Garden Notes

Giant Lily Trees in our front yard, blooming happily in partial shade

For a long time I had admired the beautiful photos of Lily Trees seen in garden magazines. Those lilies were supposed to grow so tall and sturdy that you could even lean your bike on them. They came in wonderful colors and the descriptions were very enticing as quoted below.

“Lily Trees are the breathtaking result of years of careful breeding. They will amaze you with massive, upward-facing flowers flaunting a delicate fragrance and providing you with exceptional reliability. All this on incredibly sturdy stems that reach up to 3-4 feet the first year, 5-6 feet the second and upwards of 6-8 feet in three years. This rapid growth comes in part from the Lily Tree’s unique ability to offshoot new stems from a single bulb. It’s almost like planting a lily flower shrub.”

Finally, three years ago I purchased the Lily Tree mixture of 4 bulbs and planted them in our front garden. The first year they came up and bloomed, but looked like any other lily. The second year, they were taller, but no new offshoots. Each bulb remained as one stalk with giant lily flowers, blooming in late July through early August. Now, one year later, I am really impressed! We had a very long and cold winter and they were not affected at all. The Lily Trees are now in their third year and are huge, taller than me as you can see in the photo and they have been blooming for at least 2 weeks with some buds that have still to open.

My only complaint is that I still have no offshoots. Each Lily Tree is still a “Lone Ranger” while every photo in garden magazines shows them with at least 4 or 5 stems loaded with flowers so I am not sure what I am doing wrong. Each spring, I fertilize with bulb food and I water my lilies when the garden is dry to no avail. Perhaps they need to be established longer to increase, but at this point I am not sure.

If I were to try this again, I would buy all the bulbs in one color and plant them as a cluster to have more of a presence. Still, those Lily Trees are beautiful and get a lot of comments from my neighbors who walk by and inquire about the giant lilies.