Lilies (2024)

With colorful, star-shaped flowers, lilies add elegance and fragrance to any garden. You will enjoy their magnificent blooms from spring through the first frost by carefully blending the lily’s early, midseason, and late varieties into your garden. Learn more about choosing, planting, and growinglilies.

AboutLilies

Everyone loves lilies! Grown from bulbs, lilies are perennials that require minimal care if planted correctly. Most lilies do well in containers and look spectacular in avase.

True lilies belong to the genus Lilium and grow from plump, scaly bulbs. Several popular lily species exist, includingOrientals, Asiatics, Orienpets, and Speciestypes.

We say “true” lilies because there are also plants, such as daylilies, peace lilies, and canna lilies, which have the term “lily” in their common name, but they’re not actually lilies at all. They do not grow from bulbs but are in a different plant genus. Water lilies aren’t lilies at all, and neither are lily-of-the-valley.

With 8,000 or so varieties, lilies parade an endless range of colors, shapes, heights, and bewitching scents. Lilies havesixplain or strikingly marked tepals (“petals”) andare often trumpet-shaped, sitting atop a tall, erect stem with narrow, long, lance-shaped leaves. They come in many beautiful colors, including pink, gold, red, orange, andwhite.

Most lilies also take readily to containers at home in formal and naturalistic settings. Plus, they make excellent cutflowers!

To create a sequence of Lily blooms in your garden, remember that Asiatics generally flower first, followed by Orienpets and then Orientalvarieties.

• Asiatic lilies(Liliumsp. - “Asiatic hybrids”) are the earliest to bloom (usually in May or June), right after peonies.They are also the easiest to grow, as long as they are planted in well-draining soil, not waterlogged. They are the shortest type of lily (about 2 to 3 feet tall) and come in many colors, from pastel to tropical. Hybrids come in pure white, pinks, vivid yellows, oranges, and reds; heights are from one to six feet. Intense breeding has erased much of the Asiatics’ fragrance, but despite their lack of perfume, they are a favorite with floralarrangers.
• Oriental lilies(Lilium sp. - “Oriental hybrids”) have that famously intoxicating fragrance. They are tall and stately (4 feet), and tend to grow more slowly. Oriental hybrids bloom in mid- to late summer, just when Asiatic lilies are beginning to fade. Orientals are always a striking choice, producing masses of huge white, pink, red, or bi-color blooms. They make wonderful cut flowers that fill even the largest rooms with spicyscents.
• Easter lilies(Lilium longifolium) are most commonly grown indoors as a holiday plant. As their name suggests, they are typically forced into bloom around Easter, in March or April. Outdoors, they are better suited for warmer regions of North America, where they can be plantedin the garden after blooming has finished. These are generally hardy to Zone 5 (and to Zone 4 if given 1 to 2 feet of mulch in autumn for winterprotection).
• Trumpet lilies(Lilium sp. - “Trumpet hybrids”) are similar to oriental lilies, producing many blooms with a nice scent. Their flowers tend to be smaller and more closed (like a trumpet) than those of the otherlilies.

There are other lilies out there, of course, such as tiger lilies(Lilium henryi) and Turk’s cap lilies (Lilium superbum), as well as hybrids like “Orienpet” (Oriental + Trumpet) and “LA” lilies (Easter + Asiatic). Browse through your favorite online gardening retailer’s catalog to find what you likebest!