Mine are looking puny this year, too. I attribute mine to too much shade, though - one of things where I know I should move them but keep forgetting about them, meanwhile they are slowly declining...

Not sure about the drought issue, though, sorry can't offer any help there.

More than likely it was caused by watering the other plants in the bed during the dry spell.
Lilies like it well drained! and not over watered.
Linda C

Mine are not looking as nice as usual either. We did get a good amount of rain in May, but it's been dry since. Nope, they don't look good. My soil is rich with organic materials. Another reason could also be that I crammed too much in the garden....but the lilies always thrived before.....until this year.

Most of mine got bit by the Easter freeze - that's what I'm attributing it to. Several of them won't have blooms because of it this year. Disappointing. The lily blooms are one of the things I really look forward to in the summer.

Deanna

You're all doing better than I am. I had spectacular orienpets--'American Dream'--that were 8 feet tall last summer with enormous blooms and powerful fragrance. Voles ate every one last winter.

Kevin,

I believe you are probably correct. It was last year when the lilies were storing energy & food for this year's growth/bloom. I'm experiencing the exact opposite in my garden this spring. Last year, we had ample precipitation all growing season. This year, my lilies are about 50% taller than the year before (during a drier year) & the stalks look like tree trunks. My DH & I were just talking about it last weekend. I commented to him, "Gee, you're going to have to get out your chainsaw to cut down the lilies this year!"

Also, my azaleas & rhoddies bloomed extraordinarily well & I'm fairly certain it's because of the rains we received last year during bud-set season (late summer/early fall). Same thing with my tall bearded iris.

Lilies do not like constantly wet, poor-draining soil; but they do thrive on consistent moisture. I would try to provide 1" a week during August & September when they are setting next year's buds. I assuming when you say you were a "stingy waterer" last year...you meant with your entire garden not just the lilies.

Tricia

Tricia

Yup, I meant the whole garden got little water.

It's interesting you mentioned tall bearded iris and azaleas. The azaleas also had very sparse blooms this year and the same thing happened with the tall bearded iris. The flower stalks I did have on the iris were also very, very short. In fact, they bloomed hidden amongst the foliage. Not a pretty sight at all.

Two things that did very well were the peonies and dwarf iris. Some of those iris bloomed like I've never seen before. The plants were simply covered in flowers. The peonies were also spectacular this year.

I hate drought and it looks like we still haven't made it out of this one.

Kevin

Kevin, funny you should mention short blooming stalks on some varieties of the TB iris. I've never seen them so short, but I figured it was due to the bad weather snap we had in April after things broke ground. I have only one specimen peony that has always done well - nice foliage but only one bud this year. Azaleas were heavy bloomers up here; many just passing their peak now.

My lilies; Asiatics, Oriental and true tigers are healthy looking this year, pretty much on target height-wise and I don't know what to attribute it to. We have had sufficient rain on a fairly regular basis throughout May and June so far. Even through the drought last season, I did very little supplemental watering - only when I could tell things were stressed.

That's interesting. Maybe it wasn't the drought that affected the iris. I think we had the same early cold snap you're talking about. The mysteries of the garden.............

Kevin

Same here for me. We got that late cold snap, and that is what I am attributing most of my problems. Very few iris bloomed, daylilies seem to be off schedule, lilies are pitiful. A few of my orientals are doing ok, but the freeze knocked back most of my asiatics & newer lilies. I just hope they come back next spring, many kept a bit of green growth after the freeze, but died back within a few weeks. I don't mind missing the bloom so much this week, but I hate the thought of losing them entirely. I bought several late last fall & early spring that I had been really looking forward to. Looks like one survived & should bloom soon.

Funny, I was just noticing that my Lilium regale aren't budding up nearly as heavily as last year. One of the tallest and most vigorous-looking stems has a single bud on it. I figured it was because they needed dividing.

On the other hand my daylilies are doing great, budding up heavily and should be putting on a great display over the next few weeks.