of the rose. my rose actually has a bud, but unfortunately too far to catch it and the lily. You'll just have to trust me on this one

finally, my Triumphators amidst my beloved Belinda's Dream rose.

another view, this time at the base

If your bulbs are the size of chicken eggs, you will want to dig them up this fall. I agree with Tucker. You may find that you have lots of bulbs that are reallt close to the surface.
One way to get your existing bulbs to grow bigger is to cut down the stem, when bulbpils form on the stem or when you start seeing new bulblets around the old bulb. I have to do this because I have had lily babies canabalize the mother bulb. I still don't cut down the stem for 8-10 weeks after I have removed the bloom, unless the leaves have yellowed. San Diego has a vey long growing season and often the leaves on my stems do not die back. Marty

PS thanks for your welcome, Moby

First 2009 lily bloom??? Already??? sigh.... It's lovely, and your other combinations sound really pretty, too. I'm impatiently counting the days until June. My tallest is about 2" so far (well, except for the one in the pot that got left in the garage too long...)

Nery, I'm anxiously awaiting a pic of Triumphator and Belinda's Dream in bloom! That is going to be glorious!

I'm thinking doing as Polly suggests is the way to go. I grow Lilies and Roses with almost everything, I guess I'm a glutton for punishment, LOL.

thanks everybody. Polly I will do as you say but not worry about it for a couple of yrs.

Please do post pictures!

Years ago my daughter got me a rosa rugosa collection from Wayside. I planted everything around them. I learned the tarp over the roses trick the hard way. I got a rose thorn and part of a leaf in my leg. Thought I got it out. The area healed over well. About six months later I had clear liquid running from that area of my leg. My daughter is a dentist and said clear liquid near a wound is an allergy. About every two months I would get the same thing happening. It finally went away. Never infected, but obviosuly I am allergic to roses. Since then I have hear of people being allergic to the thorns, and the leaves.

Don't sigh too hard SuzyBell, you can grow lilies that I can't. Orientals and some of the species that require more moisture than we have in So Cal. Also you don't get sunburned sprouts from bulbs that were planted after the beginning of April.
Marty

Polly, ouch! Those rugosas really can let you have it.

Lol, Marty! Those poor baby sprouts! Do OT's grow OK for you? But, I did have sunburned leaves last year. Out of the blue, in an otherwise cool spring, we had a day that hit 96' in May-the day before was 64'. As to species, I wonder if you could grow Lilium Columbianum? They actually like it fairly dry and prefer light shade. They grow wild at the edge of the doug firs around here.

Vossner, I "third" everyone's requests for pictures once they all bloom. :)

LOL Suzy, OTs grow great here! I think it is the Trumpet influence. Unfortunately we can get sunburned leaves in May and June, when the lilies expect "May Gray" and "June Gloom". I have had asiatics with sunburned leaves! I would like to try the Lilium Columbianum. Do you have a source to suggest? I have not seen them in the catalogues of Growers in the Northwest. Judging from the number of growers that you have near you, you must have the perfect climate for these babies, even if you don't get blooms in March. ENVY!

Agree w/ Marty,it seems the trumpet influence makes them do well in the warmer climates. Mine have not experienced sunburn in our full TX sun. This is my third year growing so I have limited experienced.

I read w/ interest your comment about Orientals and moisture. That would certain explain why I do better w/ Os than with asiatics. In fact, I can't think of a single asiatic that I grow. I've been focusing on LOs, LAs and Os.

Nery, I thought you grew Asiatics and not Orientals? Orientals are the ones that have issues with heat, typically. Which varieties do you grow?

nope, i do orientals but all the literature for our area says I should grow Asiatics. not Os. I'll get back to you on the names.

Very cool! Your trials will be very helpful to other warm zone gardeners :-)

remember, too, that I'm fairly new at this. It may be that they the Os did well the first year and are declining for lack of coolness. I tried to grow a. Centerfold and it barely made it that year. But I could have been bad culture care vs. it not being suitable for my area. Plus, I believe they were WM bulbs.

Note to self. Update my notes on Centerfold in the PF. I DO NOT grow this.

aren't these asiatics? I had a couple with the dark center and they didn't make it.
http://www.dutchbulbs.com/store/lilies/tangolilies/62064

Yep, those Tangos are Asiatics. LAs multiply like crazy here, do they do that there?

Hi Marty, BuggyCrazy sells L. Columbianum, but she's sold out until next fall. Her lilies are always fantastic. Here's the link in her catalog. http://tinyurl.com/dz7w79

Um, when I was helping pack up bulbs for PNWLS yesterday we got to talking about Tangos a little. Judith Freeman (TLG) says she quit growing the tangos because she found that for her they tend to decrease over time, not increase. I think she said that they were very susceptible to something, but (no coffee yet) I can't remember what. Vossner, maybe try a more "traditional" asiatic and see how it does for you?

Hi Suzy,
Please spell out PNWLS for me. I am new to DG and so am on a learning curve. TLG I recognize. Thanks

vossner,
I have found that orientals to not make it more than two years, IF they even come back the 2nd year. They need 8-10 weeks of temperatures lower than 40 degrees. FYI my zones are both 9 and 10 depending on the microclimate around my house. Marty

hmmm. I should be able to meet that requirement in Richmond (SW of houston). Here is a pic of Red Dutch lily (don't know what kind it is, got at WM) starting to grow thru shrub rose Home Run

Red Dutch is an OT, that should look great!

marty ~ that's Pacific NorthWest Lily Society

Congratulations on your lilies, Nery - welcome to yet another bulb addition!

^_^

Thanks Moby :)

Thanks Moby! Marty

I have lots of lily bulbs amoung my roses. They look great together and I never see any problems. Roses and lilies just seem like the perfect combo to me.

Nery, I just have to comment. It's such a pleasure seeing how far you've come with your lilies and they are just beautiful. I wouldn't worry about the roses. In the north, many people trench their roses for the winter, meaning they dig them up and bury them underground on their side.

Pat

So good to see you beak ;)

Yes, Beak, great to see ya. My lilies are about 6" and growing thru the roses. I think they will look good. thanks to y'all I'm not worrying about this anymore, but as my hubby says, I will find something else to worry about.