Newbie Lily grower - Please help!

15 years ago

Greetings fellow lily growers! I'm a complete lily newb and I need a lot of guidance :) I recently purchased a new home about 4 months ago and since then it has been a crazy productive Spring completely redoing the landscaping and getting my dream garden going.

One of my mail order suppliers (since I've provided her so much business) rewarded me with an insane discount on about 60 lily bulbs. (They're getting ready to turn off all their coolers for the season so they had to get rid of everything!)

I never realized lilies were so pretty so I selected a hand-full of different kinds. She's giving me the following buds:

12x Casa Blancas (white)

3x Cobra Orientals (red)

3x Copper Trumpets (orange)

9x Elodie Double Asiatics (beautiful pink)

3x Golden Stargazers (banana yellow blend)

3x Muscadet Orientals (white w/ pink blush)

3x Mystery (pale pink)

3x Pink Trumpets (dark pink)

3x Purple Princes (dark purple)

9x Shocking Orienpets (golden yellow w/ burgundy red)

3x Sphinx Double Asiatics (red)

6x Stargazer Orentals (red / white blend)

I'm going to be giving away about a third of these as gifts to friends and family and the remainder I'm keeping for my self. So here are my questions.

I reside in Orlando (zone 9B) and my house faces the NW so I'm leaning towards planting the majority in my backyard that receives morning sun and late afternoon shade.

1. Can I plant all these now or should I wait until the Fall? If I do have to wait until Fall is keeping them in the fridge sufficient enough in keeping them dormant or should I do more?

2. I'm leaning towards starting them all out in pots until they grow and then transplanting them to different spots in my yard next Spring. Would this be alright or should they go directly into Earth?

3. How far apart should I plant groups of bulbs? What's the best plant mixture to use as far as TopSoil, MiracleGro, Peat Moss, Perlite, Compost, Maneuer Etc.

4. Watering Schedule - How often should I water after they are first planted, after I see new growth, and after they are established?

4. What's the best (if any) fertilizer to give lilies and how often should I apply it?

5. Do I need to spray any insecticides and if so how often?

6. Is there such a thing as "pruning" lilies and what is the proper way to do it?

7. Do I need to do any type of winter protection? Our winters are relatively short here lasting from late November until early February with day temperatures being around 45 to 60 degrees and sometimes as cold as the lower 30s during nights.

That's all I can think of for now. I apologize for the long-winded post and if all this information can be found elsewhere in the forum if someone could just provide me a link to the post it would be most appreciated. Thank you in advance :)

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Comments (7)

hostaholic2 z 4, MN
15 years ago
I would probably plant them now. Be sure they have good drainage, lilies hate wet feet and the bulbs will rot in constantly wet soil. How close you plant them will depend on how often you want to dig and divide them. I'm hesitant to give advice for your zone as my growing conditions are very different from yours. My main concern would be that your lilies get enough winter chill (vernalization). Without it they will not bloom. I forget how many hours of chill they need. but I have included a link to The North American Lily Society's website. They have culture info, links to other sites and regional societies. I know some people plant in pots then place the pots in a refrigerator for a period in winter. Best of luck to you.

Here is a link that might be useful: American Lily Society
alina_1
15 years ago
I agree with Hostaholic: your zone is too warm for Lilies. Most of them need about 400 hours of chill each winter to bloom. Even in my zone 6 not all Lilies are reliable perennials.
Your online seller should've warned you about this.
On the other hand, you have so many flowers that are not available for us in colder zones.
Florida is a daylily heaven for example.
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bluederby21
Original Author
15 years ago
Wow . . . this is so disheartening and completely bums me out :( I'm sad now :( But thank you so much for the replies and informing me on the vernalization for lilies.

Fortunately I was able to cancel the entire lily buds portion of my order and she will be sending me some bare root David Austins and other roses instead.

The 18 buds I have already received I've packaged to be sent to some dear friends up in Northern Virginia so hopefully they can make them work.

I'm going to at least keep 1 Casa Blanca, 1 Purple Prince and 1 Stargazer for myself to grow and try the fridge thing this winter to see if I can pull it off.

It's just so not fair that tulips, lilies and all these other wonderful flowers can't be grown in Florida :(
alina_1
15 years ago
Plant the bulbs you keep for yourself now. It is a bit late, but they should bloom for you this year later. They probably were vernalized.
As for your friends in NoVA, I am in MD, very close to them. I can tell you that Orientals are annual here. They never return. Some Asiatics too. The Orienpents you bought are the best in our zone - reliable perennials.
chocolatemoose
15 years ago
Alina_1...Are you saying Asiatics are annuals in VA & MD? Just curious as to why? Winter temps not cold or not cold long enough?
They are perennial up here and we go down into minus 50 degrees temps.

BlueDerby21...I'd LOVE to find a deal like you did with that vendor!...And we all want what we can't grow...LOL. I look at the flowers you all can grow down there, along with the length of your growing season and am envious. Bougainvillea, amaryllis (outdoors), crepe myrtle and the list goes on.
alina_1
15 years ago
Chocolatemoose,

I am really happy that we can grow crape myrtles here in MD :o) One of my favorite summer trees. I also stretch zone restrictions a bit by planting some stuff close to the house foundation. Have Calla Lilies, Dahlias, tender Clematis perennialized this way.

As for Asiatics, I am not sure what is the culprit. Some of them are wonderful perennials for me (Matrix, Lollipop, Fata Morgana, Black Out, etc.). Some of them never return or decline significantly next year after planting and disappear on the second year (Landini, lots of others). Lost of Asiatics' hybrids do well here (LA lilies).

I did not have a single Oriental that return year after year, and I tried tons of them. Some people have Casablanca and it does well, but I do not grow it.
I am extremely happy with Orienpets. They are superior to Orientals IMO.
hostaholic2 z 4, MN
15 years ago
I would love to hear from someone for whom Orientals do well and reliably return and multiply.