Himalayan Lily

Does anyone grow this huge lily? It is called Cardiocrinum giganteum. I noticed a relative lily dies after it blooms and does not come back. Is that true of the Himalayan Lily too? I hear it takes seedlings 7 years to mature and bloom.

I do not grow it, but I've read that the Cardiocrinum is monocarpic, that is, dying after blooming. However, it leaves bulblets around it that will bloom in a year or two. It is a sort of a special once-in-a-couple of years sort of event. The flowers do look similar to a lily, and I can say that the things are tall. The one I saw was probably 7-8 feet tall.
K. James

I read that about the cousin being monocarpic but wondered if the gigantum was too.

The C. giganteum is the most popularly cultivated. I have seen the Yunnan variety offered. You may D-mail Wallaby1 about details. Hope you try it and succeed, K. James.

Thanks, James.

You are zoned for it if you mulch well. The flower stalks are impressively tall, and smell good too. The mother plant leaves behind many daughter bulbs that will bloom in a couple of years. I believe the 7 year thing is from seed. I bought a few bulbs and they bloomed that year. The daughter bulbs took a year off and then two bloomed, the next year i think another two or three bloomed... Then we moved. I would think the cycle has started and there will be fairly continuous blooming with the daughter bulbs of different ages now.

Melissa