I have had a bunch of lily bulbs in my shopping cart at Brent and Beckys for 3 days now. Kept the browser tab open for those 3 days while I thought about it. Well, the heck with thinking. I am weak. I must have more lily bloom this summer never mind waiting.
I ordered 5 bulbs apiece (since you can buy one or five) of -
ORANIA
BRIGHT STAR
ALTARI
YELLOWEEN
BESTSELLER
GRAND CRU
PURPLE RAIN
SALMON STAR
PINK GIANT
LANDINI
TOUCHING
I could not resist at Brent and Becky's bulbs
I cannot wait to see your gardens in bloom!! You are going to have to take tons of pictures for us! :)
Heck, you think thats bad, I just ordered a bunch of Tall Bearded Iris from two growers and have to enlarge a bed for them before they get here in July. This is what happens when its raining and I can not go out and plant, I get in more trouble. At least all the spring stuff like my lilies and daylilies will be long planted by then. Actually they should be blooming by then.
I do not have any bearded iris right now but did already plant 28 Siberian Iris this spring with 8 more coming on an order this week.
I must have near 400 daylilies by now and I know I have about 200 roses.
I will be taking lots and lots of pictures!
Oh my heavens. It would kill me to have to keep that all weeded. :) LOL
Its funny but I read things on the forums about weeds taking over and the big chores of weeding. Let me tell you, I love my garden but I just hate, hate, hate to weed. That said, there are almost no weeds here. Yes, a few because it is a garden but the weeds here are few and far between. I have my own way of doing things that takes care of the potential weed problem.
I am going to have to take some pictures to show what I mean but most of the garden areas (very cottage garden) look like a forest floor, they are so heavily mulched with leaves that I gather in the fall and put heavily on the garden beds. Very few things besides those that belong can manage to get growing. Last fall I had my guy that cuts my lawn bring me 2 truckloads of fall leaves raked up from other places he works at. He would only have had to pay to dump them and these he dumped on my driveway. All the shrub and rose beds I put a very thick carpet of leaves, way over a foot which settles down in afew weeks. The daylily beds I did heavily too but just not as much.
I don't have any problems with the lilies, they come up right thru the leaf mulch and so do my bulbs like crucus, tulips and daffs. Sometimes some of the daylilies get covered by mistake and I have to scrape back the mulch in the spring.
I don't chop up the leaves like some people do either to use as mulch, they get used as they are, whatever shape mother nature made them in.
I have grass that has invaded some beds and I'm digging it out bit by bit. Last year I was having some health problems and on top of that we got non-stop rain for the entire spring and that just made it worse. But this year, I'm back in fighting form and hopefully, the weeds will lose. :) LOL
What a wonderful garden you will have this summer, and in the years to come! That list is full of great lilies, as usual, and I can't wait to see your garden pictures this summer! Touching, Salmon Star, and Altari in particular I've had my eye on for a while, and will look forward to seeing in your garden!
Ticker~ I am right there with you on the weeding this year! In 2008 I had a series of health issues, and several major family tragedies, and was not able to garden much for the entire season! Needless to say, I am paying the price for that this year ! :( I have had to work in sections and just dig in and do it -- but I am not liking it a bit!! I don't use many chemicals in the garden with the kids and dogs in the yard and all, but I had to break down and get some weed killer spray to use on the paths, seating areas and some unused parts of my lot, as it was way beyond me to do it all by hand. I do all my beds and borders by hand, but a lot of them are planted and mulched heavily enough to not be the major problem. The dang grass slowly working its way deeper into the beds is annoying though! It's in clumps of DL's and Iris...what a pain!! I have vowed 100's of times since starting this process in the late winter that I would NEVER let the weeds get to this point again!! So I feel your pain!! LOL ☻
Jamie
This message was edited May 3, 2009 9:31 PM
Jamie, I am so sorry to hear '08 was a bad year for you & your gardens. I sure hope '09 is better in every way for you!
Happy Gardening!
Becky
Oh well, in my case most of the daylily in those beds needed to be dug and divided and I had a lot of yarrow and seedum that had gotten really woody and so now it is toast. :) And I'm not above spraying things with a grass killer it's just that it was taking too long for it to work for my tastes! LOL
I reamally feel your pain. Try in my thighs, back, arms.... I was out from about 7am yesterday until hubby dragged me in just doing one bed. Its on the lee side of the yard up against the fence. Every weedseed known to man gets blown overthere, and would you believe I've got a lily bed in that site. The dandilions were so thick it looked like a French market garden and to make it more fun the lilies are coming up through the mess with tons of babies in the mix. The rest of the yard isn't much better as I haven't been able to get out all spring. Only the areas I payed to have mulched (almost killed me to do it) are ok.
Rita I agree with you. I love to load on the leaves. Most of the time I don't move them either.
But if you load on the leaves from the fall, the weeds really can't get started. The grass has a very difficult tine getting in the beds also although I have found stone edgers really help for that. It defines were the bed is and were the grass is. Before I did things this way, the grass would try and creep in my beds during the summer. I don't like to have to edge, just like I don't like to have to weed so use lots of stone edgers and bricks for edging. What I didn't finish putting edgeing on last year, I hope to finish this year.
At least I bought a pallet of the stone edgers I use to be delivered next week. When I get to actually laying them around is another matter as I have so much to plant!
They are fast with the shipping at Brent and Beckys. I just got a UPS notice that my box was shipped today.
I am having a difficult time trying to immagine the garden in bloom with all those new lily bulbs that I have gotten this spring.Usually I can see pictures in my mind of what I am trying to create in the garden. But I got so many bulbs that I can't immagine them all in bloom, will just have to wait for the real thing. I just know its going to be smashing!
Becky~
Thanks for the kind post! So far 2009 has been a complete 180degree difference from last year! And it's been very theraputic to get out there and clean everything up for a fresh start!....it just makes me feel good to finish a bed, mulch it well, and stand for a minute and anticipate the beauty to come!!
I appreciate your kind words!!
Jamie
Yeah, the Brent and Becky order came today by UPS. I just opened the box and looked in at all the baggies containing all the bulbs. From what I could see, all looks good.
I put the box with the other box of unplanted lily bulbs from the other day, out on my covered porch. I figgured its cooler there than in my kitchen. If we could just have some no rain days, I could get them planted. I am really behind this spring as the weather has not been co-operating.
Watch them closely for sprouting, they sprout fast this time of year, which can make the bulbs hard to untangle without breaking shoots. My household gets used to finding bulbs in the 2nd fridg this time of year, LOL.
The lilies I just planted CENTERFOLD, which were from VB Wholesale were really badly sprouted, the most I have ever seen and had to plant. Took longer to do as I had to be very careful but I did not break any.
I just started opening some of the bags of lilies from Brent and Beckys. Very nice quality. The 5 BESTSELLER that I just planted did have just the noses showing but no sprouts. And Bright Star that I just took out of the bag is not at all started yet.
I got some done last week but only got around to the rest today.
I put most of the OT hybrids in a row in back of a daylily row and in front of some shrubs were I had always planned to plant lilies. Nice batches of 5 bulbs each. My Asiatics that I planted near my blueberries I decided that I did not need to use the 5 bulbs each in the groupings and did them in groups of four. This way I had the extra bulbs to plant in a mixed lily garden by my front porch that I just keep adding to (no tags). And thats were I put the extra bulb from each group.
I didn't know that you could plant lily bulbs in the spring. Do you mean they are going to bloom this summer? How can that be? Please tell me more.
Lilies and be planted in spring or fall. Usually there is a greater variety of bulbs in the spring, especially of oriental lilies because of the late bloom time and the bulbs not always being ready to deliver during fall planting due to late maturation. Also of note is the number of oriental lilies coming from Holland in the spring.
I find fall planting to be preferable to spring planting only that it seems like they get a natural winter and settle in after planting a bit better and have a nice natural cycle for their first blooming summer. Still, I plant in the spring and most often will have blooming on the spring planted lilies during the summer. Often spring lilies are partially sprouted as they are ready to grow, so it is best to be careful of the sprout while planting because your flowers will form on that developing sprout the same summer.
I have always planted in the spring. You plant them, they come up and bloom the same year. Almost instant gratificattion.
BIG SALE at Brent and Beckys this week.
Brent and Beckys half price sale starts at 12:01 AM (midnight) Friday. 50 percent off is darn good. It only lasts afew days as they said all bulb orders end Monday June 1st at midnight.
Thanks for the tips. Now I know.
I can just picture all of us jamming B & B's web site, fighting for bulbs.
LOL thanks Rita for enabling me - I just bought 80 lily bulbs for $81. I think I will do what I did last year - get some large insulated pots and plant in those.....usually late May is far too late for me to plant to expect decent blooms, but this method produced a good bloom in July for me last year and believe it or not they all returned well in the pots this year and are starting to bloom. Plus I might take ililyfan's (Sue's) advice and line pots with foil inside, reflective side out. I keep the pots on my covered back porch where they get some sun but are protected most of the day. B&B has a surprisingly good LA selection so 60 of the 80 are those.
This message was edited May 23, 2009 7:30 PM
Hey, thats sounds good. You can post pictures when they all bloom. I thought about getting some more of those LAs myself (already got Red Alert and Bestseller) but after the over 400 bulbs I ordered (from lots of places and many orders) I just could not face the idea of having to plant more right now.
I am not going to look, I am not going to look, I am not going to look, I am not going to look. I'm not. Nope, no way. Ain't gonna happen. Oh heck, you know I will..... *sigh*
So, Ticker, what did you get? LOL
Yeah, Diann, I know you caved :-) I did!
Oh I caved in, just finished up on their site. Let's see, first off I replaced the Pink Giant that I lopped off the other day. Then I got some Pink Slippers (Asiatic). Thats all for lilies. I ordered Hipppeastrums Baby Star, Benfica, and Pink Impression. If you haven't tried B and B's Hippeastrums, you're missing out! Half price puts them at $4 for most; and they are huge bulbs! A couple that I bought on their closeout 2 years ago are fixing to bloom again in the next week or so.
Then I ordered callas Mango, Black Magic and Majestic Red. I lost every one of my potted callas over this past winter in the greenhouse. We had a really cold protracted winter with lows down to around 13 deg. And I ordered caladiums Cranberry Star and Florida Elise.
I just had to try a Sprekelia; hope I don't kill it... and finally, some Achimenes. These are fun and easy little bulbs that grow very well in containers.
I couldn't get into the site. All you lily addicts crashed the server! LOL
LOL, well I am done. I'm still drooling over their fall catalog and all those gorgeous and unique daffs. But I will order from Buggy; how fresh can you get!
The only thing better than a Buggy daff is a Buggy lily. Love those plump Buggy daffs.
Steve, I bought b/c you bought! Do you think I need to pot mine or could I plant directly inground?
My order was small:
5 Brunello, a screaming orange
5 Lollipop
5 Landini
Pard, h. Baby Star and you will adore Benfica. Maybe I need to go back and get some Benfica.
Nery, I think you could go either way at this point - Asiatics are tougher than the others and in the ground will probably be OK but the stalks and flowers will likely be small compared to what they should be, though next year you'll get a normal plant at normal time. I am planting mine in pots for now (mostly because I do not have anywhere in the ground to put them!) and in a location that only receives a few hrs of sun and is otherwise protected as our heat is hard on the bulbs, but I did this last year and they all came up well this year, still in pots. While normally I consider this time of year too late to plant lilies in the ground, and I am a big advocate of fall planting, I did plant some lilies I got at last year's round-up directly into the ground and all developed and flowered normally except with stems maybe shorter than normal. I will probably transfer everything to the ground in the fall. I did plant spome Orientals in the ground a few years ago from an EOS sale and they came up about 6" and croaked, but then returned ot flower the following year and so the bulbs themselves were obviously undamaged.
I am the type of person who buys things for the garden on impulse and the worries after the fact where the heck I'll put them. Example - yesterday I went to the local nursery to pick up some mulch for my new hosta bed and ended up with several bags of topsoil and enriched garden soil as well as a butterfly bush and a Big Daddy hydrangea in a 3-gal pot. ^_^ Of course I had nowhere to put this stuff so had to add on to an existing bed :-)
This message was edited May 24, 2009 11:19 AM
I hope I'm not monopolizing, but if I do choose to pot first, 1) how many in a 3 gal pot? 2) how much do you water while in pot 3) what month in fall do you transfer inground?
I would think you could plant at least five in a three-gallon pot; if the bulbs were small, even more. I would water deeply at least once a week, maybe twice if the soil dries out quickly. Only problem with a lot of the garden mixes is that the soil is too light and it dries out quickly; I have been mixing half garden mix or compost with half bagged topsoil for a nice consistency. I would move to the ground in October or November here for Asiatics.
thank you. I will post here about what I do. I have bought some late season on the past that i never saw. However, I can't tell if they were not for my zone or simply planted at the wrong time. that's why I'm being conservative with the lilies.
I am excited about Brunello, it is gaud, gaud, gaud.
Nery, as a rule, late spring or summer planting into the ground (Or I guess in pots for that matter) is not good here due to our heat. Even though my winters are significantly colder than yours, we both have the same issue with heat during the summer. I always prefer fall planting for just about anything; Feb or March planting is great but the issue is many people are not shipping lilies at that time. Of course, like you I can never resist an EOS sale at half-off, so we have to take our risks :-) One advantage of pot planting at least for the short-term is that you can control watering and sun exposure. I know you get a lot of rain and rot could be an issue with you are, with the water and the heat being a bad mix. The insulated pots you can get at the big-box stores are especially good and I have had good success. Also, Ililyfan suggested in her lecture on lilies at the IA roundup to plant lilies in pots with the inside of the pot lines with foil, reflective side outwards, for better success in pots and I think I might try that this year.
I am excited to see your Brunello when it blooms. It looks like a keeper. I also like "Renoir" but alas didn't order it. I did order most of the LA's they had listed as well as LO "Pink Heaven" and Trumpet "African Queen", and OT "Miss Feya". Orientals do just OK here but also got "Sorbonne" (5). LOL
This message was edited May 24, 2009 11:48 AM
maybe I will experiment and line one of my pots w/ foil. then I can report on it as a southern gahhhhthener.
Why line the pots with foil?
Yehudith
To deflect the hear away from the soil and keep the bulb cooler.