If an adage fits a specific situation, “Don’t plant a five-dollar tree in a two-bit hole,” applies to lily planting.
In other words. don’t plant a good lily bulb in bad soil. Tulips or gladiolus might grow if planted that way, but I warn you.
Lilies are different. However, one thinks you will agree that their exotic beauty is well worth extra effort.
Now don’t get the idea that lilies are difficult because they aren’t. They do, however, require a little “know-how.”
Success with lilies is not a matter of luck but of planting good bulbs in well-prepared suitable soil during the proper season.
Planting Time
Lily bulbs mature in the fall, and commercial growers dig their stocks from mid-September to early October. The bulbs should be replanted in the home garden as soon as possible. Lilies are not like daffodils.
They are not hard, dry corms that can lie around for weeks without deterioration, but loose scaly bulbs full of moisture should be replanted promptly.
Packaging lily bulbs for shipping is now possible so that they arrive at your door in excellent condition for planting.
I pack the bulbs in slightly damp peat moss in a container to prevent drying out and let in some air.
Cellophane bags have proven most satisfactory because cellophane is not completely airtight and will retard drying for many weeks.
Soil Requirements
If you intend to plant lily bulbs this fall, select the location and prepare the soil well before their arrival. Always select a well-drained spot for your lilies.
Soggy soil is fatal to most lilies, so make sure of this. If drainage in your garden is inadequate, plan a spot for Lilies where you can build up the bed about a foot above the ground level.
The soil may be placed with a border of stones or with the metal edging strips now available.
Stones, of course, give a more natural effect. Lilies don’t like a bone-dry situation, but I’ll wager that more lily bulbs fail because the soil stays too wet than because it lacks moisture.
The finest soil for nearly all lilies is a porous fertile loam rich in humus. Few gardeners today have naturally ideal soil, but you can make it right with minimal effort.
Even sticky clay can be vastly improved by adding sand and humus liberally.
What Kind Of Humus?
The best kind of humus for lilies is probably old leaf mold, but this is only sometimes easy to obtain.
Well-decomposed compost is wonderful, though substantial amounts are only sometimes available.
Then there is peat moss—the horticultural grade. Not the granulated stuff used in chicken houses. Humus, any kind, should thoroughly mix with the soil to a depth of at least a foot. 18” inches is even better.
Clay soil will need even more doctoring. The finished soil for the top 18” inches should be one-third clay, one-third sand, and one-third humus.
The consistency should be such that you can dig the soil easily with your fingers to a depth of CO to 12” inches.
Sandy soils are nearly always well-drained. Unfortunately, most of them dry out too quickly. They need ample humus.
The mixture should be half soil and half humus in loose sandy soils. And be sure that bulbs in sandy soil don’t starve.
Today lily food formulas are available that have proven ideal for lean or worn-out soils.
Alkaline Or Acid?
Be sure to check the Ph factor before planting your lilies. Lilies dislike both highly alkaline and extremely acidic conditions.
Slightly acid to neutral is perfect. Just avoid the extremes, and you will be okay.
An alkaline condition can be modified by adding small amounts of sulfur. Peat moss is also beneficial.
Some lilies, however, will tolerate alkaline soil. Among these are L, candidate, L. amabile, L. Hanson, L. Martagon, and hybrids of L. regale and L. Henryi.
Where To Plant
Selecting a suitable location for lilies depends upon the sun or shade demands of the particular species or varieties you want to plant.
Some varieties need full sunshine—many like sun, with shade during the fiery heat of mid-day.
Very few will thrive with almost no direct sunshine. The better lily catalogs generally state the proven preferences of the varieties and species they list.
In hot sunny climates, part shade is needed by almost all lilies. The ideal source of shade is tall trees, which do not shut off the light but screen the lilies from the sun’s direct rays.
Lilies Like Cold Feet
Even those lilies that prefer or tolerate full sunshine like to have the surface soil shaded from the hot sun so that their roots may spread in the cool earth.
This can be accomplished by planting low-growing perennials or shrubs that flower before or after the lilies.
Why this before or after? The exquisite beauty of lily blooms shows the best advantage without other flower displays.
Here is a wonderful chance to develop planned planting combinations. Lilies need good foliage backgrounds for their blooms. And the area where they are planted needs color both before and after the lilies flower.
Companions For Lilies
Most of you have mixed flower borders, many with shrub backgrounds, ideal places for your lilies. Remember that lilies can be worked in among your other plants.
A bare spot 1’ foot in diameter will accommodate three or more bulbs (plant the bulbs 8” inches to a foot apart), and they will send their stems up among the other plants and flaunt their beauty to the skies. Many lilies send up stems 5’ to 7’ feet tall. In a shrub planting or among evergreens, these are excellent.
In one of its quarterly bulletins a few years ago, the American Rhododendron Society stressed the idea of planting lilies among rhododendrons and azaleas to provide bloom when the shrubs have finished.
Surely lilies are a worthy successor to the color display of these shrubs. Lilies enjoy the same soil conditions and should not be cultivated like them.
Both produce roots that spread just below the surface; even shallow cultivation is harmful. Pull the weeds when small and mulch lightly.
If planted among spring-flowering perennials, lilies will come along later and provide color in midsummer when otherwise, all might be drab and dull.
Among masses of late-flowering chrysanthemums, lilies can offer exotic bloom just when it is most needed.
Some countless schemes and combinations can be worked out with lilies to improve the all-summer looks of your garden. So get out your garden notes now and study your border.
Lily Varieties For Schemes And Combinations
Choose your lily varieties to give you a succession of blooms. For example, L. amabile, L. Hansoni, and L. regale might start the season.
Followed by the OLYMPIC HYBRIDS, ENCHANTMENT, and GoI. DEN CHALICE. Next in the parade might come the AURELIANS in their lovely pastels, golds, and whites, the brilliant BELLINGHAM HYBRIDS, and the beautiful white ESTATE.
You could enjoy the HAVEMEYERS, dainty MAIDEN’S BLUSH, and the SPECIOSUMS. Then to finish out the season, there are two very late lilies, L. Maurice Wilsoni and L. formosanum Wilsoni, one of the selected late-flowering strains.
These are only a few of the over 200 varieties and species of quality lilies grown in America. These American-grown bulbs have been thoroughly tested in all parts of our country and have proven themselves easy to grow.
But remember, even the best bulbs should not be expected to overcome a lack of care in soil preparation, location, and planting.
44659 by Romaine B. Ware