Hi Sweetpea,

I have had the same exact same problem with some of my Elegant Lady lilies (a Longiflorum X (Longiflorum X Rubellum) hybrid). I planted 10 bulbs. All started out with a lot of buds (7 per stem) which happily surprised me since the bulbs were planted this spring. As time went by though, the buds split at the sides while they were still small (the petals pulled apart but remained connected at the tip) and eventually dried up and turned dark. Only two stems were unaffected. The rest are down to two or three buds. All of the plants grew great, look very healthy, and the remaining buds are now starting to bloom and look beautiful.

I'm hoping that the problem is just an adjustment to being newly planted - but if any one knows what this is please let Sweetpea and myself know.

-Helen

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one and that your plants are remaining healthy. That gives me hope! Maybe you're right about the plants needing time to adjust. I want to do anything I can to prevent this from happening again next year - I'm sure you do too!

Hi Helen,
I copied my post to the Far North forum, which I check all the time, and got a bit more info that might be of interest to you. Still nothing conclusive though.
One possibility could be lack of water. Do you think that could have been what happened in your case? That's the only idea I've heard so far.
Here's a link to that thread so you can check it out.

Here is a link that might be useful: Far North

My lilies are having this problem too--I've found some web sites that say it's caused by underwatering or lack of light?? Any lily experts have any better information? I do think my lilies may have produced too many buds this year--about twice as many as usual. Could that be a factor??

Hi All,
Mine have had plenty of water - so underwatering is not their problem. In contrast to the 1st year Longiflorum I have some oriental lilies planted in the same bed that are 3rd year plants that have not been affected at all.

I also planted L. Regale (A trumpet species) in two different beds. The bed where they are "happier" is showing no ill effects. The lilies in the other bed where they struggled to emerge (not the best soil and too much competition) are suffering the same "shriveling bud" problem even worse than the Longiflorum. This bed gets plenty of sun.

At this point it looks to be a result of a stressed plant. I'll have to wait until next year when the lilies are established (and after I improve conditions in the one "unhappy" bed this Fall) to see if I 'm correct.

-Helen