WHO doesn’t love a lily? And for some people, being able to grow their favourite lily in a container, where they can admire it – or smell its sweet fragrance – up close, is essential. Our most dramatic lily types are the large-flowered Oriental and Asiatic hybrids, which come in a cocktail of bright colours and markings on their trumpet-shaped blooms.
Although the best time to plant lilies in pots is now so they settle in well before winter, they are not always available until late autumn, or even winter and spring. This is because commercial bulb producers must wait to harvest their lily bulbs until after the plants’ leaves have died back, and this may not happen until November or later. Fortunately, some nurseries have found a way around this, so bulbs can be bought as early as October, so look out for them.
Turk’s-cap lily
There are two very beautiful lily types that really do need to be planted, which produces tall spikes of elegant, pink-purple flowers, with attractive swept-back petals, in early summer.
