cicco, this has to be one of my favorite topics. Brecks 'Lily Tree" ad from the spring catalog.
As an avid lily grower, I was sucked in when I received the catalog, I had to read on. Was I missing something new in lily development?
Well, I quickly figured out that they were talking about the vigor of the orienpet lily, a cross between the oriental lilium and trumpet lilium. They are calling the third year stalk of their orienpets a "Lily Tree", with a height of 6 - 8 feet, and some off shoots of the mother bulb. And they "trademarked" the name "lily tree". Oh dear.
These are wonderful lilies, that is true. But trees, they are not. I would NEVER , ever consider holding a bike up with a lily, or group of lilies, as shown in one of their pictures. The stalks are strong, yes, but tree like? It was unfortuante that they marketed these this way, especially for people not familiar with these types of lilies. There is no doubt in my mind that there will be some very confused people out there when they plant a bulb and hope for a tree. Lilies don't branch out like trees or shrubs either.
They are tall lilies, they are wonderful to grow, they are suppose to be more disease resistant, but trees, they are not.
Enjoy them, but yes, they are simply beautiful lilies that get better year after year.

The ideas the marketers have! One reason I try to order from companies that don't use hype to sell.

I was just going to post the same question! I searched for lily tree and found this thread. My MIL got a collection of these for each of her kids, so we'll be getting 8 of them, in different colors. I'm glad to hear that they are orienpets and are good to have!

My MIL is well known for buying weird plants with ridiculous claims made for them and giving them to each of her kids. We've had climbing zucchini, tree tomatoes, some kind of corn that was supposed to grow as high as a house, etc. Most of the plants turn out to be nothing much but it makes her happy:-)