Species Lilium, Martagon Lily, Turk's Cap Lily

They're now putting out prolific eyecatching magenta blooms in my zone 7b garden.

Lilium martagon is a native flower of the mountains here in Austria, but its also a wonderful gardenplant, which can take a view years to settle down

I'm going to say my experience was positive but the jury's still out. I purchased mine from a very pricey but reputable (and locally-famo...Read Moreus) garden centre in the fall of 2007. In 2008 there were only a couple of basal leaves visible where I planted it, but I know some perennials can be slow to establish, so I opted to wait. In 2009 there were more leaves but it really didn't look like it would ever do much. This year, I've got a very sturdy 2 foot-tall plant with lots of leaves and several buds. We'll see what happens next - will I be happy I waited?

Zone 9b coastal otago, nz

Inexplicably, this lily thrives here, taking a year to settle in then powering away into giant c...Read Moreandelabras of musk pink and tan spotted flowers with an interesting slightly funky scent and nice whorled leaves. While my oriental hybrids are mostly languishing with virus etc, and getting their bulbs eaten by insects that invade my too-open bought-in soil (the millipedes just walk right in there and start munching) and generally looking crap, this lily, along with my pyrecacium and pardalinum, are loving the conditions.
Gardening on hideous clay, I use raise beds for my 'nana' perennial areas, shading the root with nearby plants. This is all the consideration they seem to require.
Ive noticed that these species lilies aren't bothered by aphids or virus as much as my oriental hybrids are. They also multiply (here) much faster than the latter, my pardalinums going apeshit and turning from about 5 rhizomes into 25 within a year, most of those flowering too. My orienpets are doing better than the straight orientals, which I may abandon altogether.
So if youre having issues with lilies but love the flower, go for the species and older varieties and forget the fussy modern hybrids. These martagons are definitely hardier and fuss-free, and in many ways are easier to incorporate into a wider planting scheme because their flowers are a little less in-your-face and more sympathetic in a mixed border.
Mine take a bit of wind too, being planted on a coastal hillside without too much shelter.