The City Gardener: Luscious lilies

Article content

Midsummer is when the true royalty of the garden make their entrance, as the Oriental lilies raise their haughty, regal heads above the other plants

Like all gardeners, I have my particular favourites among the plants in my garden, and this time of year, I find myself waiting like a little kid for the lilies to bloom.

Recommended Videos

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

The City Gardener: Luscious lilies Back to video

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

It still amazes me that such impossibly beautiful flowers are so easy to grow. Just meet a few very basic needs, and they’ll return year after year. Some of them, like other flowering bulbs, will even multiply.

True lilies (lilium spp., not to be confused with daylilies, peace lilies, or any other plants that happen to have “lily” in their name) are available in just about any colour you can think of except purple or blue, and range in height from dwarf varieties barely a foot high to towering giants, well over six feet tall.

Most lily varieties can be organized into three categories. Asiatics are the first to bloom in early to mid-June, with their sturdy stems, firm petals and wide choice of colours, markings and sizes.

They’re closely followed by trumpet lilies, with their long, trumpet-shaped flowers and tall (up to five-foot) stalks.

Ultimately, by late July out come the stars of the show – when the Orientals unfurl their huge, bright blooms, often two or three (or more) buds to a stem.

Along with these, there are also countless hybrids and oddballs; hybridizing lilies is big business, and every year stronger and more exotic-looking types appear on the market.

Some of the more familiar ones include species hybrids, descended from wild plants such as turk’s cap and wood lilies; tiger lilies, with their curled-back petals and tiny spots; and impressive Franken-flowers such as “Orienpets” and lily trees that tower nearly ten feet tall.

Plant lily bulbs in early spring or fall, no later than about four weeks before the first frost. Dig a hole two to three times the height of the bulb (or about four to eight inches deep), and throw a handful of bone meal, bulb food, or compost into the hole before snuggling in the bulb, pointy end up.

Choose your planting spot carefully: like most flowers with big showy blooms, they need lots of full sun – at least four hours a day and preferably more. Make sure the spot you choose has rich, well-drained soil – standing water, even in spring and fall, will rot them.

Generally, they’re not as tasty to squirrels as tulips and crocuses, but if you’re concerned, you can place chicken wire or a thick blanket of mulch over them once planted.

Taller varieties should be staked as they grow, to prevent them toppling over – once the stems reach full size, they have a distressing tendency to pitch face-forward into the mud.

And, as with all bulbs, resist the urge to cut down the stalks once flowering is over; let them yellow naturally, so they can replenish the bulb for next year’s show.

Lilies are generally free from diseases and pests, with two notable exceptions. Check your lilies every day from the time they first emerge in spring for aphids (which you can dispatch with a stiff spray of water from the hose, a blast of Safer’s soap, or a detergent-water mix in a spray bottle); and especially, for the dreaded Japanese red lily beetle.

Lily beetles are an invasive pest that first appeared about 20 years ago, and to any lily lover, it’s a nasty little beast. You can’t mistake them – they’re about half an inch long and bright red. As soon as you see one on your lily foliage (check the undersides of leaves as well as the top), pick it off by hand and squish it or drop it into a bucket of soapy water.

I have found Safer’s soap works on them too if they’re hit directly. In the spring, they sometimes lay their eggs on the undersides of leaves or in the soil below. Remove and throw away any infested leaves, and keep a sharp eye out for them next spring.

Please feel free to write in with questions, to comment or to share your own city gardening adventures
with Martha. Write to her at marthasgarden07@gmail.com.