Hi Lucy,

Only two hours of sun is tough to make work for lilies, but your best bet is the Speciosum Album. Speciosum (Album or Rubrum) is more shade tolerant than most. They also are butterfly magnets and would work well in your full sun garden also. "Uchida" is a superior strain of Rubrum - which you might want to consider for your sunny garden. I have it in a sunny garden and it does very well. Speciosum also reproduces faster than most orientals (by stem bulblets) which could be good for filling in a large butterfly garden.

Orientals can handle more shade than Asiatics or Trumpets so Cassa Blanca *might* work for you also.

Lilium Candidum is a lovely lily and everyone who can grow it should. But that's the catch, it's a species lily that is particular about conditions. If it has them, it's happy - if it doesn't, it's not. Candidum needs sunny conditions and doesn't mind being hot and dry - because it goes dormant over the height of the summer. Unlike other lilies Candidum needs basic conditions (high pH) and needs to be planted shallowly - with the tip of the bulb no more than 1" below the surface. Mine are done blooming now. They'll go dormant soon and then grow a rosette of basal leaves in the Fall that overwinter.

If your sunny garden has flowers that can take some lime and you don't mind a bit of a challenge go ahead and try Candidum. However, the bulbs are more expensive, and when affordable are small.

I was unsuccessful with bulbs I bought. I don't know if it was the bulbs or the garden - but they've never done much of anything for me besides grow rosettes (no "bloom worthy" flowering stalks in the spring). I've had a lot more success with seed. They caught up with and outperformed the bulbs. Seed require more patience (since it will be a couple years before you get flowers) but you are assured that they are virus free and if they don't work in a particular garden you're not out $$$.

All the lilies you mention are cold hardy.

-Helen

Thank you Helen.
I'm in a part of Iowa with fairly hard water so a high pH isn't usually a problem - everybody has to lower their pH to grow azaleas, etc.

Where do you get seed? I'd be interested in trying that?
Thanks again,
Lucy

Lots of lily societies (see link) have seed lists, though you must be a member to gain access to most of them. NALS is the exception, since surplus seed is also available to non-members. You'll also find lily seed (mostly species) in the lists of organisations like NARGS (http://www.nargs.org/info/website.html), the SRGC(http://www.srgc.org.uk/) and the AGS (http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/).

Commercial sites for hybrid seed include David Sims' site (http://www.lilyseeds.com/index.html), Rainbow Francom's (http://www.lilyseed.com/) and Joe Halinar's (http://www.cascadebulbandseed.com/).

For species seed you can go to people like the Archibalds (http://www.jjaseeds.com/), Krystal Walek's Gardens North (http://gardensnorth.com/site/), or Ron Ratko's Northwest Native Seeds (email for list: oreonana@mbay.net).

These are only those I can think of off the top of my head - there are plenty of others. Good Luck

Here is a link that might be useful: NALS

Hi lucy,

If you look for Candidum seed, try to get "Cascade" strain. It's a superior selection of the species. I got my Candidum Cascade seed from a NALS seed sale. While surplus seed is available to non-members, NALS members do get "first dibs".

Candidum is a relatively easy to grow lily seed because it's immediate epigeal. It doesn't need a cold period to leaf out - so you germinate it in Spring (or late winter indoors to give it a head start). The Lily garden sells a few varieties of immediate epigeal seeds, including Candidum. Another one that is quite nice is L. Lankongense. It gets small turks cap shape pink blooms that have a lovely "rose like" scent. L. Leucanthum (a trumpet lily) is a very pretty and large trumpet lily that is easy to grow from seeds. And some of your plants will get a bloom the very next year (and be quite large, almost fully mature, the second).

Some other species lilies can be quite difficult to successfully grow from seed (or bulb for that matter) since they can be very particular about their microclimate (in addition to having delayed hypogeal germination). This can be particularly true of North American Lilies. If you decide to try them it probably would be best to pick species native to your region.

Even with the "easy" seed, plant a LOT of them. Sometimes they germininate great and sometimes only a very small percent germinate. Also, be patient. They're not like tomatoes that germinate seemingly overnight. Some of my "easy" seed has taken 4 weeks to germinate (or longer!). But once you have success, its great. It's also a good way to fill a large garden: Buy some bulbs for the immediate gratification, and then fill in with plants you grow from seed.

-Helen

Here is a link that might be useful: easy lily seeds