Hi Carol, there are different groups of lilies. For beginners, Asiatics are really easy and have a lot of selection. Lilies don't rebloom but the bloom times can be staggered if you plant a few different ones. My early ones start the first week of July or thereabouts and later ones might barely have time to bloom before frost.

Tiger lilies are also really easy. No lilies are invasive in my opinion but any happy lily will make baby bulbs that will grow up to eventually form a clump. Tiger lilies also have little bulblets on their stems that fall and make new plants. These increase a little too fast for some people's liking but I'm not bothered by them.

Lilies don't need any special care. There is a lily beetle that decimates them but it hasn't become widespread in the Prairies as far as I know. Everything we grow here on the forum is at least borderline hardy, some groups are more touchy and need to be mulched for the winter, or might not perform as well as they could, or increase at all.

By the way, lilies are REALLY nice interplanted with roses!

Take a look at the Lily Nook website below, it has a good rundown of the different groups and nice eye candy to look at too :0)

Oh yeah and take a look at Daylilies too, they aren't really lilies but so trouble free and hardy, and almost every size, shape and colour you could want.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lily Nook

Oh Carol, beware! Beware! Lilies can be terribly addictive too. But for the most part they are pretty much bullet proof for us. Gillian pretty much gave you all the info you need to get started. If you stick with the asiatics and LA hybrids you won't have any problems. Just don't plant them in a low spot where water accumulates in the spring. In fact, they pretty much enjoy the same conditions that roses do.

Bloom time is about 2 weeks for an individual lily bulb, but like Gillian said, you can stagger the bloom times from about the end of June til mid September. The problem with the later blooming varieties is that they may not have enough time for the bulb to mature going into winter, and they may not survive. Orientals are the later bloomers that are tricker, but if you have a nice warmer micro-climate in your yard they may do well for you there.

If you have any more questions, do ask away. There's quite a few lily addicts on this forum. Oh, btw, we do have a disclaimer here that we are not responsible for any enabling that may happen. ;^)

Laurie

I agree Laurie, lilies are addicting. My second love after roses.
Carol, I made a lily bed last spring. And by the fall, I had to increase the size to put more lilies in. Even the Asiatics bloom at different times. Once my lilies started blooming, they kept going for quite a while.
Try some, you don't know what your missing.

Shelley

Hmmmm. I'll have to go lily shopping come spring! I'm so tired, I can't bother to look right now at your previous posts to see what your lilies look like, but I will tomorrow or soon. I don't know if I can handle ANOTHER addiction! LOL

Thanks,
Carol