I just wanted to say Thank-you to those of you who've helped with with my Lilies and taught me how to do scale propagation. I checked on my scales a few minutes ago(they've been in the closet for around one month) and they're starting to grow!!! I saw through the bag on has a little root coming out of it.
It's so exciting!
Thank-you!
Steve
Thank-you
So I had to go look and mine have something growing as well. Man, all I did was throw them in some dirt and tossed them under a pile of papers on my desk. How simple can that be. These were scales that I took from a bulb that I found laying in the garden. Haven't a clue what they are. So how big do you let the bublets grow before moving on to the next step? The next step is refrigeration, right? I need to go back and find that thread.
OK, found it. Skip the frig part unless these are scales you are starting in the fall. Once the weather warms up, should be able to just plant out in a nursery bed.
Fun isn't it? And really couldn't be easier. :)
Thanks for finding the thread beaker....you saved me having to find it :D
I'm glad I can skip the fridge part....I think it might have caused problems...putting dirt and bulbs in the fridge. LOL. Should I get a little leaf from it this year? Or will it just grow underground and pop up next year?
Steve :)
Haven't a clue. I've never done this before. I'm guessing we'll see something.
I've got so many bulbs and plants in my frig, there's no room for food. Just bottled water and coke zero. Even the dog no longer goes running to the frig whenever I open it (L) much to his disgust.
Well, remind me to look again in another month. I did spritz the dirt a bit, just in case.
I would love to open a fridge and find it full of plants.......what fun that would be! I just found these 2 lilies today........they went on my list right away.
Steve
'Centerfold'
'Landini'
I have a big patch of Centerfold. They are one of my favorites. I'm not really into the darkly colored flowers. I'm not crazy about the tango lilies either. I don't know why, they just don't float my boat.
Add this one to your list, Cathedral Windows. Much prettier up close and personal.
Added 'Cathedral Windows' to my list :)
I don't have any of the darker colours either, but I thought 'Landini' might look rather good with 'New Wave'. I can't wait for all the lilies I got this year to bloom! The stems are a little thin since they were sprouted when I bought them, so it'll be even more fun when they come back all sturdy next year.
Steve
You might want to go to a nursery and hold a dark colored flower next to a white to see if you actually like the combination. I picked up a 6 pack of Black Pansies earlier this week and walked all around holding it up to other colored pansies. Next to the white and yellow, the black pansies literally disappeared into the foliage. Surprisingly, they looked better next to a medium dark purple. I opted to plant them alone in their own little bowl and hope they "grow" on me.
The Landini isn't as dark as the black pansies and it does have a lovely form. I'm sure it would look beautiful anywhere in your garden.
I never thought that! If it wasn't planted in the right spot it could get lost.
I heard 'Landini' is a Veseys exclusive and I don't plan on ordering from them this year, so I probably won't get it. I DO want to order from the Lily Nook though :) I think lilies are now one of my favorite plants! When I joined this forum everyone on it told me they were enablers......and..oh yes, they are!!! :D
Steve
I've seen Landini elsewhere, so it's not that exclusive. Best hurry on the Lily Nook if you want something this spring. It's getting to be late. And don't expect to be able to get orientals from them in the fall. They only will sell them in the spring and for good reason as I learned the hard way.
And so shall you become... Just think how much fun it will become to trade after a few years.
Orientals don't like to be planted in the fall? What about other lilies? Thats when I wanted to place my order. I thought I found my oriental 'white horse' coming up yesterday, but it turned out to just be an old scale sticking out of the soil :(
Steve
Here's what I learned the hard way. The first fall I planted lilies in mass, 1/3 were orientals. Not one of those orientals came up that spring. Talk about being bummed out. I then set about finding out what went wrong. Most of the local lilly growers were quite mum about it, like it's a big secret. A friend at work was having the same problem and his wife told him he was not allowed to buy another oriental. LOL, I don't think it was a money issue, but more of a mood issue.
The following year, I decided that they needed to be more protected and cleaned out a bed along the south side of the house. I had been seeing tags on lilies from Bachman's (local nursery) that indicated bulbs should be planted 6 to 8 inches deep. I reasoned that the orientals probably need that extra 2 inches of protection. Success. I now was growing orientals. However, I still wasn't sure what was going on until I actually sat down and read the Lily Nook catalog. According to the LN folks, orientals need time to settle in and grow roots. If they don't get that by the time it freezes, then most likely, you're going to lose the bulb. They feel so strongly about this, they will not sell orientals in the fall.
Another revelation occurred when orientals I had mistakenly planted out in the general garden came up this year. Those are the ones that I had planted and then decided to move them to a more protected area. I went back to move those bulbs but couldn't find them. I chalked them up to being lost. I was very surprised when they came up. What I learned from that was that it's more important for them to have the time to set in than it is to have protection. Why? Because when I went digging for those bulbs, I never completely filled in the hole where I was digging. Those bulbs only had about 4 or 5 inches of soil over them where they came up.
So, if you're in a cold zone and you want to plant orientals in the fall, give them lotz of protection; deeply planted and a warm foundation. If you don't have that, then hold the bulbs until spring and then plant them. That's where your frig comes in. Your vegetable bin is a good place to hold bulbs. Just make sure the bulbs can breathe.
I certainly hope your White Horse comes up, but if it doesn't, consider it a lesson learned. Most other bulbs can be planted in the fall. However, I think there may be a few orienpets that can be finicky and would benefit from spring rather than fall planting. I have lost SIlk Road and Scherazad when planted in the fall in an unprotected area.
My friend now has a few orientals growing in his garden. I asked him what his wife said and he told me "she doesn't need to know everything!"
Thanks, Beaker. That explains things now. The first time I bought Orientals was a few years ago in the fall when I got 'white horse'. The bag contained 2 bulbs....but in the spring only one came up.So me being curious... I hunted for the other and found it to be rotted mush. Then last summer I moved the survivor to a sunnier location.
I love the Orienpets! They have the form of the Orientals but so many more colours! I don't even remember if they smell or not, but they must be my favorite type of lily.
Steve
I think that anything crossed with an oriental has some fragrance and some more than others. Silk Road, for example, is known for its fragrance plus all of it's other qualities; prolific and extended blooms. If you don't have this one, you need to add it to your list.
The first year I planted trumpets and orientals here in zone 2b, I lost them all. Then started planting them deeper and deeper and NOW---- I cover them all with a bag of leaves after freezeup. This year all my orientals etc have survived, and even one pardelinum that I left in the ground just as a sort of test. Of course we have had very strange weather this past winter. A friend of mine left her crocrosmias in the ground under her customary normal mulch - nothing special - and they survived too.
Inanda
How deep are you planting, Inanda? I know I planted one of my bulbs 12 inches last year. I can't remember the name right now, but I think it was one that was listed as being very tender. Most of the orientals and trumpets I planted at 8 inches (and orienpets). Everything is coming up real good, so I don't think deep planting harms them any.
You live in lotus land in MSP. I was amazed when down there for NALS a few years ago at the wonderful things in your gardens.
Bad sentence constrution - however.
I plant mature bulbs about 12 inches deep or so. I also put a bag of leaves on the later planted ones (Oct/Nov) to keep the ground warmer later so hopefully rooting takes place in the fall. Don't know if this works. Then when it really IS going to freeze, I take the bags off till it gets to around 10F all the time and the ground is really frozen. By this time mice and other baddies have found winter quarters. Then bags of leaves go back till end of winter.
The above applies ONLY to tender bulbs and orientals. Asiatics & species just get planted. They sink or swim.
inanda
Silk Road's on the list. I already had it's child 'Scean Stealer' on the list............
I think I planted my bulbs too shallow this spring. Will they just adjust on their own and go to the right depth? As I've heard bulbs will do that. Or do I have to lift them all and replant? I think I'm going to do another bag of scales tomorrow.
Steve
Lilies will pull themselves to the right place. Why do you think yours are too shallow?
That's what they say, Steve, and judging by the behavior of those dwarf orientals I planted last summer, they did move on down. I do know that I had three asiatics I planted too shallow last spring and did not go back to replant and only one of them has showed up this year. I don't have enough expertise to say if yours will be OK or not. I just know I'm going to try to not be in such a hurry in my planting from now on.
I didn't want to plant my bulbs too deep as they already had sprouts coming(but now I think it would have been alright to plant more of the stem underground)....and I seem to have a habit of planting things too shallow. I'll do some poking around tomorrow to see how deep I actualy planted them.
Steve
If lilies have started sprouting, plant the sprout underground, maybe with just the tip barely showing. Main nutrition is taken in by the stem roots.
Also, the deeper they are planted, the less often the !@#$ bushy tailed rats get at them. Squirrels at the moment are literally STEALING my hens and chicks. Think I'll have to put wire over them.
Something, probably aforementioned !@#$ rats, have been nibbling/breaking off -so far - 3 martagon stems. Think I'll have to make above ground cages for next year. I have wire hidden under mulch so squirrels don't get at the bulbs and plant them in harsdware cloth cages anyway. This is the first year stems are being attacked. Crazy, when there is so much else for them.
Grouch grouch
inanda
Thanx Inanda. I'm going to remembe that for next time. And as for this time: Another lesson learned. I've never had problems with hens and chicks before....I guess they eat them??
Steve
Inanda, try the Irish Spring soap. I'd love to hear if this works against the squirrels who are actively munching away. Would't hurt to try. If unable to get that, use whatever you have and see what happens.
I've always planted the bulbs with sprouts at the level the bulb should be planted (3xbulb height).
Actually, you may do more damage by poking around. Just mark the ones you want to check on this fall after frost witha popsicle stick or something.
Ok, no poking around then. That's smart to check in the fall instead of now....I could end up snaping a stem or something by looking now. The ones I want to check are about all of them, since I didn't really have any before this year :)
Thanks,
Steve
I had the same problem with Hen and Chicks, Inanda ~ to the point I no longer have any. Rotten little buggers........