Inscriptions of lilies have been found on vases and Assyrian monuments dating back to 1300 B.C. until recent years. Unfortunately, hybridizers have all but completely overlooked the lilies.
History tells us that as early as 1535, our native meadow lily (Lilium canadense) was imported to England.
For many years lilies were dug and shipped from their native countries, China, Japan, India, Burma, and many more of the Asiatic countries, into England, Holland, France, and the United States in open hampers, bare-rooted with no protection from drying conditions.
They were often out of the soil for months. It’s no wonder that they failed to survive. A lily bulb is a living plant with no dormant period and should never be out of the soil any longer than is necessary.
Growing The Regale Lily
In times past, some gardeners grew these lilies with varying degrees of success. But, no mistake, they were considered plants for the expert.
Only when Ernest H. Wilson, a noted plant explorer, discovered the regale lily, the present upsurge in growing lilies from seed began. He found the regal lily growing in only one valley of Western China.
I shall never look at a regale lily without thinking of this courageous man. In 1910, he was coming down a mountainside with a thousand regale bulbs packed and strapped to a mule team caravan when a lock slide fell upon him and broke his leg.
His leg had to be splinted with a camera tripod. It was three days before he could get to a doctor and three months before he could sail home, but the bulbs were delivered.
When the growers who planted the regale seed found them to be of such easy culture and rapid growth, it encouraged them to try growing other lilies from seeds that they had believed before to be difficult. This was the beginning of many of the present-day lily hybrids.
My growing of lilies has been a similar experience to that of the early lily growers, but I have been able to profit from them. They readily shared their information with amateur lily growers as they made mistakes and improvements.
White Trumpets Are Easier
I have been an ardent gardener for more than I remember. But, until 1948, I had grown only Madonna and tiger lilies.
I made several attempts to grow the imported auratum lilies with repeated failures. Then, a gift of a white trumpet lily seeds package started me on one of the most thrilling garden adventures I have ever experienced.
I planted them, not knowing the exciting history of the regale lily. My seedlings grew and flourished. I was so enthusiastic that I grew a few of all the white trumpet hybrids I could purchase.
If you are a beginner in lily growing or wish to be one, I suggest you start with this group of lilies. I assure you that you will have many years of pleasure from them. You may find them so cooperative you may want to avoid venturing further. But I did.
After a few years of growing the white trumpets, membership in the North American Lily Society, and a trip to one of their national shows, I became more ambitious.
I saw so many lilies at the show that choosing which others I would try was hard. There are very few gardens that will grow all species and varieties well.
The Midwest has not been considered the best climate to grow lilies because our summers are hot and often dry.
Our winters are constantly freezing and thawing, with only occasional snow for winter protection. Yet, I have found that perseverance and substitutes for nature have made many of them quite easy to grow.
Drainage Is Essential
One of the first requirements for lily culture is good drainage, and as our land had a gentle slope from front to back, this problem did not exist for me.
The next requirement was loose, friable soil. Ours is a clay composition, so I spaded yards of native peat, compost, and sand until I thought the most aristocratic lilies should be content.
I need not have been overcareful, for one well-known lily grower states that any soil that will grow good corn and potatoes will grow good lilies. There are a few other requirements. They need sun for at least three-fourths of the day.
Most of mine have to grow in full sun all day, and only a few chosen ones can be planted where they receive afternoon shade. But, outside of some fading of the colors, they do very well.
Food Requirement
For their food requirement, I apply a complete fertilizer as the frost goes out of the ground in the spring before growth begins.
Then I feed one of the soluble fertilizers when the buds begin to show in the crown of the leaves. Finally, I spray for botrytis in wet weather and water when the soil is dry.
Lilies prefer to be open in perennial borders; they should have plenty of room if grown there.
They are better grown in beds alone with shallow-rooted annuals as companion plants or in clumps between evergreens whose dark foliage sets the lily blossoms off to perfection.
Successes And Failures
I have had many failures and many successes. A Mother’s Day gift of 25 Esperanza durations planted in a single bed caused quite a sensation in this garden-minded community. They brought pride and pleasure to me for three years, and then suddenly, they all died.
A plant sent to the U. S. Department of Agriculture was diagnosed as being infected with basal rot, a fusarium fungus found in some soils.
Auratum lilies are very susceptible to it. Although I have tried many times, I have never been able to establish them again.
Most of my soil is infested with the fusarium, and sterilization will kill it. However, many lilies are tolerant of this condition, and I am growing these.
Many colonies of the native L. michiganense grow along the railroad right of way not far from here. However, they quickly disappear due to weed cutting, burning, and chemical weed sprays.
I have tried to establish them in my garden for many years with little success, but after trying many places, they seem satisfied growing in a corner where a barberry hedge and a spruce tree meet.
They are increasing quite well, not so tall or prolific as on the right of way, but their small orange recurved blossoms sway against the green background and make a pleasant picture in July. It becomes very dry there in mid-summer, which may be what they like.
Lily Strains That Grow Well
I found testaceum (the Nankeen lily) reluctant to live in my garden for over a year. I was following a grower’s advice. I used wood soil and leaf mold with lots of gravel to plant it in, and I am having much better success.
The Fiesta hybrids grow well in Indiana and are a gay splash of color in June, asking no more than a place in the sun where they multiply rapidly. Another group of lilies that do well with me is the Beltsville hybrids— oranges, reds, and yellows.
They also like the sun and are good multipliers. The Mid-Century lilies do well here if their abundance of oranges does not overpower you. There are some new introductions in soft yellow which please me more.
It depends on two small lilies for our June flower show: the coral lily (Lily pumilum, formerly sold as Lily tenuifolium) and the Martagon album. The former has a small, bright orange-red Turk’s cap blossoming with the brightest orange anthers imaginable.
It does fairly well in the forward part of a perennial border. It is not a long-lived individual. But it is so easily raised from seeds that anyone can have dozens of them.
Martaban’s album wants a more retiring place and is happy close to a spreading yew where its carved ivory coloring and golden anthers are complimented.
Aurelian-Havemeyer Hybrids
Of all the lilies I have grown and tried to grow, I have left the best until the last. This is the large group of lilies known as the Aurelian and Havemeyer hybrids.
They are all descendants of a rugged cross made many years ago between the old orange reflex lily Henryi and a white trumpet lily.
Two men made this cross, and each raised one lily from seeds. M. Edouard Debras in Orleans. France named his ‘Aurelianensis,’ and later a Mr. Tom Barry, Lambertville, New Jersey, named his ‘T. A. Havemeyer.’
The Aurelianensis has a fascinating history, finding haven in America during the war years and it or its descendants being returned to the originator after gun emplacements had destroyed his garden. The descendants of these two lilies are some of the most beautiful today.
Features Of Aurelianensis
There are types and styles to suit the most fastidious gardener. From these have come cream, yellow and golden trumpets, more informal than their white ancestor.
The most diverse groups are the reflexes and semi-reflexes, which take their shape and coloring from Henryi but are enlarged and modified by the other parent.
Here you will find whites with yellow and orange throats similar to Henryi but much larger, yellow, orange, apricot, and tangerine flowers, all with the lovely green nectaries which Henryi has.
Some have narrow petals, many are broad, some are also bi-colors, some are fragrant, some medium height, and many are 5’ or 6’ feet tall with as many as 30 blossoms to the stem.
The pink trumpets have been introduced to this group in recent years, and even more lovely combinations result.
Best of all, they are willing to grow in good garden soil with no fuss and bother. Their hybrid background has given them great stamina and vigor. These two species can hardly see such a variation in blossoms and growth habits.
Fun With Hybridizing
I had ventured into the fascinating hobby of hybridizing with this group of lilies. Although there are many ordinary lilies in the seedlings, each year, I find a few that are outstanding, and these are enough to encourage me to grow lilies for the remainder of my gardening years.
The Havemeyer and Aurelian hybrids comprise the larger part of my lily plantings. They highlight the July and August garden, but I keep trying others.
This year I bought some of the west coast natives and their hybrids, a few of the new variety ‘Jillian Wallace,’ I must confess to buying six of auratum platyphyllums again.
The west coast lilies do not like our Midwestern climate. I made wonderful homes for them using oak leaf mold and gravel, but they may not choose to stay with me.
If they do not, there is always another year to coax them to be content in another part of my garden.
44659 by Martha Mears