Purpling and withering of leaves actually sounds like phosphorous deficiency. This can be caused by excessive compaction or very cold soil. Excessive fertilization or high soil pH can also cause it. Is your soil very alkaline or have you been liming ? Are you spraying your lilies ? maybe some of the insecticides/herbicides did not agree with the lily ?

Thank you for responding. It could be compacted to I'll dig around it tomorrow. There are happy asiatics and roses in the bed. I wonder if the rose fertilizer is too much. I use rose tone and a little epsom salts and some nitrogen rich lawn fertilizer. The roses are very happy and the asiatics have multiplied like bunnies. I don't know what my phosphorus level is. I do know that Rose Tone has many organics and minerals in it. I didn't put it on the lily, but close enough that it certainly would have soaked in.

Hmmm, so many possibilities. Here in Texas I don't think cold soil was one. Thank you so much you are always a welath of information.
cynthia

My Lilium candidum took a few years to settle in before looking good and blooming. Then they bloomed well for about 5 years. At that point they got so overgrown they pushed themselves out of the soil and stopped blooming, so I divided the original clump. I re-planted most of them all over the place, and gave the rest to friends. It's been two years now, and I've seen no blooms yet. I expected that. Probably next year they will decide to bloom.

Phosphorous isn't a problem--I have clay soil that is very high in phosphorous (I tested, several times), okay in potassium, and perpetually needs nitrogen.

I also have asiatics and roses in the same beds doing well. I believe it's simply because that's the way Lilium candidum *is*

Good luck with your Madonna. Mine bloom only once and saw it come back last winter and notice the leaves turning yellow and now it's completely gone. It is planted between two roses

I, too, am having issues with my Madonna's. A couple of the rosettes have almost disappeared completely, and the others have somewhat of a purplish-tinge. I can't believe how difficult it is to find culture information for them! I am going to assume that they are not going to bloom this year, which makes me sad, particularly since they were rather spendy.

Any suggestions?

Madonna lily should not be planted too deep and actually need a more akaline soil than regular lilies. That is what makes them more difficult to grow than traditional lilies.