growing lilies in albuquerque

I love lilies. Lilies bring out the child in me, perhaps more than any other plant, although cattleya orchids and irises may be strong contenders. And clematis have some of the characteristics that bring out that same joy, but clematis are new to me. When I was a child, I splurged and bought a single bulb of African Queen, an orange trumpet lily. I planted it in pot and waited. It was amazing to watch as the stem grew, and grew, so tall, taller than me. Buds formed and soon, the flowers opened, enormous in size and with an intense fragrance. I was enchanted. That’s the thing about lilies and why I love them. Every year, they give that Jack-and-the-Beanstalk effect. They grow so quickly once they emerge from the ground that you can see the difference from day to day, especially on the ones that grow tall, like the trumpet lilies. Children do not have the patience to watch a plant grow a few inches a year. When a plant grows from an underground bulb to 6 or more feet in 2-3 months, that can be an inch or more a day. Not all lilies grow this large, and I don’t really care for the really dwarf lilies that are less than a foot tall. But even the shorter lilies of 2-3 feet tall are of a size that relate to my size. All the garden lilies have flowers that relate to the human scale as well. Not all lilies are fragrant, and many people do not like the fragrance of lilies. I’ve hear them described as “funeral home.” But to me, that fragrance is a joy, even when it is sometimes so strong as to be overwhelming, and I feel sorry for people who have a negative response to them. Yes, when I watch lilies leap out of the ground, and produce those enormous scented flowers, I feel like a child again.

Growing among shrubs helps support and shade the stems, but after a few years, the shrubs roots will overtake the lilies.

Unfortunately, I have not found lilies to be particularly easy to grow in New Mexico. My first season growing lilies produced wind shredded flowers and broken stems when the winds of spring struck. I was devastated. I moved the bulbs that fall to another location, and also planted some bulbs of a variety called ‘Scheherezade’ in a large clay pot in my sheltered courtyard. I had read that it is best to plant lilies among shrubs so that “their feet are in the shade and their heads are in the sun” so I tried that, too. The next season, the garden planted lilies were again shredded by the winds, although the lilies planted among the shrubs had some protection and I had some flowers. The potted lilies grew 5 feet tall and were protected from the wind. Success! Or so I thought. After several years, the trees in the courtyard grew and the lilies did not get enough sun. I fertilized them too much as well, and the stems broke from the weight of the flowers. The lilies planted among the shrubs dwindled as the roots of the shrubs grew into the enriched and irrigated lily planting area, and stole their water and nutrients.

L. leucanthum on 6 foot tall plants.

After more than 5 years of growing lilies, here’s what I discovered.

Choose your location carefully. Lilies should have protection from wind, but they also need sun. Morning sun with partial afternoon shade is best. Although they can survive all day sun, they can burn. If lily leaves or stems burn, they won’t re-grow the damage until next year. If the stems burn, it can cause enough damage that they won’t bloom that year.

Heartbroken by the wind damage to my 'Silk Road'

Lilies need rich soil. To grow in a Jack-and-the-Beanstalk way, lilies need nutrition. When planting them, dig in a generous amount of compost at least a couple of feet across. There’s no need to put in fertilizer. I’ve read that fertilizer can burn the roots at this time, but I have no proof of this. You can dig in well rotted manure though. I’ve read that lilies prefer sandy soil, but since my soil is sandy, I don’t have anything to compare it to. Sandy soil is low in nutrients though, and those lilies planted in my sandy soil without amending with compost were not happy.

Lilies need moisture. To grow quickly, lilies need moisture. They don’t want wet soil which may cause them to rot, and in fact they need well drained soil, but they need a constant amount of moisture. It’s a balancing act. Remember that lilies never really go completely dormant, and they will need moisture over the winter even though there is nothing above the ground. I found this out the hard way, when I didn’t water a number of just-purchased and rather expensive lilies and most of them died. In wetter climates than here, the concern is too much water, but here in the desert, too dry is a bigger worry. I’ve had a problem that may be related to soil moisture. In the middle of summer, after growth is well on the way but before bloom, the stems at the soil line turn brown, collapse and fall over. This occurs within a couple of days, and the stem is then dead. Usually the bulbs survive and grow again the next year, but don’t grow or bloom again that year. The next year they are smaller and weaker, but they can recover. I’m not sure of the cause of this. I’ve read that it is due to too much water, but I doubt that here. I think it is more due to lack of moisture in the winter, followed by hot temperatures in the summer. Watering generously after symptoms appear seem to make it worse, so maybe there is some truth in what I read after all. Just remember to keep them moist throughout the winter.

'Eros'

Plant lilies deeply. Lilies need to be planted deeper than most bulbs. On the other hand, it is better to plant a little too shallowly than too deeply since lilies have contractile roots and can pull themselves deeper if the soil is loose enough, but this can take a couple of growing seasons. They can’t lift themselves up higher, so there’s no need to go crazy. When I dug the bulbs of ‘Silk Road’ after a few years, I discovered that although I had planted them about 4-6 inches deep, they were now about 12 or so inches deep, deeper than my big spade. The bulbs are about the size of a daffodil bulb, but if you planted a daffodil bulb this deep it would be way too deep. The reason lilies want and need to be planted this deep is because of how the roots form. Most bulbs grow their roots from their bottoms, and lilies do have roots at the bottoms of the bulbs, but these roots are just for anchor. The roots that do the bulk of the work in absorbing water and nutrition are formed along the stem that grows above the bulb and in the soil. So if they are planted too shallowly, they will have less ability to grow roots. The result of course, is a less strong and healthy plant, and less flowers.

Stake the tall lilies. For the tall lilies that I like to grow, put in the stakes at planting time. They should be about 6 foot stakes, with the bottom two feet deep in the soil for stability. It’s best to leave the stakes in the ground all winter, even if you don’t like the look. If you remove the stakes and replace them in the spring, you can skewer a bulb. And trust me, even though there is nothing above the ground when you plant them, you will wish you had if you are struggling to put in stakes and tie the stems to the stakes when the wind is gusting at 50 mph, or if you are left with broken stems and flowers when the wind storm is over.

L. leucanthum

Plant in pots. Here is the biggest tip I learned for growing lilies here. There are a number of good reasons for doing so. Potting mix is created to hold moisture and also to be well drained. Perfect. It’s also easier to tell if you are watering enough, because the raised pot is easy to stick your finger into and see if the mix is damp. In a pot, there is also no competition from other plants such as shrubs, which will steal water and nutrient from the lily bulbs. The loose mix is also easier for the lilies to grow roots into and the pull their bulbs to their preferred depth if they need to. So the lilies grow stronger and faster. An interesting thing I discovered is that when repotting lilies in the fall, those grown in pots already have a strong root mass, like a perennial, filling the pot with fresh white roots. Those planted in the ground have almost no roots coming off of the bulbs. Another benefit of growing in pots is that they can be moved to a more favorable location in case of inclement weather. So on those windy days, if you have been keeping up with the weather forecast, you can move the pots into a sheltered area for a day or two until the weather calms down, and then move the plants out to a sunny spot again. One of the downsides to pots, is that if the pot is not big and heavy enough, the wind can knock over the tall plants. Yes, it is more work than some other plants. Something I may try this year is to grow lilies in pots, but to plant those pots in the garden, so that the lilies have their own little space.

Seeing strong growths emerging in the spring just makes my heart sing.

Fertilize, but not too much. One year I wanted to see how big my ‘Scheherezade’ would grow. I fertilized heavily and regularly and they grew extra fast and tall…but weakly. When the big flowers opened, the stems couldn’t hold the flowers up and broke. That weak growth also makes the plants more susceptible to virus infection, according to what I've read. But if you are planting in our poor soils, you will need to fertilize. Top dress them with compost and/or well rotted horse manure. They will appreciate that. Remember that the roots are above the bulb, so the top dressing is something the lilies especially appreciate.

'Scheherezade' growing so tall that I had to rig up strings from the roof to support it.

...and the disastrous results of broken stems after overfertilization.

Plant lilies in the fall. Now is the best time to plant lilies. Planting in the spring definitely gave me poorer results. Don’t even bother with those plastic bags of bulbs that you can get at the big box stores, no matter how enticing those pretty pictures are. You may get something to grow (or maybe not since those bulbs are pretty dried out and as I mentioned before, lilies don’t really go dormant), but to grow AND bloom, with healthy happy plants, plant in the fall.

'White Butterflies'

Yes, lilies are more work than say, tulips here in the desert. So although I wouldn’t want a garden of just lilies, I definitely would want at least a few.