Thrilling Lilies for Summer Gardens
For lily lovers, nothing is more exciting than the launch of lily season. Our hearts swell in proportion to the plump buds that burst open into magnificent starlike or trumpet-shaped blooms. Lilies are ideal for people looking to squeeze more color into chock-full garden beds since their narrow habit takes up a small footprint. These towering flowers are definitely “thrillers.”
By planting a mix of the types you’ll see here, it’s easy to extend the bloom season from early summer to fall. Asiatic lilies kick off the show with a dazzling array of flower colors and patterns. Oriental lilies, like the famous ‘Stargazer’, pick up where the Asiatics leave off in midsummer with their large, showy, fragrant blossoms on taller 3- to 5-foot stems. Many of the lilies you see in florist bouquets are either Asiatic or Oriental types.
By midsummer, trumpet and orienpet lilies take center stage with a show of huge, intoxicatingly fragrant blossoms on tall sturdy stems. Species lilies offer a far more delicate appeal with their smaller, often pendulous and reflexed flowers. I’ll show you some of each in the next few pages.
GROWING TIPS All lilies grow best if you can meet a few specific growing conditions:
Soil Lilies require well-drained soil; sogginess quickly leads to bulb rot. However, bulbs also don’t like to dry out, so you will need to find the sweet spot in your garden where they can enjoy consistently moist, but not wet, soil.
Most lilies grow,
