Too late to plant lilies

Hi All
Van Meuwen have a great sale on oriental lilies 50 bulbs for £15.90 which is not bad , but I know they will have been cold stored properly but will they have enough time to grow I was thinking would be ideal to pot up and use in (drop in) the borders to brighten up maybe a dullish border where plants have already flowered , what's your thoughts

Spruce

 

I would think it is too late for this year, can they be saved until next year?

Val

 

Hmmm ... its late. I've bought bulbs "cheap" in the sales and they have come up, flowered, and 90% of them have never returned, so I think its a bit of a gamble.

You could rip all the scales off, put them in a bag of vermiculite, and 6 weeks or so late pot up all the little corms that form and in a couple of years time you'll have a veritable forest of bulbs / plants ... but its a fair bit of faff.

Just in case relevant: Oriental lilies need an acid soil really, Asiatics like alkaline and some of the others like Longiflorum will grow in either.

They will shrivel up and probably be useless if stored (although they might survive in a cold store?)

 

P.S. Top quality bulbs are £1 each (if you order, say, 5 or more) for standard varieties, and £1.50 for more poncy / recently introduced varieties, so might be better to save up for them

I've had really good quality bulbs from
http://www.hwhyde.co.uk/

 

If they are cheap enough I would give them a go. You might have a whole crop of glorious scented divas in Sept/Oct -bliss. Mind you, I think Van Meuven are pretty dodgy so it is a gamble.

 

Just had a look, and the picture shows a mix containing a lot of what seem to be mainly Asiatic lilies.

My experience is that they are earlier to flower than the orientals, so not sure what they would do if planted now. Also, VM state end of July as the possible delivery date, so it could be really, really late before you get them.

Still tempting, though. they must have a lot to get rid of. They probably put the real dross in the 50 bulb bag, on the assumption that nobody'd dare complain at that price.

 

Many asiatic variety , tend to absorb all energy from the bulb and produce side bulbs instead ...so what happen now is that if you plant them out , they yes will flower but not enough time to produe the new bulb.....
so what I`ve done is simple potted and grow them in the greenhouse , then will not cut them , but as soon as the flower has gone will just cut the top of the flower and let the bulb absorbe energy back ...

got 8 begs of various bulbs for a £5 , at about 62 pence each , reduced from £4.99 each ....
managed to get the big brother variety and loads of tigers lily as well .

 

That's rubbish isn't it. Advertising Oriental lilies and then either using an any-old-photo or planning to send any-old-mix of bulbs.