Planting Lilies
Planting lilies
Traditionally, autumn is the main lifting, dividing and planting month for lilies. That’s because unlike the bulbs and corms with a papery covering, such as daffodils and gladiolus, lilies have exposed bulb scales and cannot be stored completely dry. Consequently, they either have to be replanted immediately after lifting and dividing or stored carefully in damp sawdust or some other moisture retentive but well drained medium.
Dividing old clumps of lilies isn’t difficult, the bulbs will usually just fall way, but it is important to be careful about how you replant the separated bulbs. There are also some simple ways to quickly build up your bulb numbers if the rate of natural increase isn’t great enough.
Most lilies will produce roots from their stems as well as from their bulbs. Stem roots give these naturally tall and top-heavy plants the extra stability they need to prevent them from being blown over. To gain the maximum advantage from the stem roots, plant the bulb about 15 cm deep. There are a few lilies that don’t produce stems roots, but of these only the Madonna lily (Lilium candidum) is at all common. Plant its bulbs just deep enough to ensure that they won’t dry out, preferably with the very top of the bulb at soil level.
When forced to endure poor drainage, lilies are prone to rotting and succumbing to fungal diseases. The answer is to ensure the conditions are right at planting time and the easiest way to do this is to plant the bulbs directly on top of a layer of very free-draining material. A 7.5–10 cm-deep layer of river sand or fine shingle mixed 50/50 with potting mix will keep the bulbs healthy and allow their roots an easy start into your garden soil.
Cover the bulbs with a good soil: a mixture of fine compost and bark-based potting mix incorporated with some mild general fertiliser, such as blood and bone, is ideal. Then gently moisten the soil with a fine-rosed watering can or a soft spray wand. Some lilies, notably auratum and speciosum types can be rather fussy about lime, so a sulphate-based general fertiliser rather than blood and bone is advisable for them.
Of course, if you have any lily clumps that aren’t going to be divided, give them some fertiliser too.
While you have your lilies out of the ground it’s a good time to think about propagating them. Those that form bulbils in the leaf axils along the stems are obviously very easy to propagate: simply remove the bulbils and grow them on. But other types are not difficult: any bulb scale carefully removed with minimal damage from the basal plate of the parent bulb can be grown on. Simply dust the damaged surface with a fungicide, plant the scales in pot of free-draining potting mix (with their upper tips at the soil surface) and keep the pot somewhere frost-free and reasonably bright until the foliage appears.
An alternative is to just toss the scales in a plastic bag with some moist soil mix and keep the sealed bag in a warm place, say an airing cupboard, until the scales form roots. With nothing more elaborate than these simple methods you can have thousands of bulbs within a few years, though they may take a while to bloom.
About the Author
Geoff Bryant is a widely published garden writer and horticultural photographer. He has written or contributed text to over 40 books and his photos appear worldwide. He is based in Christchurch, New Zealand and runs a web-based photo library, www.cfgphoto.com
Tell others about
this page:
Comments? Questions? Email Here