How much moisture can lilies take?

17 years ago

As some of you know I am in a major flood zone right now. With close to 25" of rain this year, so far. Some of my newer plants have rotted at ground level. I was wondering if anyone has trouble with their lily bulbs rotting with really wet soil? I put in around 80 bulbs in this bed and spent a few bucks doing it.

The soil that they went into has a fair bit of clay, but I did raise the bed a bit and they are not standing in water.

Any input would be appeciated.

One of my lilies has started to bloom. It is Purple Reign. Here is a picture of it from Lily Nook. These guys were my favorite supplier this year.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:758478}}

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Comments (11)

sazzyrose
Original Author
17 years ago
Another link that doesn't work for me. I don't know what I am doing wrong. Anyways, you can go to Lily Nooks picture library and see it there.
northspruce
17 years ago
I don't know if lily bulbs rot in wet conditions - unless they get botrytis but that is above ground and can happen pretty much anytime. Anyway I have my fingers crossed for you because I know how much 80 bulbs can cost!

I was very happy with my Lily Nook order too - all my new ones are about to bloom except "Modern Style" which finally showed up last week, stylishly late! Really really stylishly late, I was worried sick!

Here is the link to your Purple Rain. Nice!

Here is a link that might be useful:
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northspruce
17 years ago
Whoops! They shouldn't call Lilies such similar names... here's Purple Reign! It's even prettier!

Here is a link that might be useful:
Crazy_Gardener
17 years ago
Shelley, I feel so bad for you girl, golly I wish it will start drying up there for you!

Yes indeed, Lily bulbs do need excellent drainage, otherwise, I hate to say it, but they will rot.

Are any of these lilies sprouting yet?

Oh that 'Purple Reign' sure is a beauty!

Sharon
valleyrimgirl
17 years ago
Love the 'Purple Reign'lily.!!!

I guess I will have to see whether there are any of them for sale when our garden club goes to the Lily Nook in July for a tour. Nigel and Barry are opening up the gift shop especially for us that evening.

Brenda
Laurie_z3_MB
17 years ago
Shelley, I sure hope it dries up quickly for you. I can give you a glimmer of hope though. I've got heavy clay soil here too, and some of my lilies are planted in a low spot that can have standing water come spring. They are able to survive and thrive there, unlike clematis and roses :(
So don't give up hope yet.
sazzyrose
Original Author
17 years ago
It is good news that some of you think that lilies can take a fair bit of wet soil. They are looking fine now. I was just worrying about in the future.I have about a half a dozen that aren't up yet. But every once in a while, another pokes it's head out of the ground. Alot of them are budded already.

Purple Reign was bought locally. I really didn't know what I was buying. I only bought it for the name. Now I wish that I would have picked up more. Parkland Perennials has a similar one called Beaudacoius with peach instead of the off white if anyones iterested.
Gillian, thanks for the link. I see what I did wrong now. www.
Shelley
sazzyrose
Original Author
17 years ago
Time tells eveything. I recieved my lily order from Valley K today. I had to move a few bulbs around that were planted in the spring in order to get things planted where I want them for next spring. A lot of my bulbs this spring were planted up in pots first because my new bed wasn't ready. Some were planted right into the ground. The ones that were planted into potting soil first before the ground all have healthy roots. The ones that were planted straight into the ground have rotten mushy roots.Although, the bulbs look fine. Everything grew fine this summer, even after all of the rain this spring. I'm thinking that the heavy rain that we recieved several weeks ago followed by the cool weather made the roots rot. So after discovering this I put a layer of potting soil in the holes before I planted up my new bulbs. And extra peat moss.
Shelley
mersiepoo
17 years ago
I plant all my lillies on a steep hill near my house. Problem is, the deer eat them before they bloom.
glen3a
17 years ago
Regarding how much moisture lilies can take, not sure, but some of mine are in fairly clay soil and two summers ago was very wet. Plus, I think there could be more problems if the soil was moist and unfrozen all winter long, versus moist and then frozen.

So, hopefully a dry sunny spring will help things along. If you do shovel extra snow on the bed for winter protection, maybe around the time the snow melts in late March shovel some of the snow off to limit the amount of spring moisture.

Glen
sazzyrose
Original Author
17 years ago
We had a ton of snow mid October and it had continued to dump on us, so I don't think that the ground will freeze deep. My lilies are planted on high groung, so water will run away this spring. Our problem here is that the water table is still very high after 2 wet summers. Other people in town still have water coming into their basements. We don't, but our weeping tile is still draining fairly good into my septic tank and the pump is running a fair bit. Our pump burnt out a month or so ago and during the night the tank filled up enough to start backing sewer up into the basement a bit.
It might not have been the best year to plant lilies, but I'm sure my roses will like what is happening. I'll know next spring the real answer to my question- how much moisture can lilies take? I'll let everyone know how well they all came up.

How much moisture can lilies take?

Comments (11)

sazzyrose
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northspruce

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How much moisture can lilies take?

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