Lilies: Lilies in AK, 1 by Chocolatemoose

Chocolatemoose wrote:
Gemini asked a few questions about lilies in my zone. Alaska is so large, it's divided into 5 different climatic areas. I am in what's known as the Interior. Summer temps are usually a very dry 70's during the day (though we occasionaly hit 80), low 60's at night. We are running a bit cooler this year. Winters will drop to 50+ below. My lilies have a very confused internal clock so it amazes me they grow at all. I may have Trumpets in June and Asiatics in August. There is no cyclical bloom period between the Asiatics, Orientals and Trumpets as most of you have, but instead, a full mix of all types throughout the entire summer

The only ones I haven't grown is martegons. The only ones that are hardy and prolific are Asiatics. I've unsuccessfully attempted several methods of over-wintering Orientals outdoors and have always done the trumpets in pots. So, all types except the Asiatics get dug up or unpotted and stored in wood chips with a sulphur dusting in plastic baggies in a Rubbermaid tub in our garage which is heated to approximately 40 degrees. They unfortunately come out of dormancy earlier than I'd like, so they get potted under lights in March. I usually have my first blooms the end of May and they will randomly continue through August.

Another factor that throws their clock off is our long days. We are currently at 22 hours of daylight and the other two hours are like dawn. So the flowers in my yard don't have ANY period of darkness after I put them outside in May.

We are approximately 3 weeks behind our normal summer temps and I've had a lot of buds suffer blast due to temperature variations and repeated stress. As stated in an earlier post, I sustained significant hail damage two weeks ago so unfortunately, a lot of my lilies will not bloom this year after getting so close. But even some of those whose leaves were ripped to shreds still are determined to put on a show... I'll post pics as they do and hope you enjoy my North Pole Babies as much as I've enjoyed all of the ones posted so far by others.

This is Eleganza from Faraway...Deep and rich