One of the most valuable features of garden lilies is their ability to give a continuous sequence of bloom from late May or early June until autumn frosts.
With a careful selection of varieties, almost any gardener can enjoy the distinction of lily blooms for fully live months of the growing season.
The world of lilies has changed so rapidly in recent years, with the development of vigorous, easily grown hybrids, that their usefulness and adaptability continue to surprise many.
The old favorite orange and white types are still good, but new varieties in pink, yellow, red, and pastels are winning the hearts of gardeners everywhere.
In this article, we will concentrate on a June until October series of varieties for home gardens.
Gay Coral Lily
The gay coral lily (Lilium pumilum) generally flowers with us during late May or early June, with its dainty, waxy red blossoms particularly attractive among clumps of campanulas or violas.
The 2 to 4-foot stems are so graceful that it is advisable to set aside a group for cutting.
The Golden Chalice hybrids, a vigorous race of low-growing types that flower at the same time, have large, cup-shaped, erect blooms in gold and apricot. Plants tend to divide and form strong clumps.
Lemon Queen
Lemon Queen, a new hybrid developed by Dr. C. F. Patterson of the University of Saskatchewan, is fast becoming one of the best-known yellows.
Neither rugged prairie winters nor the damaging late frosts, which were widespread over the eastern continent this season, seem to injure it.
About mid-June, the tall sterns start to open their wen-spaced, lemon-yellow flowers.
Soil Drainage
All lily varieties demand excellent soil drainage. Autumn is an ideal time to plant the bulbs, generally set out during October and November.
The new hybrid lilies will grow in almost any soil, but all kinds of soils, particularly clayey or sandy, are improved by adding compost, old manure, or other organic matter.
Mulch
Adding mulch offers many advantages. Bulbs re-establish themselves more safely the first winter after planting, and the ground is kept cool and moist the following summer.
Although the soil should be dug deeply at planting time, bulbs generally require only three or four inches of soil over them.
Small kinds require shallower planting, while the historic madonna lily (L. candidum) should be set with the bulbs’ tops flush with the soil’s surface.
Brenda Watts
Late June and July usually bring the peak of lily bloom. An outstanding variety is Brenda Watts, a vigorous, tall red with recurved flowers, developed by Isabella Preston, who worked for many years at Canada’s Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa.
This lily multiplies well and provides color for several weeks during June and July. Superb among the new hybrids is the garnet-red ruby, which flowers profusely on 18-inch stems in early July. Developed by Percy Byam of Toronto, it soon forms a strong clump.
Yellow Lilies
Color is not the only virtue of modern hybrids. Breeders are striving for types that will do well in almost any garden soil, in full sun or partial shade, with a marked resistance to diseases.
Byam’s Melody, another dependable hybrid, is lemon-yellow, with 20 or more blooms on two to three-foot stems.
Yellow tones are easy to combine with other colors. Among yellows, there is Destiny, a vigorous selection from Jan de Graaff’s famous mid-century strain, with erect, soft yellow blooms on two-foot stems.
Enchantment, a bright orange, an almost indestructible lily, is the best known of this group.
Turk’s Cap Lily
Many of the wild lilies, however, will always have a place in the garden picture.
Two eastern North American natives, the Turk’s-cap lily (L. superbum) and the meadow lily (L. canadense), are useful for naturalizing in sod at the edge of a wood, among evergreens, or for general border planting.
Their grace and airiness are welcome in this age when large size is stressed.
The Turk’s-cap lily, with arching, stems seven or eight feet high, has orange-crimson flowers.
Flowering earlier in July is the meadow lily. In New England, this lily is generally yellow or golden-toned, with bell-shaped symmetrical blooms.
Meadow Lily
In the Appalachian ranges and foothills, on the other hand, meadow lily is usually a brilliant crimson, and a morning glimpse of red bells of this highland lily nodding among orchids and mints in some misty, alpine Virginia meadow, with deer bounding into the distance, is a sight not easily forgotten.
Trumpet Lilies
For fragrance and nobility, the trumpet lilies are difficult to surpass. The discovery of the regal lily (L. regale), by the late E. H. Wilson on the wild borders of Tibet, started the present-day revolution in the development of the lily.
Grown from seed by the thousands, it rapidly increased the lily’s popularity both here and abroad.
Olympic Hybrids
Most of the new strains of trumpet lilies, such as the vigorous Olympic Hybrids, have been developed from crosses of the regal lily with other trumpet relatives.
Groups of the Olympic hybrids, blooming on 4 to 6-foot stems, will provide color in wide perennial borders throughout most of July.
They are also superb near low walls or against a background of evergreens. For continuity, Sargentiae Hybrids continue into August with deep bronze and pink backs.
A Yellow Regal Lily
This year, at the North American Lily Society’s Annual Show at Kingwood Center, Mansfield, Ohio, several stems of the new golden-yellow regal lily, Royal Gold, attracted much interest, an easily grown variety.
Aurelian Hybrids
Similar in color and form are many selections of the Aurelian Hybrids, which hold much promise for gardeners everywhere.
Hybrids of the trumpets with the vigorous apricot species, the Henry lily (L. henryi), from China, these lilies vary from trumpet to reflect shapes. In color, they are white, lime, yellow, and gold.
Strong growing and disease resistant, the Aurelians can well become the focal points of the July and August garden.
Golden Clarion Hybrids are Jan de Graaff’s strain of yellow trumpets, while the Sunburst and Golden Harvest Hybrids are reflexed types that extend their blooming through much of August.
Lily breeders, notably John Shaver and Jan de Graaff of Oregon, with their Amethyst Temple and Olympic Pinks, have produced some lovely pink trumpet strains. Then, too, Fred Abbey of Vermont has also developed some excellent pink and rose tones.
This season, with frequently wet and cool weather in the cast, pink trumpets excelled. Easily grown anywhere, the pink tones are at their best in light shade, with some moisture, where summers are hot and dry.
For late July, there is a dark red, which like one of its ancestors, the familiar tiger lily, bears small, black bulbils in its leaf axils.
A striking variety that attracts attention from afar, it was created by Dr. E. F. Palmer, the famous gladiolus and lily breeder.
Goldband Lily
The Goldband lily (L. aural It in) is perhaps the showiest August bloomer. The huge, bowl-shaped flowers, white, with a golden band, and frequently crimson spotted, are most exotic.
Fairly easily grown, it is, however, susceptible to virus diseases and may only last a couple of years in some gardens.
Isolate it from other bulbs, possibly among shrubs, and it may bloom year after year.
In the gardens of such expert growers as Miss Alida Livingston of Long Island, it has flourished for many years.
Lilium Auratum and Lilium Speciosum
Jillian Wallace is the new and tremendously popular hybrid of L. auratum and L. speciosum from Australia.
The large, flat blooms, gracefully recurred at the tips, are red (pink in the bright sun) and deeply carmine spotted, with a white border.
More durable than L. auratum, this lily is easily grown in full sun or partial shade and makes a desirable pot or greenhouse specimen. Mid-August is about the average flowering time in Ontario.
Showy Lily
The showy lily (L. speciosum carries the lily season into September and comes in a variety of color forms.
Red Champion is a vigorous, easily grown clone with reflexed white and pink blossoms. Admirable for cutting and flower arrangements, a pure white type, White Champion, is also exquisite.
There is also L. maximowiczii, with nodding, orange flowers on tall, bronze stems. A few bulbs of this easy variety make an excellent spot of color throughout August.
Formosa Lily
The latest to bloom is the Formosa lily (L. for m osa num), with blooms resembling the Easter lily but on much taller sterns.
This outstanding species will generally bloom until frost, producing its long, graceful trumpets, touched with lime-green in the centers.
Again, it will not bloom well if it contracts virus diseases, so keeping the bulbs apart from other varieties is wise. An excellent cut flower, it is easily raised from seed.
At last, the value and the promise of these wonderful plants have won the admiration and love of the garden world.
44659 by Sandy Best