Lilies: how many flowers from one bulb?

gelato_cat

Hi all

I'm looking to buy some Asiatic lily bulbs. They seem to come in packs of three, but do you usually get more than one flower per bulb? Just trying to estimate how many bulbs I need!

TIA

Suze

peter_the_piper

You'll just get one stem from each bulb and at the top will be from 3 to a dozen flowers.

gelato_cat

Ah, OK! Didn't occur to me that you could have more than one flower on a stem... thanks!

Suze

peter_the_piper

Hope this helps

gelato_cat

Very nice!

Now for another stupid question. Can I plant daffodil bulbs and lily bulbs next to each other, so I get nice daffs in the spring, followed by nice lilies in the summer, in the same area?

Suze

peter_the_piper

I'd have thought so just remember to plant them both deep enough, Isn't the hole about twice as deep as the bulb is high? Someone else can help here, I'm more used to planting on pots.

gelato_cat

I will probably be planting in pots/troughs as well

Does anyone know if you can dig bulbs up and plant them elsewhere, or should you leave them be?

Suze

Mithos

Suzey wrote: »

I will probably be planting in pots/troughs as well

Does anyone know if you can dig bulbs up and plant them elsewhere, or should you leave them be?

Suze

They can be moved easily when dormant. There is always conflicting advice about how they should be replanted, but in the end I settle for burying them quite deeply, with leaf mold rather than peat compost.

They are very hungry plants and although they will come back year after year, if you want Asiatic lilis to spread and they will ( http://roses.toytrains1.com/asiatic_lilies.htm ) you need to feed them well during the growing season.

If you have the space and time consider some of the Giant Lilly breeds. They produce some spectacular blooms year after year (They need to be planted deeper still, and usually on a small layer of sand to help with drainage and stop rotting during winter)

ERICS_MUM

I agree that they need a good feed - try rose or tomato food which encourage flowers rather than leaves. Usually when moving bulbs you should wait until all the leaves have turned yellow and fallen off (don't cut them off while green as they are still making food for the bulb itself at that stage). The only exception is when moving snowdrops. They are more likely to survive if you move them while they are still green, you can split up the clumps at the same time.

Do you know that lilies are poisonous for cats ? I can't grow them because of my moggie Eric.

Last thing -once you've got leaves on the lilies, keep an eagle eye open for lily beetle which looks like a very small ladybird with no spots. They wreak havoc on lily leaves and flowers. :mad:


Linda

alang_2

I got some asiatic Lily bulbs from the 99p shop about 5weeks ago.
10 in a bag, thought for 99p if they don't grow, not to bothered.
Planted them in a couple of large pots on the windowsill and they have all started sprouting up.
Went back to the 99p shop and bought another 5 bags for my dad's garden.

Alan.

knithryn

On putting daffs in with the lilies,...when the daffs have finished flowering you need to leave them until the leaves have died back, then trim the leaves. This means youur pots will look messy for a while. Admittedly by the time you will want to have the lilies on display you will have had a chance to cut the daff leaves back, but if it's a case of keeping the whole pot 'on show' youu might be disappointed by the dying back period.
If they are to be in the ground, then no problem, you'll just have to put up with the dying leaves business. You could even have crocus in there for early spring, and put some other 'filler' plants in to give colour before the lilies get going. If your filler plants are nice bushy leafy ones, they will help to hide the scraggy daff leaves. (For example you could use forget me nots...)