Planting Asiatic and Oriental Lilies

With their large prominent flowers, Asiatic lilies and Oriental lilies certainly deserve a place in your landscape. Both are strikingly beautiful and will do well in our local gardens. The question we get asked most often is what's the difference between the two lily varieties.

Let's start with the similarities. Asiatic and Oriental lilies are some of the easiest and most reliable plants you can have in your garden. They are perennials in our area, meaning they come back every year. To do their best, both varieties need to be planted in a location where they will receive between 6 and 8 hours of direct sun a day.  Both varieties like well amended soils that drain well.

Once you’ve selected the site, amend your existing soil by adding 2" to 3" of compost, manure and peat moss, worked in to about 8". These amendments will enrich your existing soil and improve drainage. Now to the differences.

Asiatic lilies tend to bloom earlier than Oriental lilies. Asiatic lilies are shorter, don't need staking and the flowers, while beautiful are not fragrant.  Once established, Asiatic lilies will multiply rapidly in your garden.

Oriental lilies tend to be taller than Asiatic lilies. In full bloom, Oriental lilies may need to be staked in order to support their tall, top heavy stalks. Oriental lily blooms are fragrant and they typically don't multiply as rapidly as Asiatic lilies do. You can plant these lilies from bulbs or from 1 gallon containers.

There are several advantages to planting container grown lilies instead of bulbs. First, you can see the plant is healthy and thriving, which means the root system is established. Second, in many cases the plant has started to bloom, so you can see what the flower actually looks like. 

If you’re planting bulbs, place each bulb about 4" deep and about 6" apart, in well-amended soil, with bone meal mixed into the planting site. If you’re planting established lilies, dig a hole as twice as deep as the container and twice as wide.

Add some bone meal, remove the plant from the container and set it in the ground at the same height it was in the container. Fill in around the plant and water thoroughly. Asiatic lilies will provide color to your garden just as the spring blooming plants like iris and peonies are beginning to fade. Oriental lilies will begin to bloom about the time the Asiatic lilies start to slow down.  Asiatic and Oriental lilies are popular with gardeners everywhere because of their low maintenance and spectacular, long-lasting flowers.   

It's Bearded Iris Season

With their showy spring flowers, perennial Bearded Iris is a mainstay in many gardens and public landscapes.

Known for its distinctive furry "beard", Bearded Iris or Iris germanica is one of the most reliable and dramatic of the spring flowers.

Available in a variety of colors, easy to grow Bearded Irises will do best planted in full sun and well-draining soil. Fertilize your Bearded Irises in early spring with Bone Meal or Dutch Bulb Food. Bearded Iris are generally low maintenance plants season after season, but over time they can become crowded. When this happens, they produce fewer, smaller blooms or won't flower at all. When you notice your Bearded Iris aren't blooming, it's an indication the plant needs to be divided.

Iris grow in clumps and the root of an iris is called a rhizome. The best tool to use to dig iris roots is a spading fork. Spading forks make it easy to get under and lift the rhizome without causing damage to the roots. Once you’ve got the clump of iris out of the ground, you’ll be able to see the rhizomes clearly.

You’ll want to remove any old or diseased rhizomes and treat the remaining, healthy rhizomes with dusting Sulfur.You can divide the clump with a knife or by simply breaking off each root with your hand. Trim the leaves in a fan shape down to between 4" and 6".

Mark the leaves with the name of the iris, so you’ll remember which one it is. When you’re planting your iris in their new location, remember that iris grow in the direction of the heel so place your rhizomes with the leaves planted in the direction you want the plant to grow. Iris thrive in soils that have been amended, so add a couple of inches of Sheep, Peat and Compost and dig it in 4-5 inches. 

Add some Bone Meal and place the rhizome so that the roots are fanned out to the side, then add enough soil to cover the roots, while leaving the very top of the rhizome exposed. Water in thoroughly. Your iris will establish through the fall and be ready to bloom next spring.  

Tips for selecting Pond Plants

Aquatic plants for your home pond or garden fountain will enhance the beauty of your water feature and help improve water quality. Aquatic plants fall into three categories: floating, submerged and marginals. A balanced, healthy pond should include a variety of all three, for best pond performance through the season.

Floating aquatic plants include water lettuce and water hyacinths. These are easy to grow aquatic plants. Take them home and place them on the surface of your pond or garden fountain. That's all you need to do; no planting, no fertilizing. In full sun, water lettuce and water hyacinths will multiply quickly, shading the water and reducing algae bloom.

Water hyacinths will flower through the summer.

The most recognizable submerged aquatic plant is the water lily, including hardy nymphaea. Their round leaves can grow to ten inches in diameter, providing shade and shelter for fish. Nymphaea will bloom in full sun. Bloom color will vary, but most hardy lilies are white, pink or yellow. Water lilies can survive our winters provided they are submerged to a depth of 3 feet or more.

Marginal aquatic plants thrive in the shallow water along the edge of your pond or on a shelf in the pond.

Marginal plants add color and interest to your pond and include tall, colorful cannas,

Ruellia and colocasia, as well as shorter varieties such as

Bloody Dock and Blue Moneywort.

Aquatic plants serve to accent your pond and to protect fish as well as improve water quality. They will make your pond or garden fountain a stand out feature of your landscape all summer long. 

Getting seedlings ready for planting

It's May, our garden beds are ready and we're all anxious to start planting, but it's important to take time now to get your annual and vegetable starts as ready to plant as you are. Whether you started plants in the basement under lights or purchased starts from our greenhouse, annuals and vegetables need to be acclimated to the outdoors before you actually plant them. This process of acclimating plants to the outdoor environment is called "hardening off".  Hardening off plants gradually exposes them to outdoor light, wind and temperatures. The process is easy, but it takes time. In fact, you should plan on a week or so to get your immature plants ready to transplant into the garden.

On the first day, pick a sheltered, shady spot under a tree or on the patio and leave them there for 3 or 4 hours. Bring them in that night. The second day, leave them out 5 or 6 hours, the third day 6 or 7 hours, including night time. On the fourth day, set your plants in a place where they will receive morning sun. Morning sun is not as harsh as afternoon sun. This will help your plants adjust to direct sunlight. Gradually increase sunlight exposure over the next few days. By the fifth day, they should be spending most of the night outside, unless night time temperatures are very cold. After 7 or 8 days, your plants should be ready for the outdoors. Even then, you'll want to keep an eye on the forecast. The average last day of frost is May 5, but this can vary greatly, year to year. Be prepared to bring your plants back in if the night time temperatures fall.

Products like Wall-O’-Water will protect your plants into the low 30°’s. N-sulate is a frost blanket that will help protect your plants at night.

If plants are small enough, throw a box or bucket over them to keep the frost off. Make sure you keep your plants watered during this hardening off process. Being outside means they will dry out faster, so keep an eye on the watering. Finally, when you’re ready to plant, pick a cloudy day or plant late in the afternoon. This will help your plants make the transition from small container into the garden even easier.  

Time to Plant Summer Blooming Bulbs

When we talk about bulbs for the garden, we often think about spring-blooming standards such as crocus, tulips and daffodils. These are hardy bulbs. We plant them in the fall and with just a little maintenance, enjoy their colorful displays spring after spring.

There is another group of bulbs which planted now, will add dramatic color to your summer and early fall garden. This includes Canna Lilies, Asiatic Lilies, Oriental Lilies, Gladiolus, Dahlias and Tuberous Begonias. With the exception of Asiatic and Oriental lilies, these are non-hardy bulbs, meaning they require special attention at the end of the blooming season. That said, the extra work is worth the effort, giving the long-blooming habits of these bulbs. Going forward, what we're generically calling "bulbs", also includes tubers, corms and rhizomes, as noted. Before planting, amend your soil with compost and peat moss, then dig in some Bone Meal or Dutch Bulb Food, to feed your bulbs as they grow.

Grown from bulbs, Asiatic and Oriental lilies are the hardiest of all the lily hybrids. 

If you planted some last year you may see them poking through the ground already. Once they are established in your garden, they'll produce showy blooms for many years. Asiatic lilies multiply and spread through the garden very quickly. Oriental lilies won't spread out as rapidly as Asiatic lilies, but they tend to be more fragrant. Plant Asiatic and Oriental Lilies three times as deep as the height of the bulb, with the flat side down.

Canna lilies feature attractive green, bronze or variegated foliage, in addition to their flowers.  Cannas do well in garden beds and containers. The canna “bulb” is actually a rhizome. Plant cannas about 6" deep and about 18" apart.

Dahlias are grown from tubers and come in a wide variety of colors.

Plant dahlias only as deep as the crown and include a strong stake to tie your dahlia stalks to. Dahlias will bring color to your garden from late summer to first frost.

For more late summer and fall color, plant gladiolus.

Gladiolus “bulbs” are called corms. Plant your corms about 3" deep and 4" to 5" apart.

Tuberous begonias make incredible displays of color in a shady spot on your patio. They can be planted in containers, hanging baskets or directly in the garden. Cannas, dahlias, glads and begonias will not survive our winters. If you want to keep them year to year, they have to be dug up and stored. Your other option is to treat them as annuals and replace them every year.  Summer bulbs tend to sell out early, so it’s best to shop now to get the best selection.