Hi medusa,

Most lilies like some sun so it depends on what you mean by "part shade" and "dappled shade". I've found that lilies will do well in part sun (i.e., a few hours of direct sun, such as morning or afternoon spots). Orientals can handle more shade than Asiatics and Trumpets.

Dappled shade (where there is little direct sun) is tougher. In my personal experience, the best I've found for shade thus far is Lilium speciosum. This is a species lily from which many of the Oriental hybrids derive. Like the Orientals (such as Casa Blanca) it blooms in late summer (starts August 1 here in Baltimore) and has a beautiful scent. It comes in two color varieties "Rubrum" and "Alba". It is also very attractive to butterflys. I highly recommend this lily. Its later than the hybrid orientals and will be in bloom when you are bummed out about everything else being done. "Uchida" is a superior clone of Rubrum and is being carried by The Lily Pad.

Lilium Martagon is renowned as good for shade. It can "sulk" in the ground after planting and skip a year before coming up. I'm hopeful that mine will come up this spring (planted Spring 2006) then I can give you my experience with them.

For tall lilies behind your roses you should consider trumpet lilies. They are tall and very fragrant. Their drawback is that they tend to lean and need staking, but your rose bushes would fill that role nicely. They bloom a little before the Orientals. Most trumpet lilies are species or "strains" of species and come in a variety of colors.

Some Trumpets
Lilium Regale (white with yellow throat some pink on reverse ), Pink Perfection, Golden Splendor, etc.,

As you look at lilies keep in mind that the Asiatics and Tiger lilies are not scented. Some interspecific Longiflorum - Asiatic hybrids are lightly scented, others are not. They bloom before the trumpets.

Recommendations and Places to Start

A good site to check out is The Lily Garden. Their bulbs are more expensive than many places, but they are hybridizers as well as growers and many are unique selections that you can't find elsewhere. Since they are growers the bulbs they send are high quality and freshly dug.

My recommendations from them:

Scheherazade - it is just a stunning lily.
Anything else that catches your eye - they have some amazing lilies.

I've also had success with inexpensive lilies from Van Engelen. Their bulbs are smaller so they take longer to get going full speed, but for commonly available varieties they can be a good way to get a lot of lilies.

My Oriental suggestion from them are:

Mona Lisa - A shorter (2') much earlier bloomer
Muscadet - A somewhat small (3') dramatic bloomer (the blooms are spaced close together and look really stunning when in flower).
Aruba - A tall (5-6') beautiful pale pink (this is a flower that looks better than its pictures).

The Lily Pad, B&D Lilies, and Brent and Becky's, are all good mail order sources for bulbs.

-Helen

Here is a link that might be useful: Lily Garden

Oh my goodness!! I couldn't have asked for a more succint but thorough primer. Thank you for taking the time to help me out. I'm so glad you mentioned fragrance because, as with my roses, that is a prime consideration. Yes, my part shade is something like a few hours direct sunlight alternating with bright shade. I have roses that are doing alright in this section, though the standard is 6 hrs. direct sun. But I'm about to chop down a crabapple so my babies can have more sun.

Thanks again and maybe I'll be visiting this forum more often.

medusa, Helen gave you a good review on lilies.
I found LA hybrids (longiforum +asiatic hybrid) and Orientals to be more usefull in rose beds if you want to fill a July void when roses resting after the first flash, but use of Asiatics would be more beneficial if you want them to bloom at the same time with roses and compliment them.
Asiatic Lollipop with Iceberg and Blaze

Oriental Stargaizer at the back of the rose bed

Those pictures are lovely. To be honest, I didn't know Stargazer grew to that height (to be more honest, I've never seen any lily in any yard grow taller than 3-4 feet). It seems that many yards around here have popped up with star gazers but they seem to reach about a yard high. I just assumed that's the way they were. How do you get them to do that? Full sun I suppose, but do you feed them like roses?

Hi again Medusa,

Stargazer in good conditions (good soil and a reasonable amount of sun) should get to 4' or more when mature. The key phrase here is "when mature". It might take a few seasons for the bulb to get to full size.

As long as the soil is good they shouldn't need feeding the way roses do. Oriental lilies do prefer mildly acidic soil - though modern hybrids are pretty tolerant of less than ideal pH. Hybrid lilies aren't very fussy plants. But, if you have the same heavy Maryland clay I've got, you might want to amend it with some peat moss. Sun actually makes lilies a little shorter (but better - with stronger stems) since they don't have to reach for the light.

As for your neighbors Stargazers, oftentimes inexpensive bulbs are a little small. Bulbs bought in "Big Box" stores, Sam's Club, Home Depot, etc., are usually VERY small (and dried up). If you buy container plants in the spring they often have the bulbs too close together - and if they aren't divided in the Fall could lead to smaller plants the next spring. (The first season they will certainly be small since they are greenhouse grown to be short to prevent damage in shipping.)

Stargazer is typical of oriental lilies and should be similar to your Casa Blanca. Mona Lisa, Muscadet, and Aruba that I mentionned earlier are exceptionally very short, somewhat short, and tall, respectively.

You may not know it yet, but your Casa Blanca have led you to the road of lily addiction. I caught it when I innocently bought some container Stargazer from Lowe's one year. Now I have 20+ types of lilies crammed into every corner of my small yard. Being a rose lover you are especially susceptible! :)

Welcome to the club!

-Helen

That's right, the more shade the taller they'll be.
I have Mona Lisa in sun- 2.5-3' tall and in part-shade where they were slightly less than 5' this year.