Any hope for my Oriental Lilies?

I planted several new Oriental Lily bulbs last fall, but in our very warm December (70's F), they started to come up. They probably had a few inches of height on them before a hard frost came in and knocked them out in January. Our Winter and Spring were so strange this past year that I suspect that my new lilies were clobbered. I say that because I haven't seen any signs of them yet and here it is June already. Should I assume that they are goners or is it at all possible that they could recover and come back next year? I'm fairly new to growing these Lilies having only been captured by their fragrance last year for the first time.

Thanks for any info. you can throw my way.

They might come back next year or even the year after that. It will depend on whether they can ever build the energy to produce a growing stem. I really can't say for sure.

Try mulching your lilies in the future. Mulching helps keep the ground cold. If they are in a really sunny location, you might want to try to put up something to keep the area shaded. Someone suggested to me burlap tacked on a wooden frame.

You should still be able to find potted orientals locally throughout the summer. I know I do in my area.

For some reason my 1rst year oriental always get fungus disease and die back , But the next year the seem to come back and do fine.

Well, that sounds like there's still some hope, so I'm going to cling to that.

Yes, I'm sure that I'll end up buying more potted lilies, but my heart aches a wee bit for all of those special internet purchases of last year. I was really looking forward to seeing what they did.

I do mulch, but I guess it's time to break out the Big Guns.

Declfi, we cross-posted. Hooray! More good news! Well, sort of good anyway... =0

wrightie,

They will only produce one sprout per bloom cycle, and one bloom cycle annually. What happened with you is not unusual with first-year bulbs, penoies, etc where your winter might be exceptionally mild one year and everything comes up "early". They should reset and come back the following year as usual at a more normal time.

I planted some Orientals very late for us one year - like in May before I developed a lot of knowledge of experience with them, when an online retailer was having an end of year sale (I only plant lilies in the fall here now, and then not until November/December). They got about 6" tall in June and the stems just shriveled up and died, probably from the heat. I cut them down and the following year they were a couple of feet tall and produced several flowers each.

Same happened with fall-planted peonies one year. They sprouted and grew leaves and even some flower buds by December/January. A couple of hard freezes killed them off. They did not return that spring but did return AND flower at normal time for us (April) the following year!

Have hope - good luck!

This message was edited Jun 9, 2007 2:38 PM

wrightie:

I had the same problem last year! In Spring 06 it was very warm here and my oriental lilies, crocosmia and glads started poking up way too early. They were then clobbered by a weird long May cold spell, and I got no blooms last summer. I thought seriously about pulling them all out last fall and starting over in those spots. In fact, that's when I joined Dave's Garden, to try to figure out what to do with these bulbs.

I am so glad I didn't toss them! This year the glads and crocosmia have already started blooming, and the oriental lilies are already setting numerous buds. Give them a chance.

Good luck!

This is great news, everybody. Thanks so much. I will expect to see them blooming next year. Steve, I like your tip about planting in Nov/Dec. I'll give that a try in the future.

xoxo

I had some Tom Pouce that were eaten by bunnies to the ground 2 years in a row, but are up with buds this year. Lilies are pretty tough!