NW is just right for lovely lilies
August's a good month to dream over the last of summer's lilies. On my own deck, a tall, fragrant yellow Oriental-Trumpet hybrid lily, 'Indian Summer,' graces a large container, soaring to 4 feet (even in its first year).
If lilies entrance you as they do me, be delighted that you live here, say Bob and Diana Gibson, the owners of B&D Lilies in Port Townsend. "There's not a better place in the world for growing lilies than [the region] from San Francisco Bay to Vancouver Island, west of the Cascades, where it's neither too hot nor too cold," Bob Gibson says.
Walking through B&D's display and test gardens with Gibson brings talk of the history and intricacy of lily breeding — both Dutch and American — going back to the 1950s. What's shining in catalogs now was not available all those years ago. And when I ask the obvious question ("What's your favorite lily?"), Gibson smiles and replies, "Things you won't see for six years — we're making selections now for the catalog six to eight years away."
What distinguishes B&D Lilies — aside from its informal, involved, personable family business of 25 years — is its work to evaluate how lilies do, not just as cut flowers, but as garden plants. "We're the only company doing garden trials on new cultivars," Gibson says. "We import 200 new bulbs, and may discard 85 percent for one reason or another."
When evaluating lilies, Gibson says he looks for good persistent color, often in buds as well as flowers, and for resistance to sun scorch and disease. His final selection also takes into account the beauty of the bloom. Results have been spectacular: In 1987, B&D introduced 'Casablanca' to the U.S. market. This superbly handsome and fragrant white lily initially cost $1,000 a bulb. So when you can buy one at $5.50, you have the breeders and propagators to thank.
Gibson offers these tips for growing lilies:
Plant them in fall or spring. Lilies shipped in fall should go in the ground as soon as they arrive. They suffer when left out too long, because they don't go fully dormant. In this climate, spring shipping and planting also work.
Provide good air circulation and drainage. The soil at B&D's Snow Creek test garden is a squeezably lovely sandy loam (I was tempted to fill my pockets with it). But with adequate drainage, other soils will suffice. To see if your soil is good enough for lilies, try Gibson's weed test. "If your soil will grow weeds," he says, "it will grow lilies, with proper fertilization and a light mulch."
Don't forget fertilizer. Apply fertilizers with trace elements when the stems break ground and again when the buds form. Gibson suggests an all-purpose, low-nitrogen tomato or vegetable fertilizer, liquid fish fertilizer or a bulb fertilizer with trace elements. Apply a light layer of rotted compost or manure in fall.
Resist moving a lily now. If you must move a garden lily in full bloom or just fading, use a spading fork. Dig slowly to get as many roots as possible. Maintain lots of soil around the lily and keep it watered until the stem dies.
Allow lily foliage to ripen. After bloom, let the stem ripen slowly until brown and dry. Don't "tidy up" — just think of all those nutrients renewing the bulbs. (Gardeners also can help renewal by cutting no more than a third of the stem when harvesting cut flowers.)
Give it time. Like most truly perennial plants, lilies increase in height, bloom count and vigor over time. A 5-year-old clump of 'Concha d'Or' carries dozens of flowers on sturdy stems nearly 2 inches in diameter.
For all his love of the future lily, Bob Gibson says he cherishes the Oriental 'Black Beauty' and, above all, substantial clumps of the native swamp lily (L. superbum), soaring up to 10 feet. He also describes the study of lilies as a humbling experience. "Twenty-six years," he says, "and I still feel like I hardly know anything about them."Mary Robson is area horticulture agent for Washington State University/King County Cooperative Extension. She shares gardening tips every Wednesday. Her e-mail is marysophia@earthlink.net.
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