Wednesday, August 15, 2012

The Season of the Lily


There is truth in saying “buyer beware”.

The Season of the Oriental Lily has passed for another year.  July is the month of lilies for me.  One of my favorite plants, they mostly take care of themselves.  They are reliable and bloom every year. 


Lilium ‘American Dream’ purchased from White Flower Farm in 2003 grows to 7 feet tall in my front garden. From one bulb I now have about 10 to 15 flower bearing stalks filled with large fragrant blooms in July.  Beautiful true-to-type.



Casablanca may be my favorite.  Heavily fragrant and somehow angelic, I purchased 3 bulbs from Brecks in 2009.      Beautiful true-to-type



I bought some bargain bulbs labeled Casablanca and Stargazer from a vendor at the Philadelphia Flower Show.  This lily labeled Stargazer does not look like any Stargazer I’ve ever seen.    Nice but not true to type.



This Pretty peachy colored lily came in the same batch from the bargain vendor but it is neither Casablanca nor Stargazer.  Beautiful but not true to anything I imagined.



I would not buy inexpensive bulbs from unknown vendors again.  I have a mixed bunch of lilies. Pretty but not what I had planned.


It’s something to think of as you purchase spring flowering bulbs this fall. 


4 comments:

donna said...

Hi Marie. Remember me? I haven't blogged or read blogs for a couple of months.

I still struggle to really know the difference between Oriental Lilies and Asiatic Lilies...or maybe there is no difference. Your collection is colorful and lovely. I need to plant more because they never fail me unless the bunnies get them in the spring.

Hope all is well with you.

Country Flora said...

These images blew my heart away!!

Just a question: Have you also written about Asiatic Lilies?

Marie said...

Donna, it's great to hear from you. How was your summer?

From what I understand Asiatic lilies bloom earlier, may not be as showy or fragrant and are even easier to grow than the Orientals. Other than that, not much difference I think. They are both pretty.

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