Luscious lilies for your garden pots or borders

Choosing where to grow your lilies

Firstly, where would you like to grow lilies? In pots or in garden borders? Different lilies like different soil types. So, if you’re planning on planting in pots, then the world is your oyster when it comes to lily choice. You can choose any lily and just mix up the right soil.

Scent vs colour

© G.A. Verdegaal UK

Potted Asiatic lily, Lilium ‘Majestic Joy’

This leads us to the next question, do you prefer to have gorgeous scent filling your garden during summer or are you hooked on having a garden bursting with vibrant colour?

If you’re the latter then the unscented Asiatic lilies are the winners when it comes to bold and beautiful colour. Asiatics vary from bright yellows and oranges to the deepest dark reds as well as two-toned lilies. But if it’s the perfume you just can’t resist, then the Oriental lilies are your best pick. Oriental lilies come in a palette of pinks, whites and even yellows. Some are amazingly decorative too.

© Pontus Wallstén

Oriental trumpet Lilium ‘Anastasia’

© Royal Van Zanten

Oriental lily Lilium ‘Lipgloss’

Planting in your garden

Planting lily bulbs in a container

When it comes to planting lilies in your garden borders, you’ll need to know which soil type you have. Asiatic lilies prefer an

The acidity/alkalinity of soil is measured on a pH scale, which runs from 0 to 14. Neutral soil has a pH of 7. Alkaline (lime-rich) soil has a pH above 7, and the higher the pH, the more alkaline the soil. Chalky or limestone soils are alkaline. You can measure your soil pH using a simple testing kit. If you have alkaline soil, choose plants that will thrive in it – acid-loving or ericaceous plants such as rhododendrons will not. Club root disease (which affects brassicas) is less prevalent in alkaline soil.

A hybrid plant is the offspring produced by cross-pollinating one specific cultivar with another different cultivar. This process of cross-pollination, rather than pollination between plants of the same cultivar, generally creates stronger, healthier, improved offspring, said to have ‘hybrid vigour’.

hybrid

Helpful tips for growing lilies

Loose lily bulbs

Lilium martagon

1. If planting in pots, plant three
   These are fleshy, rounded, underground storage organs, usually sold and planted while dormant. Examples include daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, lilies, onions and garlic. The term is often used to cover other underground storage organs, including corms, tubers and rhizomes.

   bulbs in a 25–35cm (10–14in) diameter pot
2. Lilies can tolerate very cold conditions but they don’t like to get wet, so add grit to your soil to ensure it’s free draining
3. Most lilies prefer to be planted in a location with at least half a day’s full sunshine – if it’s too shady they’ll lean their stems towards the sun. Turk’s cap lilies (L. martagon) are the exception. These like their heads in the sun but their feet in the shade
4. When the lily has finished flowering, cut back any seedheads and allow the foliage to die back naturally. Don’t be tempted to cut the stems back until they become hollow and brown, before this they’re still producing energy for the bulb
5. Believe it or not, lilies like a cold
   Dormancy refers to a period of inactivity in plants, during which they slow down or stop their growth, conserving energy and resources. This is a natural process that helps them survive harsh conditions, such as winter or drought. Dormancy in seeds is a mechanism that prevents them germinating until environmental conditions are favourable for growth.

   dormant phase and like to be left where they are during winter – just ensure there’s adequate drainage so they can’t get waterlogged

Harts Nursery