Mystery Lily in My Garden This Summer

I just discovered the Lily Forum this evening. I've been reading through some of the threads and already went to the NALS to sign up for the newsletter and the seed exchange list. I am very happy to find this forum as Lilies are one of my favorite plant groups and I had no idea there was a special forum for them. I wish I had discovered this site and learned of the seed/bulb exchanges earlier this year. It looks like I am out of luck for this year. Now I'll have to be patient and wait until spring...

In the meantime.... Here is a picture of a mystery lily in my garden that I neglected to mark, and now I have not the slightest clue as to what it is. Anyone out there with any ideas on what this might be?

Thanks,
Diana

After going through my pictures again, I found another picture of what I think is the same lily, this is just a more mature form of it. The way it is curling back, it must be some type of Tiger lily?

I don't have a clue what it is, but a very nice wild look to it and a pleasing anther color. I wonder what color the pollen will be. I certainly wouldn't mind having that one in my garden. I t would blend so well with so many non-lilium species perennials.

Rick

Edited to add:
Oh, you posted a second pic while I was posting, and the flower recurves. Changes everything. Tiger lilies are only one type of recurved lily, and this is not a tiger lily. More likely a species Lilium lankongense, L. duchartrei, or a hybrid involving these species.

This message was edited Nov 7, 2009 1:53 AM

Rick,

Thank You, I think you are spot on with the Lilium lankongense. I looked at the plant files and then linked to a vendor that sells it (Buggy Crazy) and the pictures posted of it look pretty much like mine colorwise. That nursery is close to where I live in Oregon and they do have booths at various plant venues that I go to. That's probably who I bought it from. It was a couple years ago, long enough for me to forget what it was. Now I am going to write up a plant name tag and put it out there so I don't forget it's name again.

You guys have a great Lily forum over here. I just discovered it last night, and I could kick myself for not hunting for this forum earlier this year, when I joined Dave's. I have read a lot last night and this morning about fertilizers, and mole issues. Really great information here. I am soaking this stuff up like a sponge.

I just read your threads about PNWLS and other lily societies. I see that they just had a fall lily sale for members. Of course it is over and ended in the middle of October. Talk about being a day late and a dollar short..... Or in this case about 3 weeks late.

Then I read about a Lily seed give away, also over..... Then someone boxed up extra lilies and was offering them for postage, two days ago... also spoken for... After reading all these threads, now I'm dying for a lily fix, but it looks like I have missed the boat...Sigh...

So I'm gearing up for next spring. I'll have to join that Lily Society and shop at their spring sale. I already have a 50 lb bag of Chicken grit. I read all about that as a gopher/mole deterrent. The brand I bought is medium grit and it says ground cherry pit on the side of the bag. I hope it does the job. We don't really have frost in the ground here, so the heaving problem I read about I don't think will be an issue for me.

Anyway, I'm going to keep reading these threads and looking at more lily pictures, and dreaming about my future Lily patch.

Thanks Again for the ID on my picture, it is a nice color isn't it? Kind of a mauve color, it would go with lots of other plants. So I do have a good one to get me started. Now I'll have to come up with some other varieties to go with it. A lily bed master plan...

Welcome Diana! And how lucky for you to be close enough to Buggy Crazy to have them at your farmers markets and things. We would love to give you all sorts of ideas for lily beds, probably too many. So happy you have joined us. You're not too late for today :)

So glad you found us! Now you just have to start working on that wish list.... ;)

Thank You Magnolia & Moby for the Friendly Greetings.

You guys are the best over here. It's refreshing to find a forum with people so knowledgable about the plant group being discussed.

Years ago when I lived in the Calif. Bay area someone told me to plant Fritillaria - Crown Imperial near lily bulbs for a gopher deterrent. The bulbs actually stink to the high heavens, I kid you not, they literally smell like a skunk. So the theory is that the gophers will smell the skunky smell and will head to the next county over and be out of your garden by nightfall....

I was just wondering if anyone out there has tried this, and if so did it work? It would be nice if it did work. I think the crown imperials are attractive too, and it wouldn't be all that bad to have a few mixed into the lily bed. They come in yellow or Orange. Kind of on the pricey side to buy, I believe. One of them seemed to multiply at a faster rate, I'm thinking it was the orange one.

As far as the lily bed planning. I think it would be nice to draw the lily bloom season out as long as possible. I think the Asiatics are early and the Orientals follow. But I bet even within each group there are early and late varieties. Maybe I could kind of chart it out season to season and kind of match up colors that would work well together during each bloom period.

I am especially partial to Fragrant varieties and those are usually the Orientals, I believe. But there could be others that I have yet to hear about .

Also as Lily companions, I was thinking of ferns. Even though ferns can take more shade and lilies more sun. It seems I remember years ago in Wayside or White Flower Farms Catalog they used to sell Lilies and Ferns together as companions. The ferns working as kind of a cover up when the lily foliage is in decline.

So, I would welcome any and all advise or ideas anyone might have,
So nice to find this forum,
Diana

My best guess is L. lankongense also.

I tried the Fritillaria Imperialis thing once. Although the mole didn't eat it, it did run a tunnel almost directly over the bulb. Didn't seem at all perturbed. And yes, the red/orange type is generally hardier than the yellow.

Regarding the ferns as companions, most any lily would perform adequately with half day sun, as would ferns. However, hybrids in general will always bloom more with more sun, while the better portion of species lilies will actually prefer half a day of shade.

I do still have seed of Lilium formosanum var. pricei, Lilium amabile and Lilium 'Mrs. R. O. Backhouse', and older seed of L. davidii that should be just fine still. dmail me with your address. If you want to try Backhouse, be sure to read the link I gave in that thread for germination instructions. It's a lot more involved and you may not have the time or want to execute it.

And welcome!
Rick

Creeksidefarm, Welcome, you are very lucky to live near Buggy. She has the best lily bulbs available. Just go to her site and start dreaming of what your lily garden will look like. I also love this forum and have learned so much from the other members in just the couple of years I've been a member. One of the first things I do every day is to go to this forum and see what the members are discussing. Once again welcome!