Many years ago a doctor friend of mine had a Christmas card picturing a lovely garden with this quotation from Kipling beneath—”Such gardens are not made by saying, ‘Oh, how beautiful,’ and sitting in the shade.” That doctor is no longer young, but his interest in gardens and flowers has grown with the years.
Not long after I first knew him he developed a love for lilies. Aside from enjoying their superb beauty in the garden, his scientific mind wanted to know the how and why of their growth and why they were considered so difficult to cultivate. His efforts with lilies intensified the meaning of Kipling’s quotation — such gardens are not made by sitting in the shade!
For the Love of Lilies
At that time Dr. Jim lived in a medium-sized mid-western town in the rich prairie belt. He, like thousands of others in the area, realized the natural richness and fertility of the soil and felt it would grow nearly anything. And almost without exception, it did.
But through bitter experience, Dr. Jim learned that lilies, the one plant he wanted most, could not be depended upon to thrive in that soil. So, true to his scientific training, he wanted to know “why.” Then one summer while vacationing in the Northwest, he visited a big lily farm in Oregon and asked a lot of questions.
Fortunately, he talked with a farm manager who appreciated Dr. Jim’s unusual interest and took pains to answer his questions. Out in the fields, they examined the soil and found it to be a loose sandy loam that had been cover-cropped a couple of years to add humus.
He noticed that even after torrential rains the soil was never soggy and waterlogged. It drained perfectly and was never a sticky mess as was the soil back in his mid-western garden. At first, he was discouraged, for he saw no way to change his soil and attain the drainage he desired.
Not only was the natural soil poorly drained, but as Dr. Jim dug deeper in his garden the drainage was worse.
What he wanted was a lily bed four to six feet wide with loose, porous soil 12” to 18” inches deep. He discovered that if he dug a hole two feet deep into the natural soil and filled this with water, it took days to drain away. He considered digging out a bed and filling it with ideal soil … but then a torrential rain would drain into the bed, making it a sticky, soggy mess that would remain for a long time.
Common sense told Dr. Jim to disregard that idea. All right, why not build the bed above the soil’s natural level? Then rains would drain away promptly. The experiment proved this to be the practical solution.
So Dr. Jim made several lily beds-15” to 18” inches high—using a mixture of equal parts loam, sharp sand (like that used in mixing cement) with peat moss or rich compost added. Well-decomposed compost proved to be most effective with sand and loam.
Lily Beds
The first year his lily beds were planted he thought spring would never come. But it did, and up came his lilies. He top-dressed them with a booster food as the farm manager had suggested. To his great surprise, all the lilies grew and bloomed superbly—although his neighbors lost numerous bulbs from winter damage.
To compose the desired garden setting, he planted masses of shrubs behind the lily beds and supported the front of the built-up beds with a wall of rocks and old bricks. Along the face and top of this wall, he planted low-growing plants which trailed down over the rock to mask the artificial look.
After a few experimental years, the built-up lily beds became a distinctly beautiful addition to the garden picture.
Good Companion Plants for Lilies
Dr. Jim was not satisfied to plant only lilies in the beds, for he knew that lilies enjoy a cool root run though their foliage seems to thrive in full sun. Therefore he selected different perennials and interplanted them among the lilies.
The perennials provided just enough shade to keep the lily roots cool and, of course, the general effect of the planting was greatly enhanced. Companion plants are not to steal the show, however; they are to complement the lilies, not overwhelm them.
Tall perennials which Dr. Jim added delphinium, both the Pacific hybrids and the old belladonna, aconitum ‘Sparks Variety,’ fall aster, Iris sibirica, and rudbeckia ‘The King’ Perennials of medium height included phlox, especially the white ‘Miss Lingard,’ Russell lupine, aquilegia, anemone ‘September Charm,’ gypsophila ‘Bristol Fairy’ and varieties of chrysanthemum.
In the foreground were planted Alyssum saxatile, dwarf aster—including the extra good variety ‘Frikartii’—Anchusa myosotiflora, and the veronicas. All of these perennials grow well with lilies.
Each year Dr. Jim improves and develops his garden. His experiments answered his “whys” and as a result, his garden is soul-satisfying. Dr. Jim overcame the failures of his earlier experiments to achieve the garden he had dreamed of.
Too many gardeners are content with leaving a failure as is. Successful gardens don’t just happen. They are the result of “know-how” which comes from an insatiable urge to know “why.”
44659 by Romaine B. Ware