You may remember in my Greenhouse Update post at the weekend I mentioned a lily that was the only surviving member of a collection that I bought a while ago.
It wasn't a very significant member of the photograph so here is a closer view.
The bulbs had been potted up and left in the greenhouse when some sort of intruder rootled amongst the plant pots digging up and scattering the bulbs. The bulbs were actually rather small pathetic looking specimens to start with and had I been reviewing them wouldn't have had a favourable write-up. As it was some bulbs had disappeared completely obviously eaten or carried away by the aforementioned intruder.
Originally all the pots were labelled but after repotting any bulbs that looked as though they had a half chance at least of surviving I had no idea which bulbs were which.
As I mentioned, in the end only one bulb produced anything and even then only a few straggly leaves. It was left in its pot and really forgotten about until this year when we noticed some shoots.
The bulb was repotted into a larger pot and promoted to a better place in the greenhouse where it has repaid us by at last producing flowers.
It's making quite a statement in the greenhouse in terms of colour and fragrance. It has been a long time coming - at least two years - and I can only dream of the display we would have achieved if the whole collection had made it to the flowering stage. But would we have kept about two dozen bulbs in the greenhouse that in the end took two years to flower - maybe not. I'm guessing they would have ended up in some forgotten spot in the garden where I doubt that they would have survived.
At least for now we have these flowers to enjoy
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Those are lovely. I so love lilies. I just wished they bloomed longer.
ReplyDeleteI just wish more had survived, Daphne.
DeleteSo beautiful lilies!
ReplyDeleteThey are, Malar
DeleteBeautiful - such rich colours and it looks very healthy.
ReplyDeleteThey are, Alain.
DeleteI love lilies...and their scent. Unfortunately they make me sneeze like crazy so I am so glad you shared this with us!!!
ReplyDeleteDo all perfumed flowers make you sneeze Tanya?
DeleteBeautiful lilies, I think I have the same variety, mine looks identically.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I have no idea which variety it is, Dewberry
DeleteLovely addition to your greenhouse Sue, though my eye was drawn to your cucamelons. All mine were eaten by slugs, I must try again next year.
ReplyDeleteThey aren't producing much un the way of cucamelons, Janet neither inside or out in the garden
DeleteWell, I reckon it was worth the wait! They are lovely.
ReplyDeleteThey are Mark but just imagine a dozen in different colours! I wonder if anyone would like to send me some bulbs to review :)
DeleteNow that is simply beautiful! Glad to hear one bulb made it. I have the most awful lilies this year, the blooming lily beetle got the lot. xxx
ReplyDeleteI think lily beetles have seen off the lilies in the garden that had flowered for years - no sign at all this year.
DeleteA long time coming! It's such a pretty one too, you've certainly got patience Sue, I'm not so sure I'd have bothered making all the effort you did back then.
ReplyDeleteNo patience involved, Angie - the pot was stuffed in a corner and forgotten 'til Martyn asked what was shooting in the pot.
DeleteI absolutely love lilies and I have around 150 in my garden, with flowering time from May to August. You lily is lovely, and looks like it could be a ‘Stargazer’ or perhaps ‘Sumatra’. As long as the stem is allowed to die down naturally after flowering, your beautiful lily will be back, taller and with more flowers next year :-)
ReplyDelete150 - Wow, Are they in pots or in the ground, Helene? I hope ours survives to flower another year!
DeleteMost of mine are in the ground, but I have some in pots too around my seating area, and oriental lilies do very well in pots as long as they grow in the shade so they don’t get their roots ‘cooked’. I grow mine from seed, it takes 4-5 years from seed to flower, well worth having a tray of seedlings every year absolutely for free, they require no care at all apart from water and can spend all year outside in the tray until ready to be planted in year 3.
DeleteBy the way, the intrude might have been a squirrel, eating your lily bulbs, it seems they like both lily bulbs and the new shoots from lilies, despite the whole thing being poisonous. Perhaps they are not dangerous for squirrels to eat, I lost 13 newly emerging lilies in my garden, might not seem so many out of 150, but they were all around the seating area in the containers so it looks rather empty there now. When the lilies are broken or chewed off right at the start, it will never develop a stem, and therefore not be able to store nutrition that year for next year’s stem and flower. The bulb therefore dies. So 13 amazing lilies gone due to those squirrels, I could murder them!
DeletePossible but I don;t think one could get in as we have a grid over the door. I'm thinking maybe mice.
DeleteIt's pity, Sue that you lost your lilies collection. They are so pretty in bloom, love all varieties. This one survived is Asian lily, isn't it? I have 2 lilies in a pot now and wait for their blooming, the buds are big and white.
DeleteI'm not sire what it is Nadezda as it lost its label
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