Hi there fellow lily growers! I wanted to stop in and introduce myself. I love lilies and pretty much anything else that I can get my hands on that I can grow in zone 5, even though I typically can push the zones and overwinter almost anything in zone 6. I grow a lot of different lilies, at last count I have over 84 types. I am hugely into propagation bt scales and always have around 600-1000 babies in various stages at all times. I am getting my hands in hybridization now too. Anyway, I look forward to getting to know you all and making some great trades too. If anyone out there likes to trade babies from scales let me know that too, I always have the newest lilies that I am scaling.
Steph
New to the forum
WELCOME! You will find some really, really nice people here on Dave's. We love to share our pictures, successes and failures (Few may they be). Stroll through the most recent thread and you will get a taste of the chatter here. I personally grow over three hundred lilies. (about 200 have lost their tags, but I love them anyways!) Glad you joined us and are here to drool over these luscious plants with the best of us!
Hi Steph! Always good to be joined by another lily fanatic :) You'll find yourself in good company, lots of wonderful people here with lots of experience to share. Thanks to the helpful guidance of the lily gurus here, I'm watching my first sprouts from scaling and seedlings emerge! Welcome, and enjoy!
Neal
So glad you came to visit, Steph/lilygrower ~ welcome to the Lily Forum! We always love to have more people to share our passion with.
Got a favorite lily?
Oh, another person who loves lilies....and you sound as if you've been into this for quite some time. I'm happy you've joined us. Cute user name too ;)
Scale trading sounds fun. I have just gotten big into this scales and seed thing myself. From your post, it sounds like this lily addiction could get worse ;)
What's your favorite lily source? Do you donate seeds to NALS?
Most of all, welcome, welcome, welcome. You'll have fun here!
welcome steph
wow it sounds like you have lots of lilies in your garden beds. i did up until a couple winters ago when voles ate me out of house and home. so now i'm experimenting with ways to keep them away from my bulbs, before i buy any more of the expensive ones that are always on my wish lists :-)
welcome and have fun.
debi, I've had the same trouble with voles and have been planting my lilies in pots and planting the pot and all. Have'nt had any problems since. Its also proven very helpful when I'm digging in the garden before the lilies sprout; my trowel hits the pot instead of slicing through a bulb :)
Lillygrower, welcome to the forum! The folks in this forum are some of the most helpful folks around! They even let me play in here! :)
Diann
sounds like a great idea and an inexpensive one too, compared to buying those cages and so on. i have very good draining soil, so that is nothing i need to worry about even with the pot there too. it would be lovely to be able to buy some of the gorgeous lilies i've been seeing, or replace some of the 100's they ate and know they wouldn't be gourmet dining on me again.
i read somewhere that while routing out a vole nest, they found over 150 lily bulbs that the voles had stashed near there nest. i wanted to know where this place was. LOL
welcome and ticker, they let me play here too.
your gardening playmates,
debi z and franklin my little gardening pekingese doggi
Last fallI spent two solid days making boxes out of hardware cloth for special lilies. Many sore fingers resulted, but hope that lilies will grow this summer.
inanda
I had gophers decimate my lilies back home at my parents' when I grew up. Most lilies were replaceable, so I wasn't too perturbed; but one, one was a wild lily an old Cajun had given me that was rescued from the Minnesota River bottoms when they redid highway 13. I have search that area several times for seed, but to no avail.
This message was edited Feb 18, 2007 10:32 AM
With the planting in pots idea, if you have concerns about drainage (my soil is sandy, so no problem), you can cut the entire bottom out of the pot. The evil burrowers approach from the side and still tend to leave them alone when they hit the wall of the pot.
You mean I can make tubes not boxes. when I next go planting in VA?
That will be much speedier -and better for hurt fingers too.
inanda
Passion or obsession? Welcome to the nuthouse, lilygrower!
You said it all, Wanda.
Welcome to our newest lily addict!!
Lots of information and help on this site.
What happened to lilygrower? Did we scare her?? :)
She just up and vanished. Hmmmmmmm.
I am here! I am sorry that I have been MIA for the past few days! Besides being a lilygrower :) I am also back in school after 14 years. I had two papers that were due by noon today, ugh! Anyway, yes I am here! Getting ready to post a question to you all.
Steph
Hello All! New to the Lilly Forum!
I have Easter lillies from last year that made it through the winter and are ready to be divided? into separate pots. Last year I had outstanding brilliant white foliage with deep green leaves. I took the half-dead lilies from church after the Easter service, and told them I'd be sending them back for their altar this year. I haven't done this before so any advice would be appreciated, particularly to get them to bloom in time for Easter! Thanks in advance!
P.S. Answer soon, as I'm gonna do some shopping this weekend for the garden. Will I need special soils. I'm growing tomatoes for the first time this summer (In Earthboxes), and will be investing in MG potting mix for the boxes. Can I use same for divided lilies?
We all vanish from time to time--life interferes with our garden gossip. Sorry I can't help with the Easter Lilies--mine are in the ground & just bloom with all the other lilies in July.
the ones that you see around Easter time have been forced. So you may need to start them growing inside if you expect bloom by Easter if that window of oppurtunity hasn't already closed.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOhhh. So, how do you force a lily to bloom?
All forcing means is that a bulb is being planted indoors to bloom at a time it normally would not. It still takes the same amount of time to bloom as is in the garden. You are out of luck if you want these to bloom for Easter. Besides, unless you have a green house with optimal temperatures and light, the plant you have is not going to look as good as when you originally acquired it. I suggest you plant these in your garden and purchase new potted lilies for Easter.
ok.....