Christmas lilies are a delight for the garden that show off their beautiful blooms during summer and, as the name suggests, at Christmas.
Christmas lilies are the common name of a few varieties of oriental-type lilies and part of a wider family including Asiatic lilies.
So why am I talking about Christmas lilies in the middle of winter? Now is the time to plant them. Because they grow from a bulb/tuberous root system, they are dormant during the winter months. If you have some lilies in your garden, they benefit from being divided every three to five years and you get new plants from the process.
Planted now, your lilies will sprout during late winter, then grow during spring and commence flowering about December. Lilies are easy to grow and can be left in the ground for years. Each year the clumps of bulbs will increase, as will the subsequent number of blooms. This is the time of the year when these and other dormant bulbs, such as dahlias, can be lifted and divided to create new plants.
Most know the Christmas lily, though there are many other worthy colours, shapes and sizes in lilies that can be grown easily.
Asiatic and oriental lilies make wonderful cut flowers to bring indoors during the summer. They can last up to two or three weeks in a vase by changing the water regularly and re-snipping the base of the stem to keep the wound fresh.
Asiatic lilies are generally earlier flowering and there is a larger colour range to choose from. Most are not scented. Asiatic lilies tend to multiply much faster than oriental types. The growth habit, as a rule, is more compact, which can make them better for pots and small spaces.
Oriental lilies are a bit later flowering. The flower size tends to be larger and they have the famously scented blooms that are reminiscent of “Grandma’s garden”. The stems are usually taller with a stately presence.
Planting some of each of Asiatic and oriental lilies is recommended because this will give you a longer flowering season of beautiful lilies.
How to grow successfully
They grow best in a sunny situation with rich, well-drained soil. The free-draining aspect is particularly important, otherwise the tuberous root system can be prone to rotting and you can lose your plants during wet periods. If necessary, your desired spot can be raised into a mound to achieve the required free-draining conditions.
For great results, lilies should be fed with bulb fertiliser three times a year. Use Tui Bulb Food or Ican Bulb Food, once at planting, once before flowering and a third time after flowering, when the plants are storing energy for flowering the following year. Take care to ensure the fertiliser does not come into direct contact with the bulbs.
Planting them in groups of three to five bulbs in the garden usually gives the best visual effect. Taller-growing varieties will need staking so wind during the summer does not snap off the stems. Adding a stake at planting time is a good idea to avoid possible root damage that can occur if they are added at a later date. It also is a good marker for knowing where your lilies are when they are dormant.
And what about in pots? Yes, absolutely. Using a quality potting mix is key to success along with a pot that is not too small. I recommend Tui Bulb Mix or Ican Premium Potting Mix. Both have good structure. The addition of Tui Enrich for Pots & Containers every six months, and using liquid fertiliser Ican Fast Food as a top-up during the summer months, will help success.
They can be used to great effect in large pots with a mixture of plants, such as a permanent shrub plus seasonal annuals and, of course, the lilies to come through for the summer months.
Some of the favourite Christmas types
Regale: By far the most popular Christmas flowering lilium, Regale bulbs produce massive white, scented trumpets with a maroon-striped reverse.
Cali: A beautiful, large flowering pink Christmas lily. Long skinny trumpets on tall stems boast 12-20cm blooms at 80cm-plus high, making a spectacular show. They can produce up to 10-15 flowers a stem when fully grown.
Captain Tricoloure: With a height of 80-120cm, these scented blooms offer a showy display with pink-tipped trumpets with a soft yellow centre.
Tiny Ghost: Perfect for pots, containers and smaller garden borders, reaching only 40-60cm in height. Tiny Ghost produces a profuse display of crimson-red blooms in the early summer.
Landline: Deep purple-black trumpets on medium-sized stems of 60-80cm make this a show-stopper in the garden.
Get inspired to plant something now for summer — call into the store to see the range of lily bulbs available.
