Lilies look great in the summer garden. In fact, all types of lilies look awesome in all types of gardens. It does not matter whether you have a balcony garden, a classically designed, or a rustic garden. You can grow lilies and they are not old-fashioned flowers to grow.
I know it is hard to decide which type of lilies will look good in your garden.
Because we have so many hybrid lily types that offer stunning colors, pleasant fragrances, elegance, and add style to landscapes.
In this article, you will find 7 of the all-time extraordinary Lily plants. These varieties are easy to grow and produce a good number of eye-catching flowers.
Why do we have so many different types of lilies?
First of all, it is important for you to know the divisions of lilies. Botanical scientists classified all types of lilies into 9 different divisions. These 9 divisions are further categorized into dozens of sub-categories. Furthermore, each category has hundreds of species.
Putting them in categories like this helps the gardeners to choose the best suitable type of lilies for their garden. This helps them to know what their selected lilies produce what kind of flowers, the duration of the blooming season, blooming time, conditions they thrive in, etc.
If you also like to grow lilies like me then the below varieties are the best to start. All of them are hybrid forms of lilies. Choose what you like and have beautiful flowers this summer.
7 types of lilies for your home garden
Asiatic Hybrid Lilies
Botanists develop Asiatic hybrid lilies by crossing the genes of many different species. Every single plant has 4 to 5 flowers on each stem. Flower petals are usually spotted type as you can see in the picture black spots on yellow petals. This type does not have a fragrance like other types of lilies. So if you are looking for lilies that produce a pleasant smell then this Variety is not for you.
Asiatic lilies come in different colors like many shades of Orange, red, some shades of yellow with black spots, etc.
You need to protect your lily plant from deer and rabbits because they like to eat Asiatic hybrid.
Oriental Lilies
This is the type you need if you like fragrant flowers. Because Oriental lily produces strong perfume and this smell gets stronger in the evening time.
This lily plant has broader leaves than most of the normal lily types. But the good news is the foliage and flowers of oriental lily plants are rabbit and deer resistant. One thing you need to take care of is removing the anthers when the bloom opens. Because the anthers produce heavy pollen and this can put stains on your garden furniture and other wooden decorates.
The plant is 3 to 4 feet tall with beautiful pink and purplish-red flowers. Only a few varieties of this species produce spotted and curving flowers. It is easy to grow and does not need protection from other animals.
Trumpet lilies
As the name suggests this lily plant has trumpet-shaped flowers. This hybrid type of lilies produces a good amount of smell. The flowers look amazingly beautiful. But they don’t have spots on them like Asiatic lilies.
Also, the leaves are less broad than the oriental lily types. But the trumpet shape flowers increase the beauty of your garden.
Hybrid trumpet lily plants develop more buds than others meaning more beautiful flowers. If you like to grow trumpet lily then make sure you have enough time to give it proper care. This hybrid quality produces more flowers than normal trumpet lily plants.
This species comes in many different colors like white, yellow, cream, and pink. I have pink and yellows in my indoor garden. they produce an incredible fragrance that pleased the senses.
Orienpet Lilies
This is the type of lily that looks amazingly smart in summer gardens. Because this type is developed by crossing trumpet and oriental lily genes. Therefore, the flowers look like trumpets before bloom and acquire an oriental shape once the bloom opens.
Orienpet lily plants produce big size flowers size from 6 to 10 inches. Pink, yellow, red, orange, and white is normal common shades of flowers.
The plant does not reach more than 3 feet in height.
LA hybrid lilies
This variety of lily is a combination of Asiatic and Easter lilies. You can say this type is the cousin sister of plane Asiatic lilies. But this has more beautiful flowers than the Asiatic lily. If you don’t like smell then this is the type you need to consider.
The best part is they bloom for more than a week. The plant does not grow more than 3 feet in height.
Canada Lily plant
Canada’s lily plant is native of North America. This plant has yellow or orange recurved flower petals. The plant grows a maximum of up to 4 feet in height. Each stem produces 4 to 7 beautiful flowers. It also has dark spots all over the flower. They produce a light smell that you will only notice if you go close to the plant.
If you want a beautiful flower plant that is easy to grow and care then Canada lily is the best option. Look at in the picture it looks brilliantly beautiful. Improve the look of your garden by having extraordinary flowers in it. You can grow lily plants on the borders or in corners of your garden. This plant can tolerate mild cold weather.
Longiflorium Lilies
These are another famous type of lilies that most Canadian gardeners like to grow in summer. The plant reaches 3 feet in height and produces trumpet-like outfacing flowers. These flowers look beautiful the problem is the plant does not produce enough flowers.
Most of the time people complain about the less bloom. Nobody knows why but professionals say this happens because gardeners don’t give proper care to the plant. They don’t use lily fertilizers.
The good news is you can have these lilies in your garden till Easter. Because this species can tolerate temperatures as low as -18 degrees F.
In order to get heavy bloom, use specially made lily fertilizer.
How to grow all types of lilies from bulbils?
All varieties of lilies produce small bulbils on their stems, we normally called them buds. Each stem has many bulbils. You can use them to grow more lily plants. It is best to cut them from the stem before they fall off. Because once they fall on the ground, they will not grow win pots and containers.
Summer and autumn are the best times to grow lilies from the bulbils.
Follow the below-written steps and grow lilies
- The first step is carefully removing the healthy bulbils from the stem. Just make sure you don’t damage the leaf and stem.
- These bulbils are like seeds of lilies. Use the seedling tray and plant several of them in pots. Use multi-purpose compost as the growing medium.
- Once you plant them then the next step is covering them with a light layer of compost and water well. Do not over water, use a tray that has bottom holes. These holes are mandatory to remove the excess of water.
- Place the tray on the sunny window shelf.
- Seeds will germinate in a few weeks. Once you see the roots coming out of the bottom hole it is time to transplant them into their own pot.
How to grow different types of lilies in containers?
Most of us don’t have enough space in our garden to grow lilies. Some of our readers live in apartments, with no yard or have already filled flower beds. In this situation, you can grow lilies in containers. It is easy to grow lilies in pots and containers.
Below is the complete process of growing lilies in containers.
Things you need for growing lilies in containers
Healthy Lily Buds
The first thing you need is healthy lily bulbs. You can order them online or can find them on flower catalogs. Visit your near home improvement store and ask them for healthy lily bulbs. Once you take them home sort them first. Remove all the moldy and damaged bulbs from healthy ones. The bulb should be neat clean and disease-free.
Good Draining pot
You need to have a well-draining pot at home. Because lilies like to thrive in moist soil so you need to protect them from overwatering also from rainwater. The holes at bottom of the pot are there to drain out any amount of extra water in the pot.
For extra protection, you can add a layer of small pebbles in the bottom of the pot. No doubt this will increase the pot weight. But this also increases the aeration and your plan gets an adequate amount of fresh oxygen.
For taller types of lilies choose deeper pots and plant bulbs 5cm apart.
Sand and Slow releasing Fertilizer
Mix sand in the potting mix and your lilies will thrive like crazy. If you only use peat moss then your lily bulbs will get rot. Because peat moss gets heavy and stores large amounts of water in them. Therefore, mix 1 part of sand with 2 parts of peat moss. If you want some other growing medium you can definitely use them. Just mix a few parts of sand in the growing medium.
Lilies like to eat fertilizers in a heavy amounts. For good bloom, you need to give slow releasing fertilizers to all types of lilies. this will encourage growth and also help your plants to produce more flowers.
Remember hybrid types of lily plants required fewer fertilizers as compared to the normal lily plants.
Caring lilies
Once you have everything that is mentioned here now is the time to plant lily bulbs in the pots. Add the potting mix into the pot and plant lily bulbs 5cm apart. Root side down and tip upwards. Fill the containers with a potting mix about 1 inch below the brim for watering.
The water you lilies once you see the upper layer of the soil is dry. To check it stick your finger in the potting soil. If it is moist but not dry check it again the next day.
Once your lilies have faded flowers, remove them from the plant to encourage further growth.
If you have any questions, please mail us.
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