Easy Summer Bulbs: Lilies

I often procrastinate when ordering bulbs and find myself buried in snow by the time I think about next season's garden. This is why I love summer bulbs: not only do they extend the show by many months, but I can buy and plant them in the spring. I can then forget about them until, just a few months late, I get to watch them bloom. The best part? They are very easy to grow.

Lilies are my first choice for summer flowers. They are beautiful, smell good, and if well chosen, can bloom from June through September, at least in my 6b zone.  The packages usually arrive in early April or timed for your USDA zone.

Martagons photo credit

I am a sucker for the martagons (or Turk's cap style lily), with nodding flowers and delicately recurved petals. It is one of the most feminine and beautiful flower shapes I know. My favorite over the last couple of years has been Lilium "Seafarer", a rich apricot with a deeper ruby ribbing on the back of the tilted petals. Blooming in June, it is lightly scented, with the perfume becoming stronger in the evenings. It looks stunning against any green backdrop.

Lilium "Elise". Photo credit

"Elise" has pale green ribs on the back of her flared petals.

Lilium formosanum buds. Photo credit

A lily I find hard to live without is Lilium formosanum, or Formosa lily, known by most Americans as the supermarket-friendly Easter lily; a misnomer, since they bloom naturally in July. Named for their native island of Formosa, now Taiwan, they are pure simplicity: white, with trumpet shapes, meaning they point forwards. Their scent is delicious without having the cloying clove-nose of many Oriental lilies.

Lilium formosanum. Photo credit

For late July impact "African Queen" is hard to beat. Tall, with deep golden trumpets.

Lilium "African Queen". Photo credit

"Silk Road" reaching over 6 feet by July's end and has deep red wine and white flowers the size of small baseball mitts. I was converted to the gaudily striped flowers late in my lily career, whose rather puritanical tastes had run to the simple and restrained. But one year a massive bulb was included in my order from The Lily Garden, as a bonus, and I planted it. 

Lilium "Sillk Road". Photo credit

She is a statuesque beauty who needs plenty of space for her roots (I have three in a 24" deep and round pot), and whose sexy anthers and stamens are half the reason I keep this plant. Part of me finds her just too much, over the top. The other half keeps coming back for another look.

For very late summer, the whiskery "Dunyazade" is very reliable, rising to six feet and blooming in August. Having dinner outdoors with the scent of these lilies overhead is quite special. They seem to last exceptionally long after opening and manage to stay fresh through the deep, sticky heat of a Brooklyn summer. The color-detail on their petals is riveting.

Lilium "Dunyazade" close-up. Photo credit

For container gardens, most lily bulbs can be planted in pots 16" deep and across. My "Silk Road" bulbs are in a pot 24" deep, as they are large with hefty stems needing depth for anchorage. Whether potted or in-ground, cover the lily bulbs with 4" - 5" of soil. Excellent drainage is required, and at least five hours of direct sunlight. Apart from daily watering (in pots, which absorb no ground water) I have found lilies to be relatively worry-free.

After the lilies have flowered, leave the stems and leaves in place until the lower leaves start to turn yellow. Then you can cut them back to the ground. The leaves are needed to make food for the bulb to store for the following year's flowers. You will notice that new shots are sent up after a couple of years from bulbils that have grown from the mother bulb. Lilies propagate easily and give an excellent return on your original investment.