I have about three of these. I've been waiting to see if they grow, but they haven't so far and I'm ready to give up. These are in pots. I had ten planted, but only these three came up. The Asiatics did fine, bloomed, and are gathering strength for next year, but the orientals did squat. Does anybody have any ideas about what might be wrong with them? I've never had this problem before.
Perhaps these are bulbils. All kinds of lilies do set them if they feel threatened for some reason or another. Can you post a picture of the entire plant, so we can look at the leaves too. Are these at the top of the stems here the bloom would normally be?
inanda
That is the entire plant. It's sitting right on the mulch. And the bulbil-like things are at the top where the flowers ought to be.
This message was edited Aug 5, 2006 3:49 PM
Still ~ could you post a pic a bit farther away so we can see the entire foliage? Perhaps a view from the side? Very curious.....
I'm wondering if perhaps that bulblet (bulbil?) on top should be removed and planted separately so that it isn't a drain on an already stressed bulb. Definately weird since orientals don't usually set bulbils (but not unheard of).
Please show a pic with all of the leaves showing, even the tips...
This message was edited Aug 5, 2006 5:24 PM
Here's a picture of two of them that have this problem.
OK. When did you buy and plant them and what did the bulbs look like (roots/no roots, sprout/no sprout, dry and withered etc..)
Well, I dont know. My only suggestion would be to plant them in your garden and mark them. Think I would plant the bulbils just around the stems. You might have babies next year.
One of my species which was normal last year (entered it in the NALS show) bloomed at 3 inches this year, only one bloom. It has been a crazy lily year.
Glad I'm not a farmer. We have had terrible drought here. Global warming I'm sure.
Inanda - very strange indeed.
I bought them last fall from John Scheepers, planted them late October. Bulbs were big and healthy, lots of fresh roots. I grow Scheepers' bulbs every year. I've never had this problem.
Inanda, I don't have a garden, just a balcony garden. I grow lilies as if they're annuals, plant new ones every year.
All the same variety? What variety? So nothing wrong with the bulbs when you planted them. I really don't see any sign of terminal foliage which leads me to believe that maybe some varmint got in there and had a nice lily meal. The bulbil(s) would be a response to the damage. Have you dug out a bulb that didn't come up to see what is going on?
Balcony growing.. hmm.... How far off the ground are you. Maybe birds or squirrels - if you are not too high up. Visiting children??
Just thoughts.
Lots of people here treat orientals as annuals up here. I put a bag of leaves on my ORS after snow and that seems to work well. Really not quite sure if I need to even do that any more (global warming) because crocrosmia that were not lifted last year, are almost in bloom. Crazy year.
inanda
inanda
I was wrong about Scheepers. I forgot I got the orientals from the Lily Garden, 14 Chamberlains, and only 3 came up. Some of my asiatics didn't come up too, and some of the buds were deformed. Plus none of my small bulbs that aren't planted deep came up. We had a terrible cold snap in december, about 10 days of 20-25F below zero. Could that be what happened?
I'm planning to dig up all the bulbs tomorrow, so I'll take a look and see if the ones that didn't come up froze. It looks pretty obvious that these aren't going to grow.
Inanda, I'm only 6 floors up and squirrels do get up here. But I think there would be evidence of digging if it were the squirrels. I'll bet the folks who plant orientals as annuals up there put them in the ground. Right?
Well, I dug them up today to clear the way for fall flowers. What I discovered is that these are actually bulbils from my asiatics starting a little early. It looks like the orientals froze during our two cold weather periods. What a surprise.
Now what I want to know is why the asiatics didn't freeze too!
Simple. The asiatics take the extreme cold better than orientals. Is it normal for your temps to get that low or just a freak season?
Just a freak thing. Once in awhile it gets that low, but not very often. It's a crap shoot every year as to whether any of them will come up. I'll keep on trying with the orientals, though. I've had them come up and bloom before and I'd like to extend the season right through to September. Here's one from a couple of years ago.
Wow-- those are really nice. Maybe if you know cold weather is coming you could put some kind of insulation around them.Don't know if that would be enough when it gets that cold. Have you tried using speciosums for extending the season? Mine just started blooming and usually they go into September but this hot summer has put them ahead of the norm. Here is a pic I took yesterday.
That's a beauty! Don't they get pretty tall?
I think their height is fairly average. These first year lilies are 3-4 feet tall in my garden. They are native to Japan, I believe. I have interspersed these with the white variety but they haven't started blooming yet.
Only liliy bloom here are Port Alberni Tiger and Henryii. Spelling doesn't look quite right there.
Funny thing about the Henryii. One clump is about one metre high andwashed out (full sun).
The other clump is over my head, about 6 ft. and needs staking. Much much larger blooms. Strange.
The bulbils formed because the main stem was lost. It's a normal reaction to that kind of damage.
I've had bulbs that multiplied underground when the stem was aborted. The next year, I had a big clump where there was just one bulb before--many more offsets than would be normally expected.
Let them mature and you can plant them seperately a little later this fall.
Robert.
