Lilies are rapidly assuming an important place. American gardens to which their great beauty, diversity of form, and usefulness entitle them.
American lily breeders, large-scale propagation by American bulb growers, and the application of researchers’ findings have all aided in bringing lilies to the center of the stage.
Science has tamed the temperamental prima donnas of the past to make them stars of today’s gardens. Many gorgeous beauties await an invitation to perform in your garden.
You must, however, invite the good performers, house them properly, and treat them well. I shall tell you how to do it.
Suitable Place For Lilies
First, the site or place where the lilies are to grow must be suitable. Most lilies will grow in a sunny position, and many will do well or even better in light or shifting shade, especially those cast by tall trees far enough away to eliminate the competition from their roots.
The colors of the red and orange upright types, which fade quickly in the bright midsummer sun, are much better in light shade.
Many lilies do not flower well in deep shade and produce weak stems that need staking.
The Regal lily and its hybrids, if grown with shade on one side, as next to a house, lean towards the sun. They should have equal light on all sides.
For shady places, the Martagon lily and its lovely white variety album, Hansen’s lily, and hybrids of these species, known as the Backhouse Hybrids, are best.
Lilium henryi is also good in the shade, where its orange color does not fade as fast as in the hot sun.
Good Air Circulation
Good air circulation is desirable to dry off the foliage rapidly after rain. Slow drying where the air still favors the botrytis blight, a disfiguring foliage disease of the Madonna and several other lily species.
Gardeners in frost pockets may lose many lilies from late frosts occurring after the lilies have started growing. The trumpet lilies are especially susceptible.
Frost pockets should be avoided, but if this is not possible, plan to cover the lilies when late spring frosts threaten. Large trees and large vigorous shrubs compete with the lilies for plant nutrients and moisture.
Keep the lilies away from them or plan to cut the tree roots near the lilies with a spade once or twice a year. Lilies that have grown up with the shrubs will tolerate considerable competition if well fertilized.
Importance of Soil
The soil is important, too, and much has been written about it. A good, fertile, well-drained garden or farm soil that will grow good vegetables, flowers, and farm crops should grow good lilies.
When complications arise, and the lilies fail, the soil is often blamed, but most failures can be traced to other things.
During the last 25 years, I have grown many lilies on clay loam soil, and the only soil trouble experienced has been chlorosis or yellowing of the foliage of L. hansoni and a few of its hybrids.
Incorporating liberal quantities of acid peat moss in the soil before planting should correct this trouble with these lilies. Gardeners with acid soils should not have chlorotic lilies.
Extreme soils such as coarse sands and gravel or compact clays present problems for lilies as well as many other plants. The extreme soils should be removed to a depth of 18 inches and replaced with good garden soil.
If this is not feasible, one should become an organic gardener long enough to improve the soil with large quantities of organic matter.
Leaf mold, peat, and compost are suitable, as are green manure crops to be turned under.
Animal manures should be avoided unless well-rotted and aged. Otherwise, they may be expected to cause trouble through basal rot, a soil-borne disease of lilies and other bulbs.
Drainage
Good drainage is essential. If one must plant lilies in soggy areas, removing the excess moisture with a properly installed tile drain is the best procedure.
The next best procedure is to mound up the soil in beds to a height of about 6” inches, or at least enough to bring the bulb and its root system well above the water level in the soil.
These beds may dry out in dry weather, so mulching and watering may be needed. One should not dig a hole, put cinders or gravel in it, and then soil on top.
Unless the hole goes down to coarse, well-drained subsoil underneath, it will fill up with water and be no better than before.
Fertile soils grow bigger and better lilies than infertile soils, but the judicious use of chemical fertilizers during the growing season will remove any deficiency. It is not necessary to fertilize the soil when fitting it for planting.
Bone Meal may be used by those who think they should add plant nutrients at planting time, but I would rather spend the money on organic materials, mulch, and more bulbs.
The Madonna lily must be planted in August or early September to give it time to make the leaf growth characteristic of this species.
Most others should be planted as early in the fall as well-ripened bulbs can be obtained. Early planting, before mid-October, permits some root growth before winter.
If bulbs are not expected to arrive before the ground freezes, a heavy mulch will keep the frost out, and the bulbs may be planted later than usual.
If a cold cellar is available, late arrivals may be potted up, stored until spring, and planted out when the soil is dry enough to work without packing.
The pots will need occasional watering during the winter, but if the pots are plunged in moist peat, sawdust, or sand, watering can be infrequent.
Any mice around the place should be destroyed as they will eat the new shoots that start from the bulb as spring approaches.
Planting Depth
The depth of planting is not important so long as the bulbs are not too deep or too shallow. Lily bulbs have contractile roots that pull the bulb down to the proper depth for the species.
The Madonna lily should not be deeper than 2” inches to the top of the bulb. L. giganteum (now Cardiocrinum giganteum) should be even with the top of the soil.
Other lilies may be planted 4” to 6” inches deep, the more vigorous species being planted deeper than the smaller types.
The bulb is planted upright in a hole wide enough to accommodate the roots without crowding or bending them.
Loose soil is formed around the bulb and roots with the finger, and after the hole is filled, the soil should be fixed by stepping on it. No sand is needed around the bulb since it does not improve drainage as is often claimed.
Fungicidal treatment is not necessary if sound, healthy bulbs are received from the dealer.
If homegrown bulbs are used, and some basal rot is evident, the bulbs showing rot should be discarded, and the others dipped in a Tersan solution at the rate of two ounces of Tersan in one gallon of water.
Controlling Pest Damage
In some areas, mice destroy lily bulbs in the winter. Small lots of bulbs may be enclosed in wire baskets available from bulb dealers, but this is not feasible for large plantings.
One lily grower has recommended incorporating the soil of ¾ inch size crushed stone at the rate of one-half crushed stone and one-half soil around the bulb as an effective mouse deterrent.
Poison baits used by fruit growers are available from farm bureaus and should be used in large plantings where mice are serious.
Where rabbits are numerous, they must be controlled during the growing season, or they will destroy more lilies than all the diseases together.
Shooting, trapping, fencing, and rabbit repellents are possible control measures.
Lilies are more effectively planted in groups of from three to a dozen or more plants. Single plants scattered about the border are less effective.
The bulbs should be at least a foot apart to permit the stems to sway gracefully in the breeze without becoming entangled with each other.
A background of shrubs or yew is desirable. Lilies should not be crowded among strong-growing perennials.
Winter Protection
Winter protection is desirable in cold climates, especially for the trumpet lilies.
Straw, marsh hay, peat, and sawdust applied to a depth of 3” or 4” inches should give adequate winter protection. The mulch should be deeper in cold areas where snow cover is uncertain, and the cold is prolonged.
The lilies should be labeled and a diagram made of the planting, particularly if many named similar hybrids are planted. The map is more important than the label, which is often lost or illegible.
Bulbs should be purchased from lily specialists, not bins in department stores or flower shows. They should be freshly dug, free from basal rot, and with the roots intact.
Some lilies, notably L. testaceum, Havemeyer, and the older Hollandicums (L. umbellatum), are probably unavailable as virus-free bulbs, but they will perform well. They should, however, be isolated from virus-free lilies if the latter is to remain healthy.
44659 by George L. Slate