Inscriptions of lilies have been found on vases and Assyrian monuments dating back to 1300 B.C. However, until recent years, hybridizers have entirely 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.
In times past, some gardeners grew these lilies with varying degrees of success. No mistaking; they were considered plants for the expert. It was not until Ernest H. Wilson, noted plant explorer, discovered the regale lily that the present upsurge in growing lilies from seed began.
He found the regale lily growing in only one valley in Western China. Without thinking of this courageous man, I shall never look at a regale lily.
In 1910 he was coming down a mountainside with a thousand regale bulbs packed and strapped to a mule team caravan when a rock slide fell upon him and broke his leg.
His leg had to be splinted with a camera tripod. The bulbs were delivered three days before he could get to a doctor and three months before he could sail for home.
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 sources they had believed to be complicated. 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. As they made mistakes and improvements, they have readily shared their information with amateur lily growers.
White Trumpets Easier
I have been an ardent gardener for more years than I care to be reminded of. Until 1998, I had grown only Madonna and tiger lilies. I made several attempts to develop the auratum lilies with repeated failures.
A chance gift of a package of white trumpet lily seeds 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 developed 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 would advise you to 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 never want to venture further. But I did.
After a few years of growing the white trumpets, I became more ambitious. I saw so many lilies at shows that it was hard to choose which others I would try. 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 quite dry, and our winters are constantly freezing and thawing with only occasional snow for winter protection.
I have found that perseverance and substitutes for nature have made many of them relatively easy to grow.
Drainage 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 following requirement was loose, friable soil.
Ours is of a clay composition, so I spaded many yards of native peat, compost, and sand into it until I thought the most aristocratic lilies should be content.
Perhaps 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 suitable 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. Outside of some fading of the colors, they do very well.
For their food requirement, I apply a complete fertilizer just as the frost goes out of the ground in the spring before growth begins. Then I give a feeding of one of the soluble fertilizers when the buds start to show in the crown of the leaves. I spray for botrytis in wet weather and water when the soil is dry.
Lilies do not like to be crowded in perennial borders; if grown there, they should have plenty of room. They are better developed in beds with shallow-rooted annuals as companion plants or in clumps between evergreens whose dark foliage sets the lily blossom to perfection.
Successes And Failures
I have had many failures and successes. A Mother’s Day gift of 25 auratums planted in a single bed caused quite a sensation in our garden-minded community. They brought pride and pleasure to me for three years, and they all died.
A plant was sent to a plant lab and was diagnosed as being infected with basal rot, a fusarium fungus found in some soils. Auratum lily is 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. Many lilies are tolerant of this condition, and I am growing these.
Many colonies of the native Lilium michiganense grow along the railroad right of way not far from here. However, they are fast disappearing as a result of weed cutting and chemical weed sprays.
I have tried to establish them in my garden for many years with little success, but at last, 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 scorched there in mid-summer; perhaps that is what they like.
I found testaceum (the Nankeen lily) reluctant to live in my garden for more than a year. 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.
I depend on two miniature lilies for our June flower show: the coral lily (Lilium pumilum, formerly sold as Lilium tenuifolium) and the Martagon album. The former has a tiny, bright orange-red Turk’s cap blossom with the most brilliant orange imaginable.
If not crowded, it does reasonably well in the forward part of a perennial border. It is not a long-lived individual, but it is so quickly raised from seeds that anyone can have dozens of them.
Martagon’s album seems to want a more retiring place and is happy close to a spreading yew where its carved ivory coloring and golden anthers are complimented. Cream and white Aurelian trumpets with orange and yellow throats.
Growing Hybrids
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 more significant, yellow, orange, apricot, and tangerine flowers, all with the lovely green nectaries Henryi has.
Some have narrow petals, many are broad, some are also bicolors, some are fragrant, some medium height, and many are five 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 without fuss and bother. Their hybrid background has given them great stamina and vigor. Such a variation of blossoms and growth habits can hardly be visioned in these two species.
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.
These highlights the July and August garden, but I keep trying others. This year I bought some of the west coast natives and their hybrids, and I must recall repurchasing six auratum platyphyllums.
The west coast lilies do not like our Midwestern climate. I made beautiful homes for them by 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.
by Marcia Mears
6578 by NA