Hi Phyl,

I think it all started in Spring, after the crazy winter we had. It warmed up nicely, all of a sudden that weird cold snap that caused everything to shrink back up. My Orientals are all about a foot tall, blooming great but very short. Rainfall deficit doesnt help either, water from the hose isnt the same as rainwater. So I guess we should just enjoy our short lilies (also lots of other plants bloomed early) and hope for the best next year.

Jen

I found a webpage that said if some bulbs did not get enough cold that they would be stunted. I think this happened to my iris bulbs last yr- they were only a foot tall. This yr they did not bother coming up at all (maybe the late cold snap?). Don't know if that would apply to your Orienpets- mine was close to 5 ft tall both last yr and this yr (I only have 1 and I need to buy some more). Brandy

I agree with Jen, if your weather was anything like what we had here. Nice warm spring, then a sudden severe freeze. Many of my asiatic lilies & a few orientals were coming up, the cold turned them brown & I never saw them the rest of the season. I'm hoping they are not totally dead & will show up next spring. A few later blooming orientals came up looking puny, some bloomed, many did not. I think the ones that haven't bloomed are better off than the puny blooming ones, saving their strength to build the bulb. I'm counting on better next year too.

Thanks all....hopefully next year will be better...at least now I know it wasn't all my fault or a matter of what I could have done better to have prevented the stunted growth!
:0) Phyl

My lilies were pretty good this year, but I do water. We had a LOT of water in late May, then thru into June. People couldn't get their hay in.

We had about a month of fairly cold winter, good frozen ground, down deep. It didn't happen until Feb. I would call it a pretty mild winter, hardly any weather below zero F.

The early lilies came and went quickly in that rain. They were a bit short, not tiny though and on older bulbs. I only planted a few new bulbs of any kind last year. The new ones did nothing but foliage, but they were small so no surprise there. Ebay purchases.

All the rest of my lilies have been pretty wonderful, just seems they go fast in our heat and humidity this season. My raised beds seem to need more watering, have better drainage. I plant a lot of smaller Allium, different kinds, in there to protect the bulbs. Also have the Tulip Imperials, in that bed, really stinky bulbs, for bulb protection of real Tulips from mice and voles. Our squirrels have plenty of nuts and seeds, don't seem to bother the bulbs much if dirt is not disturbed. I leave my Tulips in place over summer so this works OK.

My Trumpet lilies were about normal size, plenty of blooms, along with the Tiger lilies, Orientals and the now blooming Orienipets. The Orienipets are in their 2nd summer, so I thought 5ft, 25 blooms a stem, was a good show for them. I do like the color, gentle scents. PLUS, I am the only one with them or any lilies in the neighborhood!! We get a lot of bike riders, some walkers, going by who compliment me on the flowers, great smells. Always nice to hear!!

I am real busy at beheading all stems which are done blooming. I don't want to waste plant energy on growing seeds, so I cut off all the tops as blooms disappear. Might be helpful to those small lilies this year, send the energy back to making better bulbs.

I do think most of my garden stuff was ahead this year, bloomed early. Much came and went very quickly, maybe the humidity, though we have had GREAT weather locally. Really only terribly hot the last couple weeks. Getting pretty dry though we are getting some showers, enough to even make puddles. I would say we are still in drought. Trees are showing stress, dry, leaves falling, brown edges.

Better luck next year, hope that rotten red lily bug doesn't arrive with next season of growth. Much complaining about it from Eastern folks.

Did you take cut flowers from your lilies last year? The removal of much of their stem and leaves stunts next's years growth.

Mine did the same thing. I attribute it to the winter we had. I would just replant, ensure the soil is organically ammended and fertilize well with low ratio fertilizer (8-8-8), etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: Perennial And Rose Gardening

Thanks everyone. Yes, thanks, gottagarden, I knew about not cutting more than 1/3....because so many were very short, I didn't cut them (the stunted ones) at all. Actually, the only part I cut at all on most lilies are the individual pedicels, as my bouquets are usually shorter, full mixed bouquets. Our Trumpet/Aurelian hybrids were great, as were some of the established Orientals and Orienpets.
:0) Phyl