Lilies possible in z. 10 southern CA??

Please help! I have a friend & former neighbor who moved to Edwards Air Force Base in southern CA. She says she's now in zone 10. While she lived in MD, I helped her find her inner gardener. :-) She's growing all sorts of neat stuff there, but she wants to grow some of the favorites she left behind here, too.

There's a co-op going on now for lilies (asiatic, oriental), and I mentioned it to her when she called today. She wants to know if they will grow in her zone. I have no idea... PF lists oriental lilies as hardy to zone 9a... does that mean her zone 10 is too warm? I know it very rarely freezes where she is. She is doing drought tolerant plantings in most of her beds but does have a small area that gets more irrigation and is shielded from the worst of the afternoon sun.

I would love to add some lilies to my order to send to her. Please, we need advice!

Thanks!

critter, I'm in zone 9, not 10, but maybe this will help.
Lilies longifolium, aka Easter Lily, and its hybrids, should work for your friend.
I have no luck w/ asiatics, I seem to do better w/ orientals. However, so much of the info seems to say asiatics are better for southern gardens, I am confused. I can only say that orientals seem to do better and have been in my gardens for 2 years. That's not to say they will make it forever, it may be that they steadily decline. Don't have that much experience yet to determine that. Also the orange tiger lily had done well for me.

I'm buying from the coop and focused on LA hybrids, orienpets, longifolium. I may edit this post to correct my terms if necessary. But hopefully this will give you something to go by.

Also, when I want to try something that is ifffy in my zone, I try the species to improve my odds.

This message was edited Jan 7, 2008 9:41 PM

Thanks! I'm going to tell her to look for Easter lilies, maybe find her some seeds. Hart posted a link on the co-op chat thread that had some interesting advice, too.... suggested that LA hybrids and orienpets might have a better than average chance of success. I figure that the pre-chilled bulbs will give her blooms this year at least, and in the military there's no guarantee they'll be there the following year anyway.

I'm getting her 5 of the LA hybrid varieties plus an orienpet, and she and I will look for other possibilities. i may share an oriental or two with her to try, also. She keeps saying Edwards is zone 10, but I'm not sure it isn't listed as 9.

Thanks for your help!