My neighbour has 3 of the largest lily sprouts coming out of her garden that I've ever seen, easily 3 times the size of any of my orientals. They're huge!
She says they are Casablanca, and I'm wondering, does this variety always have tree-trunk size stems? How tall do they get?
Any information would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
Casablanca
Yes, they grow and grow and grow. Mine in Victoria clumped up very well just about my elbow. Here (of coure) they decline and decline. Most people here treat them as annuals. I put bags of leaves over them but they do not do spectacularly well they way they did in BC.
Ginny
Sounds wonderful, Ginny, I've just never seen anything so huge in the lily family in my gardening life!
I love the sound of "spectacularly well" - going to have to get me some, I guess.
I have them surrounding my bird bath and they are taller than the water holder part of the bird bath. Probably 3-4 feet from my recollection. They smell sooooooo good too. Here is a picture of them just coming up and thinking about opening from last year. I hope thisis the right one since my pictures are saved on a back up drive....
Casablanca, does well in our zone, I learned about this beauty for my neighbor has one. They are about 5' tall, and the blosoms are breath-takenly gorgeous. They seem to take a while to get established, I planted one last year, the stalk grew then dies back to the ground and yielded no bloom. This year it's coming back and show sign of buds, but only 2' tall so far.
My neighbor came and offered me her Casablanca's offsets. Stating that they just grew and did not bloom for her other than the original one. I don't want to impose/or take advantage of her generosity. For she knows not that this one apparently takes time on rewarding the "patient-gardeners".
This is my Casablanca today, or one of them. I started with 3 and one seemed to disappear, there is a young stem but I'm not sure which it's from as they come up in different places to where they started. The moles dig around a lot, but they do look like they travel sideways to me. The second one is a bit further up on the bank and always comes up a little later.
I've had these for a few years and they don't seem to be increasing in a hurry but grow well every year, mostly around 5' tall.
I wish I could perennialize Orientals - just too hot here in summer. I am surprised they do well year after year for your neighbor, Lily_love, since your climate is similar to mine.
The other varieties do well here, like Orienpets, Asiatics and Trumpets. The one Oriental I have had come back solidly year after year is LeReve - and it blooms very early compared to the others.
My lilies shown in the pic are FIRST year. You are seeing them in the WAAAAAY beginning stage where they are growing up over the water part of the bird bath and they hid the bird bath with their flowers. These are first year plantings from Band B. They did so well, I have a second order for this year. I put mine in a max of 6 hours lights, which shows them stretching for the sun. I'll probably move them left this year since they functioned so well in a not so perfect environment for them.
Have you tried planting them deeper, Steve. That's what I have to do on the other end of the scale. I plant at least 8 inches down. I would think that if you could give them afternoon shade and plant deeper, you might have more success.
Casablanca should only grow 4 to 5 feet tall. If they are going taller, then they are looking for more sun. That's not all bad, but they don't live too long like that and you have to replace about every three or four years. My neighbor across the street had beautiful Stargazers that went about 7 feet every year. She had them all along the front of the house. Last year not one of them showed up and she was heartbroken about it. As long as you understand what can happen and be prepared, I say plant them in the shade if that's where you want them.
Steve;
I'm fortunate to be on a lakefront property. Thus, the microlimate perhaps makes some difference. For example; during the Easter weekend's frost. Many a friends' garden suffered frost. Mine came out ok.
My nick-name implies I love lilies, but I don't know very much about defferent varieties. I've this (suspected Oriental, but unsure which?). Could you help I.D.?
Regards
Kim
Hard to say. It could be Casa Blanca or Ice Dancer. Do you remember where you got it? How old is it and how tall does it get. It would be helpful next time you get a picture to see if you can capture the throat for any coloring. Sometimes that helps in tracking down an ID.
This one isn't very tall. Perhaps 3 feet at the time it bloomed. Where as I saw my neighbor's Casablanca nearly as 5-6 feet tall.
Thanks
I generally have always planted them pretty deep, beaker - but I did not have much shade at my old property and have lots of mature trees and a lot of shade and semi shade at the new place I bought last fall. I will take your advice and buy a few and plant them in semi-shade with an eastern exposure - maybe I'll have better luck!
If this is the first year since planting, 3 feet would be normal. As the lily matures in each subsequent year, it will grow taller until it hits its mature height. Also, if your neighbor has them in a more shady location, they would be taller than normal; i.e.in excess of 5 feet.
There are shorter varieties and perhaps it's one of those. Snowpeak and Ice Dancer only go 3 to 4 feet for me. Or it could be more dwarf and planted in shade would get very tall. Roldolfo is only suppose to get about 20 inches, but I could see it going 3 feet in a shady location.
Ok, I'll temporarily call this one "Ice Dancer" until further info. Do you by any chances know of Formosa Lily? At the end of my class last Nov. We were taken to a garden tour where I saw Formosa Lily with loaded seed pods. These lilies were towering over head could be 9-10 feet tall! I regret that I didn't get to see the blosoms. And hoping to return to this garden to witness this beauty.
I believe they are hardy to zone 5, so you should be able to grow it where you live. I planted it here in the fall of '05 and it was a no show last year. It may still show up one of these years. I understand they will bloom from seed during the first year and in some places, I want to say in Australia, it's become an invasive weed.
Lily Love,
Could your white one be Siberia?? I have Siberia growing with Arabian Red and both are 3-4 ft. tall and smell wonderful!
Steve my Casablance is at the bottom curve of an east/north facing bank, it gets dappled shade and does well but our climate is cooler.
Lily_love yours looks just like mine, I put them side by side. I'm not familiar with the others mentioned though, and as stated yours may get talller later.
I googled for Ice Dancer and Snow Peak but didn't come up with a single result on image or web.
Unless these are available readily at retail outlets it would be more likely to be Casablanca, which is well know and sold widely.
I'm guessing they are also CB and just haven't hit maturity yet.
This is Ice Dancer.
Siberia is different from CB. It's flowers are more out or somewhat angled up and a well established one (3+ yrs) will be doubled budded, thus it has an extended bloom period.
A link to Siberia-- notice the form.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/buggycrazy/ORIENTAL/SIBERIA.jpg
Snowpeak is an introduction by buggycrazy. I agree with wallaby, all things considered it is most likely Casablanca because it is mass produced.
Siberia vs. CB, now I'm totally confused with delight. I'll keep y'all posted with mine as it's growing leap and bounce as we type. :-)
Kim
pardalinum, I didn't realize that...thank you! Learn something new everyday. (grin)
I do know that it has great big flowers, even the buds are huge and mine is 3 years old.
and I did finally find Snowpeak at Buggy's site. Just in case anyone was dying to see it.
I really like the curly form on Snowpeak.
Beautiful, I've got to learn more. :-)
Kim
Well, here is what Lisa says about her introduction:
'A seedling of White Bud crossed with Dame Blanc, Snowpeak is not what we expected! Large, pure white upfacing blooms in a perfect pyramidal inflorescense, The field planting produces a few faciated stems every year. Faciated stems are those that get flattened and produce several times the amount of bloom they normally would, the reasons for faciation are not understood, but when a lily does it it is spectacular! Faciated stems should be staked because the weight of all those blooms can cause them to break. Blooms in mid July on 4 foot stems, sun and heat tolerant.'
Buggy doesn't sell in the spring as she doesn't have cold storage, but it will probably become available again this fall. There are other views of the blooms on her web site.
http://buggycrazy.vstore.ca/index.php/cPath/1/sort/2a/page/4
Another nice white one she hybridized is July Snow, such a nice inflorescence! I bought 3 small bulbs of it and don't expect much in the way of bloom this year.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/buggycrazy/ORIENTAL/P22JULYSNOW2.jpg
How did I miss that one or did you snag it during a visit? It's a beauty.
Well, I almost missed it on her site. You know how she has so many to choose from and I kept going over and over it all, usually looking for ones she describes as sun tolerant. But I was particularly taken by the excellent form of this one. I hope it doesn't burn in the summer sun.
I haven't been out to the farm yet, but she invited to come this summer during bloom time. Otherwise they seem to indicate they don't want visitors. If I make it out there and also Mak-Leek I should have some good pictures to post here this summer.
How many acres does she have of lilies, do you know?
I really don't know. The farm itself is pretty big but they don't farm all of it and of course they grow many other plants also. I'll ask next time I see her.
Those are lovely...how did I miss them last fall?
(I will not buy more, I will not buy more, I will not buy more!!!)
I'm OK now....until tomorrow.
Those lilies GOT me, again!!! again, and again!