{"id":5423,"date":"2013-07-17T12:18:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-17T16:18:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-08-13T17:59:50","modified_gmt":"2020-08-13T21:59:50","slug":"a-lily-by-any-other-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardern.co.za\/2013\/07\/a-lily-by-any-other-name\/","title":{"rendered":"A lily by any other name"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n \n<\/div>\n \n<\/div>\n \n<\/div>\n \nFragrant Orienpet Lilies in my garden this hot and humid afternoon, just after a <\/div>\n \nsummer downpour complete with hail, wind gusts and lightning. <\/div>\n \nThis sturdy breed excels in the garden.<\/div>\n <\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n \nThere is nothing quite like the towering, fragrant true lilies of mid-summer. Tall, elegant, scented like nothing else on Earth, and spectacular in the garden, true lilies ( those grown from bulbs) should be on your wish list every year – and this is the best time to think about ordering them, as the finest ( and few!) mailorder lily nurseries, take orders now, for shipment in mid-October, when they should be planted for flowers in your garden every summer. <\/div>\n \n<\/div>\n \nFor more lily inspiration, click MORE<\/span> below.<\/div>\n \n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n \n<\/div>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Nope- not even close to being a ‘true lily’, the Fire Lily from South Africa, Cyrtanthus elatus, seems to | \nthrive in the years’ heat and humidity. This tender bulb must be grown in a pot in the north.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n I know – garden writers love to educate us about the proper use of botanical Latin, but there is a real purpose for this often difficult and elitist sounding way speak about plants, especially when it comes to lilies. Not unlike the label ‘daisy’, ‘lily’ often clumps together many plants which are not even remotely related, simply because people have associated them ‘true’ lilies. Mid-summer is true lily season here in New England, yet few people still seem to grow lilies ( aside from Daylilies – um, not ‘true lilies, sorry). True lilies – those tall, often fragrant Oh, I know… then there is this new invasion of the Lily Beetle, which is curretly invading the eastern US and Europe. Pretty, little lady-bug like insects which can devastate an emerging lily stem in a couple of weeks. If you want to grow true lilies today, you will either have to try and pick the bugs and larvae off every day in the early spring, or use a systemic insecticide in a light dose, early in the spring. I know first hand, that this is what most lily growers do today, and lilies are the only plants in the garden where I will use a systemic, but only carefully on choice bulbs that are not bee polinated – honeybees, you know – too precious, and very sensitive to systemics.<\/p>\n If you really want to add lilies to your garden scheme, look now for your favorite varieties and take notes – bookmark these sites, and place your order ( lily bulbs are still a good buy, with most bulbs selling for less than $6.00), be sure to order three bulbs or more of each variety for the best show, and next July, let me know how you feel on that hot, summer evening when you catch a whiff of cinnamon and toothpaste ( how I describe the scent of trumpet lilies). You may be converted.<\/p>\n Look, Daylilies are fine, but true lilies are magic. Go try some, knowing these facts: Broadly speaking, lilies are broken into four groups.<\/p>\n \n<\/span><\/h4>\n\nTrumpet Lilies<\/h4>\n\nOrientpets<\/h4>\nyes, a weird name, and perhaps the worst name for a class of lilies, but these are rather new to horticulture. Crosses between Oriental lilies and Trumpet Lilies, these are by far, the most beautiful lily varieties sold today, inheriting the finest characteristics of both types. Tall, strong stems, fragrance, and incredible colors and flower form. You may even find these sold in pots now at finer nurseries, and if you do, get some and plant them now ( they transplant fine), and you may be able to enjoy lilies this season, and many to come.<\/p>\n \nSpecies<\/h4>\nTrue horticulturists lean towards species, and I will include the ‘Turks Caps’ here, even though there are hybrids and named selections, they are so hard to find, and so prone to insect damage and difficult to grow, that I will not go into depth with them. Try them if you live in mountainous areas, the alps, or in the Pacific Northwest. The rest of us can just try them. Species lilies are precious and always hard-to-find, as well as hard-to-grow. A favorite of mine, our native lilies – Lilium canadense, L. superbum, and L. philadelphicum.<\/p>\n \nLooks-Like-Lilies, but not<\/p>\n Here are some non-lilies growing in my garden right now.<\/p>\n |